Grand Teton National Park Ranger Nick Armitage assembled this schematic of Brian Taylor’s travels into the park the day he illegally shot a wolf last year.
A Kelly resident and big game hunting guide who illegally shot and killed a wolf in Grand Teton National Park last winter is being allowed to commercially outfit hunters without interruption.
Meeting Aug. 26, the Wyoming State Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides unanimously decided to issue Gros Ventre Wilderness Outfitters owner Brian Taylor a one-year conditional outfitters license.
Surprise, surprise! Who oversees the State Outfitters Board? A guide who violated the Lacey Act by killing a wolf in a National Park, and dragging it's body out of the Park, will be allowed to continue doing business. The fine and probation period are a slap on the wrist....maybe the lasting punishment is the permanent loss of reputation and credibility as a Wyoming guide.
I too, am very disappointed in the so called punishment meted out by the board. If you are in business as a hunting guide - your top TOP priority is to KNOW WHERE YOU ARE AT ALL TIMES!!! I truly don't believe his tale of not knowing or getting turned around. He spotted wolf tracks and went for it. Very sad. I've said it before and I'll say it again - We humans share the Earth with all species; we don't own it; we need to take care of it. Wyoming - your towns near the National Parks depend of visitors/tourists influx of $$$ - make them proud and start defending ALL WILDLIFE as it needs to be defended!!!
The Board doesn’t set a very high standard for the industry it claims to govern. If Taylor Andy Gros Ventre Outfitters are, essentially, allowed to hunt wolves in Grand Teton for $5000, how is that fair to those companies who respect authority and federal law? Given Mr.Taylor’s outright disdain for top predators, it can be easily argued this was planned with little regard for boundaries or common sense.
This is a very weak response to a very serious issue. What kind of guide doesn’t know where he is, especially if a local and in consideration of a national park? Anyone who wants to destroy wolves out of hate has zero understanding of how nature works and even less about hunting. When Mr. Taylor goes fishing and doesn’t catch anything, who does he blame? Probably bad luck, right? But if he hunts elk and gets skunked, it just be the wolves. Another Wyoming hunter who wants to shoot fish in a barrel and call himself a marksman. Some guide. Sounds like he can’t navigate his way out of a closet.
I have to wonder if it would have been different if he had been guiding a client, and that client killed the wolf? Two miles into the park and he never realized where he was? I'm convinced once he began tracking the pack.....where he was didn't really matter? Kind of odd that guides and outfitters would hold court for guides and outfitters? The fine seems appropriate......but the punishment doesn't. The young men that poached the cougar in Yellowstone had hunting, fishing and trapping prohibited for three years.....based on the same defense....not knowing the boundary?
The young man in Yellowstone doesn’t have the privilege of tenure that Mr. Taylor’s sycophantic board allows him. It’s simply a matter of who you know, despite them being equally skilled hunters. So to speak.
Keefover is disappointed that Mr Taylor's life is not completely destroyed. Some times people make mistakes and it has been determined that Mr Taylor made a mistake. He has been punished. The $5000 fine is a lot of money. Taylor will continue to guide and can mentor others about the importance of clearly knowing your location when hunting.
Do you think he’s a very good mentor? It’s quite obvious from factual public statements that Taylor and Gros Ventre Outfitters encourage elimination of top predators to make their hunting easier. That suggests to me that they aren’t very skilled at what they do. After all, he wasn’t even aware of where he was hunting. There are mistakes, then there are egregious attempts to circumvent the law passed off as mistakes.
Did anyone really think this would end differently? Whenever there is a club with few members, morality and justice within that club is virtually non-existent. The "defiance" culture is alive and well in Jackson Hole.
always surprises me the wolf hatred -even though I have been living with it for years-even here in Jackson, where we are supposed to be more educated and open minded than the rest of the state. Right?...siiigh....the battle rages on...
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(13) comments
When will the topic end? The guy shot a ferrel dog. What da ya want, bring back the death penalty ?
