WILD BILL

Rex Rammell Could Be a Hero

By Bill Schneider, 10-10-06

They say you should address the issue, not the person. But in this case, I'm going to make an exception because like most people, I like to give credit where credit is due, to honor somebody who has done something not many people have been able to do.

Which brings me to Dr. Rex Rammell, the now-notorious owner of a game farm near the west edge of Yellowstone National Park--you know, the one with a big hole its fence.

As reported in several NewWest.net articles, up to 160 elk escaped from Rammell's 200-acre "shooter bull" operation (i.e. where shooters pay $5,995 to shoot "any trophy bull") and started a cascade of controversy. Basically, and uncommonly, government officials, including Idaho Governor Jim Risch went all in on this deal, showing no interest in working things out, like agencies usually do and as they have in the past with Rammell. Instead, they want all the escaped elk killed and (unofficially, of course) Rammell out of business.

In return, Rammell promises to use his situation to start an anti-government revolt the likes of which Idaho hasn't seen since Ruby Ridge. In response to what he sees as government oppression, Rammell threatens court action and implies he may just run for governor himself to un-seat Risch.

"It’s like I’ve gotten on the wrong side of the mafia,’’ Rammell told the Associated Press. ‘‘But America will soon know that there’s a mountain man out here that’s not going to let the government do it.’’

In the end, most escapees were killed or re-captured, but as feared, some of Rammell's domestic animals have become part of the Greater Yellowstone elk herd's gene pool.

And the biggest, most controversial news story of all hasn't been posted yet. State officials took tissue samples from many of the animals, and there is some serious breath-holding going on until the test results come in. If lab tests show, as rumored, that any of the escapees were elk/red deer hybrids or that they carried chronic wasting disease (CWD) into the wild elk population, all controversy experienced so far will pale in comparison to the uproar to follow.

We're many weeks, if not months, away from knowing these test results, and I'm going to assume for a minute that Rammell is correct when he claims the elk were disease-free and purebred Rocky Mountain elk. But even if he speaks with forked tongue, I wouldn't retract the praise I am about to heap upon him because more bad news would only re-enforce it.

Long ago when the Rolling Stones were in their twenties, I worked on the trail crew up in Glacier National Park. Our crew had a packer named Omar--you know the type who could have starred in City Slickers instead of Jack Palance. Omar never ran out of wild tales to tell around the campfire, and he could roll a cigarette with one hand in the wind without getting off his horse.

As it turned out, Omar had a way with mules, and he wasn't shy about telling us how he did it. "You have to get their attention before you can teach 'em anything," Omar used to say. "That's why I get a big stick and whack 'em right between the eyes. Then, they listen to me."

Dr. Rex Rammell reminds me of Omar, because both guys know how to teach things to animals known to be stubborn--mules and elk hunters.

When something bad gets well established and accepted, it takes a major event institute needed change. Such is the case with canned hunt operations and elk breeding farms in Idaho. Montana and Wyoming banned them, but they prospered in Idaho. Now, Idaho elk hunters have barely dodged the bullet coming out of Rammell's shooting preserve. Just think, hunters must be asking themselves, what would have happened if CWD or red deer genes had been introduced into our revered wild elk population? That thought, that whack between the eyes with a big stick, should be enough to get hunters to listen to the voice of reason and institute meaningful change.

That change can take many forms, but it should at least have three key elements: (1) a pure prohibition on charging a fee to shoot captive big game animals on shooting preserves, (2) a moratorium on new game farms or elk breeding operations, and (3) a phase out of existing elk breeding operations.

This will mean less domestically raised elk meat for sale at grocery stores and restaurants, but that is a price we should be willing to pay. It also means elk breeders have to convert to raising cattle or potatoes or some other crop that does not endanger the public trust, our invaluable wildlife populations.

And in today's news, we find even more evidence that Idaho should rid itself of game farming. In a rare move, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal sent an official letter to Risch asking him to ban game farms like his state did more than 30 years ago because such operations are not "in the public interest." In responding to the letter, Risch gave Idaho elk hunters a "tell" by not agreeing to do so. This should tell hunters they have a lot of political ground to plow if they want to get such a ban through the legislature, so they might want to think about going right to the people with a ballot initiative before the Great Escape of 2006 fades from the public consciousness.

As for Dr. Rex Rammell, let's take a realistic look at what he has inadvertently done.

In comments on various NewWest.net articles and in many emails I've received off-site, people have been full of anger towards him, using some descriptive language which wouldn't pass the libel test if I repeated it here. Well, to all his critics, I admit that I've never met Dr. Rex Rammell, but I'm not angry with him. Instead, I wonder if we shouldn't be thanking him for what he did.

First off, this controversy is not about him. It's about preserving our wild elk herds and the sport of elk hunting as we know it today. And in the war for this worthy cause, Rammell emerges as a hero. Without him, we would not have the opportunity we now have to correct decades of apathy and political weakness. If the people of Idaho, either through the legislature or ballot initiative process, step up and do the right thing, the Idaho Sportsman's Caucus should consider putting up a memorial down by Rexburg honoring the man who helped save elk hunting in Idaho.

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