CASPER, Wyo. The Wyoming Wildlife Taskforce will hold their first meeting from June 16-17 in Casper at the Hilton Garden Inn. The task force, which was
Gay Lynn Byrd couldnât quite recall the last time sheâd laid eyes on the Tetons, but her best guess was that it had been nearly 30 years.
Hailing from Douglas, the Wyoming Game and Fish commissioner was certain of something else: Sheâd never seen a wild wolf.
That changed last week.
âWe ranch, so we see livestock and wildlife all the time, but just to see it with the Tetons is great,â Byrd said. âThis was the first time Iâd seen a wolf in the wild.
âNow we just have the keep them up here,â the 60-year-old added, âbecause we donât want them.â
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission met this week in Jackson, with two new commissioners assuming their posts. Ashlee Lundvall of Powell and Mark Jolovich of Torrington joined the rule-making body representing Districts 5 and 1, respectively. Pete Dube of Buffalo was elected for the second year in a row as president, and Gay Lynn Byrd of Douglas was voted-in vice president. Commissioners serve one six-year term and elect new officers annually.
According to a Game and Fish news release, a big task for each April Commission meeting is to approve the annual hunting season regulations and quotas. After hearing season presentations and reviewing public comments, the Commission passed the 2021 hunting season regulations and quotas, as proposed. The finalized regulations and quotas will be available on the Wyoming Game and Fish Department website and Hunt Planner by the beginning of May.
Ex-Game and Fish Commissioner opposed Chronic Wasting Disease plan By Greg Hirst on February 7, 2021
A large buck (Shutterstock)
CASPER, Wyo Former Wyoming Game and Fish Commission member Mike Schmid told Oil City News that his continued opposition to the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Plan was likely the official reason for his removal from the commission last week.
Schmid served four years on the commission and was part of the CWD working group that drafted the plan, which was approved by the commission last July.
CWD is nervous system disease affecting primarily mule deer and elk and is always fatal. It is caused by a submicroscopic proteins called prions that accumulate in the soil and is very difficult to eradicate. No immunity, recovery, or absolute resistance to CWD has been documented.
Green River Star -
Former G&F commissioner discusses his removal
February 3, 2021
PINEDALE Following days of statements, La Barge businessman Mike Schmid capped the week of his removal from the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission with a statement on Jan. 29, countering a statement released by Game and Fish President Pete Dube the day before.
Schmid announced in a Facebook post on Jan. 25 that, among other things, his “role as a commissioner and freedoms as an American were too conflicting.” The following morning Game and Fish Department staff received an email stating Schmid was no longer on the commission.
Dube released a statement on Jan. 28 that thanked Schmid f.