Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. Landing. Corner Crossing and Chasing Mountain Lions

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. Landing. (Vo...: 

The bill that may legalize corner cross, SF56, passed:

ORIGINAL SENATE 

FILE NO. SF0056

ENROLLED ACT NO. 60, SENATE

SIXTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

2023 GENERAL SESSION

AN ACT relating to game and fish; expanding the prohibition for entering private property without permission for hunting purposes to also prohibit traveling through the private property; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.  W.S. 23‑3‑305(b) is amended to read:

23‑3‑305.  Hunting from highway; entering or traveling through private property without permission; penalty; hunting at night without permission prohibited.

(b)  No person shall enter upon, travel through or return across the private property of any person to take wildlife, hunt, fish, collect antlers or horns, or trap without the permission of the owner or person in charge of the property. Violation of this subsection constitutes a low misdemeanor punishable as provided in W.S. 23‑6‑202(a)(v). For purposes of this subsection "travel through or return across" requires physically touching or driving on the surface of the private property.

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2023.

Mountain lion chasing season was established, which I think was a poor idea.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. Posting public lands.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. The road ahe...: 

February 19, 2023

Governor Gordon Takes Action on 8 Bills on Saturday, February 18

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Mark Gordon took action on eight bills on Saturday, February 18. The Governor signed the following bills into law today: 

Enrolled Act # Bill # Bill Title

 

HEA0015 HB0035 Day-care certification requirement amendments

HEA0016 HB0082 Defendant mental illness examinations-amendments

HEA0017 HB0160 Drivers license veterans designation replacing DD form 214

HEA0018 HB0147 Unlawful trespass signage-taking of wildlife

HEA0019 HB0019 State Indian Child Welfare Act task force

SEA0023 SF0078 Apprenticeship and job training promotion in schools

SEA0024 SF0176 Solid waste disposal districts-consolidation

SEA0025 SF0041 Skill based amusement games-authorized locations.

 

With this, posting public land to deter hunters is now illegal.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. Posting Public Lands.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. The road ahe...: 

House Bill 147 has passed, banning improper posting of public lands in an effort to deter hunters.

ENROLLED ACT NO. 18,  HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SIXTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

2023 GENERAL SESSION

AN ACT relating to game and fish; amending the crime of interference with lawful taking of wildlife; prohibiting acts that restrict access to or use of state or federal land as specified; providing an exception; specifying applicability; and providing for effective dates.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

 

Section 1.  W.S. 23‑3‑405(a) by creating a new paragraph (iii) and (g) by creating a new paragraph (iii) is amended to read:

23‑3‑405.  Interference with lawful taking of wildlife prohibited; penalties; damages; injunction.

(a)  No person shall with the intent to prevent or hinder the lawful taking of any wildlife:

(iii)  Knowingly and without authorization post or maintain in place signs that restrict access to or use of state or federal land on which the lawful taking of or the process of lawfully taking any wildlife is permitted. For purposes of this subsection, "knowingly" means the person has received prior notice from a peace officer that the sign is located on state or federal land.

(g)  This section shall:

(iii)  Not interfere with any landowner's right to prevent trespass on the landowner's private property.

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2023.

This is a good bill, and I'm glad it passed.

Lex Anteinternet: Neanderthal Crab Bakes.

Lex Anteinternet: Neanderthal Crab Bakes.: 

Neanderthal Crab Bakes.

Neanderthals living 90,000 years ago in a seafront cave, in what’s now Portugal, regularly caught crabs, roasted them on coals and ate the cooked flesh, according to a new study.

From CNN.

No surprise. Why wouldn't they have roast crabs?

Neanderthals eating crabs 90,000 years ago.  Okay, actually, these folks are in Raceland, Louisiana in 1938, but its the same thing, probably right down to the beer.  The messiness of eating crab is shown by the newspapers, and that explains also why those looking in the subject cave can tell Neanderthals ate crabs.

This provides, by the way, one more reason that being a vegetarian is nuts.  You don't toss out diets that we've been acclimated to for eons.

Lex Anteinternet: Wha't's wrong with the (modern, western) world, pa...Cats and Dogs.

