BOZEMAN, Mont. -
The federal government is proposing to lift threatened-species protections for Yellowstone-area grizzlies. The move could open the door to future hunts for the bears across parts of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

The discussion to remove grizzly bears from the threatened list has been a battleground for years. To some people the bear is still a vulnerable animal, but government officials say after years of protecting grizzlies, it's population in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem is now stable.
"If you manage the population then they will improve over time," said Bozeman resident Elisha Mann.
At last, some local say. Montana has a better idea of what to do with the grizzly bears and the population. It’s always best when you have management by the state rather than the federal government. So thank you, Fish and Wildlife Service, for doing the right thing.”
The predators once roamed much of North America. Trapping and hunting widely exterminated them across most of the lower 48 states by the early 1900, and grizzlies were given federal protections as a threatened species in 1975 when the population dropped under 200. Today, it is up to about 700, and the government says grizzlies are no longer in need of protection. Wildlife advocates fear removing them from protection will be harmful.
"They're still a really fragile species. They reproduce very slowly. They're really susceptible to getting in trouble around campgrounds and subdivisions or getting hit on roads," said Scott Christensen, the director of conservation at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
Sylvia Fallon, with the Natural Resources Defense Council, says lifting protection would halt the species' recovery and prevent the animals from spreading into new areas.
Other groups also voiced concerns, saying the grizzly population faces emerging threats from the loss of key food sources and the high number of bears killed over conflicts with humans.
State officials have been pressuring the federal government to lift protections. They want to allow trophy hunting of the animals. Removing protections would allow the states to hold the first trophy grizzly hunts since the 1970s. A grizzly bear hunting season is one of conservationists' biggest concerns, but some Montanans say that's not something they would oppose.
"I'm certainly not opposed to that at all, but as far as the average guy going out and shooting a grizzly bear, it'll never happen. It'll be very closely regulated, as it should be," said Rob Arnold, the owner of Montana Hunting Company.
Arnold anticipates that very few people would ever get the chance to hunt a bear.
"It keeps the population in check so the resources are available for all the animals," said Jimmy Talarico, a Bozeman resident who believes that hunting would be acceptable as long as the population is stable.
Legal grizzly hunting is not something that's been decided yet. Fish, Wildlife and Parks will work with Idaho and Wyoming to determine if that's a possibility down the line.
"This isn't something that people have to worry about. It's not about the demise of the grizzly bear," explained FWP spokeswoman Andrea Jones. "This should be a celebration that says 'We brought this animal back,'" Jones added. She said the guidelines used to protect the bears for the last 40 years will not be removed.
Hunting inside Yellowstone National Park would still be prohibited.
Wildlife advocates and environmentalists say a proposal to lift protections for Yellowstone-area grizzly bears is premature. There are still more steps to take to make the grizzly's delisting final.
The next step the will be a period of public comment on the issue. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will draw up a plan on where hunting can take place outside of Yellowstone with a window of more public comment. The state will then have to rewrite its hunting rules to include grizzlies. That plan has to mirror plans proposed in Wyoming and Idaho. Those will all be complied into a final plan which also requires public comment.
It could a year or more until the final phase is reached. There are Native American and environmental groups that oppose delisting, so any legal issues they bring up could delay that time frame.

So what do you think, is the population strong enough to allow management, much like deer and gator, take over for healthy population growth and

would you want to get a tag for one?????