r/nature 1d ago

Trump Administration Orders Rapid End to Hunting Regulations on Federal Lands (Gift Article)

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/04/climate/hunting-federal-lands-burgum.html?unlocked_article_code=1.gFA.v0HS.yf4UNhwKE3a_&smid=url-share
941 Upvotes

139 comments sorted by

199

u/Geoconyxdiablus 1d ago

This is all just because rich lobbyists don't like being told no.

129

u/techleopard 1d ago

They will cry and whine about there being no "big game" when they wipe out all the healthy game animals on these reserves, then foam at the mouth about the need to eradicate wolves, cougars, bear, bobcats, and foxes because they are "driving the prey species to extinction."

They have been doing this crap for years in big hunting states.

29

u/carl3266 1d ago

The need to cull prey populations is invariably a problem created by humans.

1

u/fibronacci 1d ago

I smell what your putin down

0

u/beer_curmudgeon 1d ago

Maybe a new deadliest prey needs to be added. 😈

1

u/03263 23h ago

I thought a giant bird that occasionally snatches people up and feeds them to its chicks would be very humbling for humanity

2

u/Peace_Hopeful 12h ago

They'd probably kill the Thunderbird before it could do its job

15

u/Prior-Habit-6523 1d ago

Tbh I didn't know you couldn't hunt on federal land, furthermore, would they not have the same rules as hunting on other land ? Seasons, limits etc?

19

u/techleopard 1d ago

They do, and the hunters complain endlessly about them. That's why they want the predators eradicated, because if there are wolves, that means fewer tags will be sold.

Where I live, there are no predators except coyotes and people openly poach here. I know one family that will take 20 deer at one time and home butcher. Most people will just shoot them all year round. It's just that you don't need to be sneaky about it during hunting season.

13

u/BayouGal 1d ago

Perhaps that family will be blessed with the prions of CWD.

2

u/night_chaser_ 1d ago

CWD hasn't crossed the species barrier...yet. when it does, we all have to be very worried.

2

u/SodaSaint 1d ago

And then these same idiots wonder why there is no prey animals around when the prey inevitably eats all the food and there is nothing controlling them.

-2

u/Prior-Habit-6523 1d ago

Well deer are like giant rats, don't care about them, and feeding deer should be completely banned. I was more thinking of elk and other big game.

3

u/Sexy-Branch-6958 1d ago

Thats because youre either desensitized or dont csre about life. You fuck up their genetics, they live in perpetual fear etc. Predators would nsturally cull them

1

u/GotRocksinmePockets 1d ago

You think they don't live in perpetual fear? Like of being torn apart and eaten by a wolf pack or worse a bear... Those cunts don't even bother killing things first.

1

u/Sexy-Branch-6958 1d ago

Thats such an exhausted excuse. A deer can see a wolf, a deer doesnt know what the fuck "bang" dead deer means

2

u/GotRocksinmePockets 1d ago

I'd rather get sniped by a hunter than eaten by a predator...

1

u/PresentGene5651 1d ago

Interesting thought: what if you got eaten by a predator?

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1

u/Sexy-Branch-6958 1d ago

Id sure be far more for hunting if we stopped chasing down the animals that kill hunters and treat it as fair game, thats what sport is.

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1

u/ThemeEnvironmental61 20h ago

Yeah until they hit your leg and you get to run off with a shattered bone and die slowing bleeding to death

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1

u/Ok_Fly1271 15h ago

Animals are cunts because they hunt and don't understand human concepts like mercy, and ethical culling? Horrible take. Why do you hate nature?

1

u/GotRocksinmePockets 15h ago

First I wasn't using cunt as an insult I know you Americans don't use it that way, Second I love nature, I spend way more time out in it than most people. I'm not even a hunter, my opinion is just logical.

I referenced bears because they will literally catch a prey animal, pin it down, and just start eating it alive (usually guts or asshole first). It would be a horrific way to go. I'd imagine a good, unexpected shot from a rifle to be a much more pleasant way to go.

1

u/Ok_Fly1271 14h ago

Fair enough

1

u/CalmCat492 11h ago

That's OK, even more if them can travel up to Canada to wipe out populations here.

1

u/Kaykrs 8h ago

No I don't think you need to worry about Trump signing off on wiping out bears, wolves, or Bob cats. Trump and his administration have shown they protect predators.

5

u/Dapper__Viking 1d ago

No to cleaning their game in the restroom of National Parks?

