If A Grizzly Is Attacking You In Yellowstone, It Is Illegal For You To Shoot It
BY Herschel Smith1 year, 5 months ago
It’s illegal to even so much as point a firearm at a wild animal in Yellowstone Park, so bear spray would be the only allowable defense in case of a bear attack.
While it’s legal to carry firearms both open and concealed in Yellowstone, it’s not legal to brandish, aim or shoot them — at animals, people or even targets.
“It is unlawful to point, display or discharge a firearm in the park,” Park Service spokeswoman Linda Veress told Cowboy State Daily. “If a firearm is discharged against wildlife, we would investigate the incident.”
The penalties of any firearms-related violation in Yellowstone Park would depend upon the outcome of an investigation into the incident, she said.
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Yellowstone allows people to have firearms in their vehicles, and even to carry them on their persons in some places. But people can’t fire them, even for target practice, within the park, according to breakdown of Yellowstone gun regulations published by Outside Magazine.
The Yellowstone firearms rules were established mostly because so many hunters and other firearms owners travel through the park from the gun-friendly states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
But the strict rules against firing the weapons would leave someone carrying a firearm with little legal option, other than perhaps to use it as a club against a bear, moose or other large, angry critter.
The Park Service recommends that people carry bear spray for defense against possible animal attacks in Yellowstone, Veress said. The agency offers information and tips for the proper use of bear spray and how to stay safe in grizzly country.
“God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” [Genesis 1:28].
“Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, as I gave the green plant.” [Genesis 9:3]
I’d certainly like to see this challenged in court. In the mean time, there goes that backpacking trip to Shoshone lake out the window.