Lex Anteinternet: Wha't's wrong with the (modern, western) world, pa...: 

4.  One of the odder examples of this, very widespread, is the change in our relationship with animals.

Our species is one of those which has a symbiotic relationship with other ones.  We like to think that this is unique to us, but it isn't.  Many other examples of exist of birds, mammals and even fish that live in very close relationships with other species.  When this occurred with us, we do not know, but we do know that its ancient.  Dogs and modern wolves both evolved from a preexisting wolf species starting some 25,000 to 40,000 years ago, according to the best evidence we currently have. That likely means it was longer ago than that.

Cats, in contrast, self domesticated some 7,000 or so years ago, according to our best estimates.

Cat eating a shellfish, depiction from an Egyptian tomb.

We have a proclivity for both domesticating animals, and accepting self domestication of animals, the truth being that such events are likely part and parcel of each other. Dogs descend from some opportunistic wolves that started hanging around us as we killed things they liked to eat.  Cats from wildcats that came on as we're dirty.  Both evolved thereafter in ways we like, becoming companions as well as servants.  But not just them, horses, pigs, sheep, cattle. . .the list is long.

As we've moved from the natural to the unnatural, we've forgotten that all domestic animals, no matter how cute and cuddly they are, are animals and were originally our servants. And as real children have become less common in WASP culture, the natural instinct to have an infant to take care of, or even adore, has transferred itself upon these unwilling subjects, making them "fur babies".

It's interesting in this context to watch the difference between people who really work with animals, and those who do not.  Just recently, for example, our four-year-old nephew stayed the night due to the snow, and was baffled why our hunting dog, who is a type of working dog but very much a companion, stayed the night indoors.  The ranch dogs do not. . . ever.  The ranch cats, friendly though they are, don't either.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. The road ahe...

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. The road ahe...:   

February 10, 2023

The gun 'em down trespass bill, which had passed the House, died in the Senate., not making it out of committee.

Speaking against the bill as voices of reason were conservation groups and a rancher, who noted that he had dozens of trespassers per year and though the bill was a bad idea.  

The person whose thoughts lead to the introduction of the bill, a person who provides church security in Buffalo, admitted that if somebody was dangerous they already did what was necessary to escort a person out, although that really fits into a different category.  It perhaps demonstrates why this bill was unnecessary at best.

Bill would allow ‘physical force’ to ‘terminate’ suspected trespass

Bill would allow ‘physical force’ to ‘terminate’ suspected trespass

 

Governor’s Push to Restore Management of Grizzly Bears to State Clears Key Hurdle

 

Governor’s Push to Restore Management of Grizzly Bears to State Clears Key Hurdle

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – In January of 2022, the State of Wyoming, under Governor Mark Gordon’s leadership, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear population. Today, the Service has completed its initial review of that petition and found that the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem may warrant removal from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife. The Service will now initiate a 12-month status review of the GYE grizzly bear. If the removal of the GYE grizzly bear is warranted, management authority will be given to the State of Wyoming.

“This is a positive step and I thank the Service. Wyoming’s petition, filed early last year, shows that – after 46 years, and over $52 million dollars of investment by Wyoming sportsmen and women – the population of the bear is far above long-established recovery goals,” Governor Mark Gordon said. “In addition, Wyoming has an established framework to provide adequate protection and management of the bear in the future. I trust the FWS will continue to use the best scientific evidence, and I hope that Wyoming will soon manage this species as part of our treasured wildlife populations”

Wyoming already has a grizzly bear management plan in place, and it will be amended to recognize the necessary legal requirements to satisfy the Endangered Species Act requirements for post-delisting management.

“Director Nesvik and I will be discussing timelines and next steps with the Fish and Wildlife Service and senior Department of Interior officials in the next several days,” Gordon said.

Today, there is an expanding number of grizzly bears that have grown beyond the edges of the bear’s biological and socially suitable range. With refined population estimates, data shows the population numbers more than 1,000 bears, far beyond all scientific requirements for a recovered, viable population.

“Game and Fish stands ready to manage this population with robust public involvement and the best science at a moment's notice,” said Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik. “Game and Fish has a strong track record of managing grizzly bears during the times they have been delisted in the past,”

-END-

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Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. Bills start...

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. Bills start...: 

HB 126, the gun 'em down trespass provision, passed the House.

HB0147 The, Unlawful trespass signage-taking of wildlife, passed the House.

SF0169 State shooting complex task force, passed the Senate.    This would fund a state facility.

Trophy Hunters

 

Large number of animal skulls found in Neanderthal cave