Surprise, surprise! Who oversees the State Outfitters Board? A guide who violated the Lacey Act by killing a wolf in a National Park, and dragging it's body out of the Park, will be allowed to continue doing business. The fine and probation period are a slap on the wrist....maybe the lasting punishment is the permanent loss of reputation and credibility as a Wyoming guide.
I too, am very disappointed in the so called punishment meted out by the board. If you are in business as a hunting guide - your top TOP priority is to KNOW WHERE YOU ARE AT ALL TIMES!!! I truly don't believe his tale of not knowing or getting turned around. He spotted wolf tracks and went for it. Very sad. I've said it before and I'll say it again - We humans share the Earth with all species; we don't own it; we need to take care of it. Wyoming - your towns near the National Parks depend of visitors/tourists influx of $$$ - make them proud and start defending ALL WILDLIFE as it needs to be defended!!!
The Board doesn’t set a very high standard for the industry it claims to govern. If Taylor Andy Gros Ventre Outfitters are, essentially, allowed to hunt wolves in Grand Teton for $5000, how is that fair to those companies who respect authority and federal law? Given Mr.Taylor’s outright disdain for top predators, it can be easily argued this was planned with little regard for boundaries or common sense.
This is a very weak response to a very serious issue. What kind of guide doesn’t know where he is, especially if a local and in consideration of a national park? Anyone who wants to destroy wolves out of hate has zero understanding of how nature works and even less about hunting. When Mr. Taylor goes fishing and doesn’t catch anything, who does he blame? Probably bad luck, right? But if he hunts elk and gets skunked, it just be the wolves. Another Wyoming hunter who wants to shoot fish in a barrel and call himself a marksman. Some guide. Sounds like he can’t navigate his way out of a closet.
I have to wonder if it would have been different if he had been guiding a client, and that client killed the wolf? Two miles into the park and he never realized where he was? I'm convinced once he began tracking the pack.....where he was didn't really matter? Kind of odd that guides and outfitters would hold court for guides and outfitters? The fine seems appropriate......but the punishment doesn't. The young men that poached the cougar in Yellowstone had hunting, fishing and trapping prohibited for three years.....based on the same defense....not knowing the boundary?
The young man in Yellowstone doesn’t have the privilege of tenure that Mr. Taylor’s sycophantic board allows him. It’s simply a matter of who you know, despite them being equally skilled hunters. So to speak.
Should have used the Hume defense, that wolf was going to die anyway.
Keefover is disappointed that Mr Taylor's life is not completely destroyed. Some times people make mistakes and it has been determined that Mr Taylor made a mistake. He has been punished. The $5000 fine is a lot of money. Taylor will continue to guide and can mentor others about the importance of clearly knowing your location when hunting.
The fine should have been five times as much. $5000 can't replace a protected animal and is not enough to discourage this from happening again.
Do you think he’s a very good mentor? It’s quite obvious from factual public statements that Taylor and Gros Ventre Outfitters encourage elimination of top predators to make their hunting easier. That suggests to me that they aren’t very skilled at what they do. After all, he wasn’t even aware of where he was hunting. There are mistakes, then there are egregious attempts to circumvent the law passed off as mistakes.
Did anyone really think this would end differently? Whenever there is a club with few members, morality and justice within that club is virtually non-existent. The "defiance" culture is alive and well in Jackson Hole.
always surprises me the wolf hatred -even though I have been living with it for years-even here in Jackson, where we are supposed to be more educated and open minded than the rest of the state. Right?...siiigh....the battle rages on...
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Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Please turn off your CAPS LOCK.
No personal attacks. Discuss issues & opinions rather than denigrating someone with an opposing view.
No political attacks. Refrain from using negative slang when identifying political parties.
Be truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the “Report” link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with us. We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts or history behind an article.
Use your real name: Anonymous commenting is not allowed.
.
The News&Guide welcomes comments from our paid subscribers. Tell us what you think. Thanks for engaging in the conversation!