Poachers and gropers

A Classic G. George Ostrom column from March 29, 1989

I understand the world’s largest and fastest growing metropolitan area is Mexico City, and the hordes of people riding the 90 miles of subway create many problems. Five million senors and senoritas a day are packed in the cars like sacks of marshmallows and the number one problem is chauvinistic men taking advantage of the situation to do much grabbing and groping. Under theses conditions a compulsive grabber could obviously have his hands full.

After thousands of women complained of being in a pinch, authorities are now segregating males from females during rush hours. Men caught riding with the women are “publicly humiliated.” The AP report by Anita Snow does not say what form the humiliation takes, nor does it say if there is a similar penalty for grabbing, groping or patting during non-rush hours. The story also ignores what happens to a woman who rides in the men’s section. If any of our readers visit Mexico City in the near future, perhaps they could lend a hand and give us a report.

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We’ve all read stories over the years about the prosecution in Yellowstone Park of illegal horn hunters who sneak in and collect elk antlers to sell to Asians for aphrodisiacs. The poachers have purloined thousands of shed antlers or those from dead bulls. One young man seeking his fortune by floating two rubber rafts of horns down the Yellowstone River was drowned. Regular antler currently sells for around $6 per pound. Five or six good racks could bring a thousand dollars.

I have gone to Yellowstone many times, in all the seasons, taken hundreds of photos and written newspaper and magazine articles on the game management problems. On my last spring trip I saw dozens of carcasses of dead bulls in the Gardiner area, on up the Lamar, and Soda Butte to Cooke City. One thing that made me curious was, what happens to the antlers? Never saw any on that last trip. Poachers didn’t get ‘em all … especially close to patrolled roads. Now the story is out.

Yellowstone’s Chief Ranger, Dan Sholley, says that because of greatly increased elk deaths this winter and spring, the Park has stepped up its patrols for antler poachers. He said such activity was a “major duty” for rangers. On March 13, Sholley said that his rangers were thwarting the horn hunters by sawing off the antlers of any dead bull seen from the roads. That’s no surprise to me.

Now we come to the fun part. Sholley says the rangers take all these antlers and “cut them up in small pieces and disperse them in the park.” Imagine something like this on Ranger Rick’s resume, “Spent three years sawing up elk antlers and hiding them in the bushes of Yellowstone Park.” With that kind of on-the-job-training, the only thing he would qualify for is helping the Easter Bunny.

Park administrators are supposedly practicing what they call “Natural Management” in Yellowstone. In this particular case, I consider the term a biological misnomer, invented by Department of Interior game-players who were under great pressure from politicians. It is about as valid in its application to the Yellowstone elk herds as it is to Disneyland. Well anyway! Under this “natural” management policy, I suspect the rangers are cutting up all those antlers and “dispersing them in the park,” so mice, porcupines, voles, and other toothy varmints can nibble on them and get their little sex drives revved up.

I think differently. I believe there are enough bones and other sources of calcium lying around in Yellowstone that the antlers will not be missed and should be sold to the Asians.