Hunt Responsibly Near National Parks

Growing up in the south, I grew up with a dad who was gone almost every weekend during deer hunting season. Once I was old enough to wield a gun, I went into the woods with him and killed a few deer myself. I remember my dad being a very responsible hunter, making sure deer were large enough to be taken or not killing a male since he would help with the breeding population. So, it absolutely kills me when I hear of hunters being irresponsible. A hunter was recently charged for killing a bison within Grand Teton National Park boundaries. The hunter was cooperative with rangers and lead them to the location where he killed the bison. Though there are no lines drawn on the ground showing the boundaries of the park, it is the hunter's responsibility to know where he is based on GPS coordinates.

I think this really bugs me because of the long journey bison have faced as far as getting their numbers back up. There used to be millions of bison who roamed the plains of western America, up to Canada and down to Mexico. When settlers started moving west, the bison were slaughtered pretty relentlessly, to the point of near extinction. And this slaughter mostly happened for their skins, with the rest of the bison left to rot. This is depicted in the movie Dances With Wolves. Today, approximately 30,000 bison still roam freely on the range. Another 500,000 are actually captive bred for commercial purposes. 

These animals are some of my favorite to see in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. One actually lounged around our campsite when we visited Yellowstone a few years back, and one took the time to block the roadway while we were driving in the park on the same trip. If you ever have the chance to see them, you should definitely do it. It really is quite something to see a field full of them. I don't care if you think I'm sort of liberal conservationist, I think it would really suck if I can't show my kids these awesome creatures one day. 

If you want to read the story about this (click here). Below I have pics I have taken of these amazing creatures on my trip to Yellowstone.

A herd of bison

Our bison friend who blocked the road.

Bison lounging at our campsite

Day 10-Road Trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park

Well, it is been over a month since I've written. It's been a busy time. I'm happy to say I've submitted my

first scientific manuscript. Also, my wonderful hubby successfully defended his PhD this week, yay!!

Ok, so finally our last day in the park.

After our night in Canyon Village, we woke up to explore the area before we headed down to Grant Village. Of course, we had to start with the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was absolutely stunning.

At the top of the falls.

My hubby and the river that feeds the falls.

Looking over at the top of the falls.

A great view of the canyon.

The side of the canyon.

A pretty little cliff swallow.

After checking out the canyon, we headed down on the road towards Grant Village. It was a great drive that followed the Yellowstone River. This was actually one our favorite drives that we had in the park.

This picture has a heard of buffalo in the distance.

More buffalo in the distance.

A buffalo staring us down.

Elk in the distance.

This guy decided to walk out onto the road right in front of our car.

He did not want to move and cars coming from the other direction kept slowing down to look at him, so we couldn't go around him for a good 10 minutes.

We stopped at the sulphur caldron and mud volcano area.

This was my favorite geyser. I forget the name, but I like how it is a cave.

Yellowstone Lake-America's highest altitude lake.

There is a hike directly across from the West Thumb Geyser Basin to get a great view of the lake.

When we first approached the trail, we came across a small heard of elk.

Along the way came across some bones. This a vertebral column and pelvis.

A separated pelvis.

The view from the top of our hike.

Hubby and I on our hike.

On the way down from our hike, we came across this little pockets of hot water.

A miniature waterfall.

After our hike, we checked out the West Thumb Geyser area.

This geyser is called Fishing Cone. Apparently, when fisherman fished in the area, they would catch a fish and then put it directly into this hot geyser to cook the fish instantly.

This is our campsite at Grant Village.

We had an anniversary dinner that evening at the Grant Village Lake House Restaurant. 

So, that was our last day. I'll tell you about our trip home in the next post.