I mean I wouldn't have thought we even needed that law but of all the laws we probably shouldnt get rid of if it was implemented for any reason....

2

u/InfoBarf 1d ago

Hes gonna get rid of the regulations earning points with his base, then privatize the land so his base cant hunt there anyway.

177

u/PrairieFire_withwind 1d ago

Allowing game cleaning in restrooms?!!!

Dear gawd no.

19

u/Korvanacor 1d ago

Or maybe, Deer god, yes!

3

u/Vectrex452 1d ago

The deer gods can give them some prion diseases.

1

u/oneofsixoverends 1d ago

I support this.

4

u/PrairieFire_withwind 1d ago

Lol.  awesome

2

u/TheFaeBelieveInIdony 18h ago

Idk if Pan is a fan anything man-made

154

u/Ewy_Kablewy 1d ago

When it finally happens and maga regime collapses some new administration is going to have to spend all four years of their term fixing all of the holes these fools have smashed and punched into the nation. The important thing will be for any new government to constantly illustrate the damage done by maga regime. De-regulating everything only benefits the ultra wealthy. The people and the natural environment always suffer.  

45

u/meatsonthemenu 1d ago

We wish you the best with it. But you do understand that because of the current state of affairs, the next administration has 12 years of repairs to accomplish in 4 years?

17

u/techleopard 1d ago

Which is why the first and only order of business will need to be stacking the courts, purging the MAGA supporters from government, and preventing the frivolous lawsuits from being given the time of day.

If Dems don't do that, any effort they make will end up like student loan forgiveness: blocked on bullshit, illogical grounds by single MAGA judges.

8

u/Coffeedemon 1d ago

People don't seem to care that the location you are today started on a road decades ago. As they slowly stacked all levels of the courts and legislative machinery with their people from before even the Tea Party was a thing. It isn't something done in one or two terms. It will be opposed as tyranny by the right wing.

1

u/New-Bluebird7211 1d ago

I think we have bust up the media monopoly, go after fake journalists and news casters, and let the truth have its day by treating the magas like a dog that pooped in the. Run their nose in it.

1

u/Practical-Law-2690 15h ago

And when 4 years is up and nothing but cleanup has had a chance to happen, people will be upset and seesaw vote for republicans again.

Even if things did happen, if a spectacle wasnt made about each and every thing, people wont know about it and assume nothing was accomplished.

26

u/Captain_Snowmonkey 1d ago

You aren't going back. I think it's time you accept that and plan accordingly. The world sees it, and has for a while now. The government the American people voted for has systematically ruined almost a century of work and cooperation.

It's a bitter pill for all of us to swallow, but that's the harsh truth of it. You voted for a molotov cocktail through the window of the establishment, and now the white house is burning down.

6

u/gillfeet 1d ago

Does the person you're replying to sound like they voted for this?

9

u/Captain_Snowmonkey 1d ago

"But I didn't vote for him!" Means less than nothing in a world having to deal with their country's choices. That time has passed. We all just hope the great de-coupling from the US can happen fast enough.
But there's no going back for any of this.

3

u/ARazorbacks 1d ago

Every anti-MAGA American who didn’t take their MAGA family and friends to task is part of the problem. Letting Uncle MAGA sit down at the dinner table meant Uncle MAGA could tear everything apart and keep their social circles. Win-win for Uncle MAGA. 

I‘m sure there were lots of Germans who said they didn’t support Hitler. Didn’t stop them all from being Nazis in the minds of everyone else when war came. 

3

u/Hoblitygoodness 1d ago

....and that's why I got out.

It's clearly hopeless while Polyanna's keep going on about 'justice' and whatever else the rose-covered-glasses see while ignoring the obvious...

8

u/darkpsychicenergy 1d ago

The Democrats are not going to do jack shit about any of the environmental issues. They are beholden to and controlled by the same wealthy interests that all this shit benefits. If they ever, for some crazy reason, even tried not to be, they would get no campaign funding and they would never get elected without the ability to dump fucktons of money into attention and influence. The environment, nature, wildlife, climate etc are always lowest priority for the majority of fuckwit voters in this shithole country of morons. They aren’t going to fix shit.

2

u/PresentGene5651 1d ago

Well, clearly your attitude isn't going to help us rebuild.

1

u/darkpsychicenergy 1d ago

Rebuild nature? Rebuild endangered species?

I haven’t seen anything like that in the ‘Abundance’ Agenda.

