quote:

access has been reduced in the area since there is so much private land now on the bottoms

Hahahaha. A Texan talking about resricted access due to private land....... hahahaha Now that is funny. Sorry Rick, but you are digging the hole yourself. You may have seen the land 20 years ago when you worked there, but you know nothing of the present state.

RICKT300,

The problem aint the states. This is happening on FEDERAL LAND. The feds control BLM and the state can't do much about what the FEDS are in the process of destroying. The states do not issue drilling permits on FEDERAL LAND.

What the state is responsible for is the management of the wildlife. And this is where the issue lies. Without protected winter range, deer and to a lesser exent elk, have a very difficult time surviving our winters. In addition to the drilling, add in all the houses the people coming in from out of state build and you have a serious issue.

Ever wonder why all the people moving in always build their new houses on a southern facing hill side? The reason is because there is more sun on a southern facing hill side during the winter. That's the whole priciple behind solar heat. Face the house to the south. Want to guess where the deer normally feed if given the chance? Yep, southern facing hill sides. Now we have oil rigs everywhere, houses going up everywhere and the result is deer herds in decline.

You can not compare Texas whitetails to Wyoming mule deer. Different climates, different vegatation and different species. But then it aways seems as though everybody in other parts of the country always know what is best for us. They don't live here, they don't pay taxes here, they don't see the starving herds in the winter.

Sure glad we have them Texans, Californians, New Yorkers etc... here to help us poor mountain folks and our concerns. Yep, they sure do a good job of deciding what we need.

Mac

Yeah the feds sure listened when they introduced the Wolf amid everyones objections. Makes Wyoming look like a poor little redheaded stepchild that needs a whuppin. By the way I saw many animals starve and freeze to death in 1981 and again in the 1992/1993 winter. Others have said it, you can't pick just one factor and blame it. Obviously you Wyoming residents are going to have to like it or lump it.

quote:

Obviously you Wyoming residents are going to have to like it or lump it.

So is that the attitude of the energy industry ?

Because it sure seems like it based on the way they've treated the land, its wildlife and the resident in this case.

Looks like the environmentalists were right all along.

quote:

Obviously you Wyoming residents are going to have to like it or lump it.

That is a great attitude to have...screw it all, just as long as a few get what they are after ($$$$$).

What you don't understand, is that even if this development left tomorrow, we would still be dealing with the associated problems and mess from it all 100 years from now.

MG

Madgoat,

It's not that he doesn't understand, he just doesn't care......typical petroleum industry view.....

Joe

You guys crack me up. I care, there is nothing I can do about it. There is nothing you can do about it. There is nothing the state of Wyoming will do about it. Wyoming has been kissing special interests ass forever starting with the railroad. The Mule deer as a species will survive, there just won't be as many for you characters to shoot at. Technically they are supposed to return the area to it's natural state. So get a job and quit sniveling.

quote:

Originally posted by Madgoat:
Energy development is a serious issue in the west right now, as much of the undisturbed countryside is being tore up to extract the mineral/gas resources as fast as possible.

A good hunter organization has formed to protect this valuble area in Wyoming. I would ask anyone who cares about wild country and wildlife to join the Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range.

Unlike the worthless Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (who in my opinion are a worthless POS group that does nothing for the resource, and has supported oil/gas development in the past) these guys are the voice for hunters and anglers.

MG

Not to turn this into a political partisian debate, but.......natural resource extraction speeds up when we elect a Republican president and slows down when we elect a Democrat President. It's been happening for 30 years now.

2nd Amendment rights?--hire a Republican.
Preserve wildlife habitat?--hire a Democrat.

That is the conundrum........

Casey

quote:

You guys crack me up. I care, there is nothing I can do about it. There is nothing you can do about it.

Don't bet on that

quote:

[Obviously you Wyoming residents are going to have to like it or lump it./QUOTE]

[QUOTE] So get a job and quit sniveling.

RICkT300;

It's just that type of attitude that causes most residents of the Rocky Mountain states to dislike Texans. To us, the typical Texan is ignorant, arrogant and selfish. By your own statements you have proven this premise correct. The average Texan cares nothing about anything that doesn't revolve around Texas. The rest of the country just doesn't matter to most of them. It never ceases to amaze me how friendly the people of Texas can be when you are in Texas, but they all seem to pick up an asshole license when they go to another state. Must be a massive inferiority complex or something.

Next year you or someone just like you will probably be leading the charge to bitch about not being able to get a nonresident tag or the price of the tag when the state has to cut back due to decreasing numbers of animals.

Destruction of winter range will cause a reduction in the number of deer. Every wildlife biologist I have ever talked to agrees with this. Excessive drilling activity causes this very destruction. The animals will not be able to move back in after the drilling is over if they are unable to survive the winter in the first place. But when you come from a state that lets you shoot deer over a corn feeder, I can understand why you are unable to grasp this extremely simple fact.

Mac

quote:

Originally posted by rickt300:

Technically they are supposed to return the area to it's natural state. So get a job and quit sniveling.

I'll believe it when I see them return something to its natural state that they already tore up. Isn't is odd that the only places they are interested in restoring are the ones that aren't tore up yet, that still have oil under them?

Well when the oilfield was big back in the early eighties they sure did a pretty good job of restoring what damage they did then. I know because I have been back there and hunted right where the rigs were. Onanother note you bitch about the rigs taking up a big area some milesfrom town. Right now they are drilling in the city limits of Fort Worth, I have 8 rigs withing half a mile from where I live and not all on my land. Do you think I like oilfield traffic on the back roads around my house? My choice was to either sign a lease or they would use directional drilling to take what they wanted anyway. By signing I made 180,000 dollars just for the pads they built which will be returned to pasture when they are done. I will get a royaly percentage as long as the wells are producing. What is Wyoming doing for you? Protest all you want but the gas they pull out of the earth is going to warm someones house somewhere. When I lived in Wyoming from 1981 to 1999 there was no gas service to my house in Superior, I heated with coal. Sound familiar? The state government of Wyoming could give a rats ass about you and the money they make will never even affect you positively. If they don't care about you just how do you think they feel about 6-7 thousand Mule deer. By the way I am not from Texas, I was born in Idaho and didn't move south till 1999. I got tired of living like a hermit. The sheep herders wrecked the sage in southwest Wyoming and who said nada?You dipshits. Cattle now graze on anywet spot in the state, what did you say? Now you bitch about the oilfield? I blame you guys for the decline of the Mule deer.

quote:

Originally posted by CaseyC:


2nd Amendment rights?--hire a Republican.
Preserve wildlife habitat?--hire a Democrat.

That is the conundrum........

Casey

Indeed. I have put it as

Nothing to fight with vs. nothing to fight for.

Amounts to the same issue.

Brent

The little "blurb" of oil/gas activity in the '80's is pale in comparison with the massive amounts of drilling being done now. Folks have had enough, and are speaking out.
It sounds rick, that you probably made your living off natural resource extraction. There is a need to develop our natural resources, but to do it responsibly....which in Wyoming has never been done. THe locals all see the need, but the folks who move in to do the work really could care less about what the landscape looks like before, or after they are done. Just as long as they get their pockets lined (which sounds pretty important to you), it could look like the moon when they are done.

MG

We are all part of the problem. Unless you are heating your house with cowpies all winter , walk or ride a donkey everywhere you go , or maybe reading by the light of tallow candles , just look in the mirror.

And it's only going to get worse , with massive population growth , primarily due to out of control immigration .

The land with drill rigs all over it will look good compared to the oil shale country once they get going on that .

This country is going on an energy binge , and nothing is going to stop it.......

The wintering deer population on the Pinedale Anticline has droped 48% sence drilling has started. that is a fact.
But I have a problem putting my son and a lot of others in know from Wyo. out of work.
My Son has know the local game warden sence Buba was a trainie here in Chey.
In a State were engery delopement is one of the top 3 industy's It's a little hard to just shut them down.
right now the Feds are talking about shutting down winter drilling on the mesa as a solution to the winter range problem. only time will tell on that.
but what about all the houses that have been built from Jackson to Alpine/ Star Valley. not to mention Big Piney, Pinedale dang near all of it is in winter range. everybodys wants a view.
Chey is no better other that a few ranches there putting house right in the midle of the winter range and all that will never go back to winter range.
If you can see big game in the winter from you front door you are no better than the Drilling Companies.

quote:

Originally posted by gotlost:
If you can see big game in the winter from you front door you are no better than the Drilling Companies.

Yep