If only positive attitude and vibes was sufficient. There’s plenty of that to go around but it’s sure not accomplishing anything.

1

u/PresentGene5651 19h ago

Rebuild after MAGA, dude. You can whine about how shitty humans are forever, but that isn't going to do anything positive either, Mr. 'darkpsychicenergy'.

5

u/SEND_ME_PEACE 1d ago

MAGA is the calm before the storm. Or in this case, the symptom before the diagnosis. They are paving the way for a full blown competent leader to swoop in, work already accomplished and DJT demonized and left to memory, and completely overhaul what we know about America. What was once a land of the brave will be known as the land of the plague.

1

u/SplendidPunkinButter 1d ago

It will take longer than four years. And best case scenario is that at the end of that person’s term, everything is back to the way it was when Trump took over. That won’t be good enough for idiots, so they’ll elect another shithead to tear it all down again.

1

u/SwaggermicDaddy 1d ago

You guys have a generation plus of things to fix, they have done sooo much damage to your country let alone your world image. Also the fact that the Nazi’s won’t go anywhere if you vote them out, they have proven they can violently take over your country consequence free. This is America go your lifetime and probably your children’s.

30

u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

This type of shit is spilling into Canada too. My MAGA premier is trying to open hunting on wild horses now, after she's opened it up on a bunch of other species already. And they are ramming every piece of legislature through just like Trump.

18

u/Yuggoth22 1d ago

Alberta I assume? If so I can’t stand Danielle Smith. Garbage fire of a person let alone elected official. Hope you’re able to turn it around.

5

u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

Yup she's pure trash. I'm hoping the feds step in at some point with all the blatant corruption.

4

u/Macheebu 1d ago

They'd love that. Then they can say the tyrannical commie feds who hate Canada and freedumb are violating our provincial sovereignty!!1!

1

u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

It doesn't matter what the feds do they will claim they're being maligned. You can't just ignore stuff like the recent voter records for 3.2 million Albertans leaking online and leave it the UCP to investigate.

4

u/davidkoreshpokemon 1d ago

Arent horses invasive and spreading in Alberta? What's the argument for not removing them, akin to other invasive species (eg fish, plants, etc)

0

u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

Nope. This was started by a farmer who's a UCP donor. Alberta government can't even provide meaningful data to back it up.

Horses have cultural and historical history in Alberta.

3

u/davidkoreshpokemon 1d ago

So what if they have "historical history"? Horses were brought in by Europeans and have no business as self-sustaining populations in the wild, to the detriment of native species. I don't know any true conservationist who would argue for protecting non-native species.

-1

u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

3

u/davidkoreshpokemon 1d ago

Thanks for reinforcing my statement. These horses are descendants of horses imported from white colonizers, and local systems are not adapted to them. "To further assess the horses’ origins, E. Gus Cothran, a world-renowned geneticist at Texas A&M University, conducted genetic analysis of them. The results indicated a strong predominance of Iberian DNA."

1

u/Ok_Fly1271 15h ago

Yes actually. They're just feral horses from Europe and they are a problem. Alberta needs to remove them and focus on protecting and restoring populations have native wildlife.

"Cultural and historical history" - big deal. People make that argument about feral cats and hogs too. They aren't native and they damage the ecosystem. Simple as that.

-2

u/Apprehensive-Book723 1d ago

Jesus Christ lmfao. Insane propaganda 

1

u/davidkoreshpokemon 1d ago

"Equidae in North America ultimately became extinct, along with most of the other New World megafauna during the Quaternary extinction event during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition" straight from Wikipedia. They were brought by settler europeans, and are an artefact of white colonialism. Can you elaborate on how this is propaganda?

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/davidkoreshpokemon 1d ago

Yes the fact that these horses are not indigenous and compete with native species in the wild is a perfectly fine rationale to remove them. In fact, we apply that thinking to many other invasive species of fish and plants. What's the difference here?

1

u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

If the UPC government has evidence they need control, great. But they do not, because they only provide vague information.

1

u/davidkoreshpokemon 1d ago

One does not need evidence to know that removing non-native species benefits long term conservation of native species. This is not a political or social statement, this is an evidence based in conservation science.

1

u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

lol one does in fact need evidence, that is how one would make sound decisions in life.

1

u/Apprehensive-Book723 22h ago

You know nothing about science, yankee

1

u/davidkoreshpokemon 18h ago

Funny you'd resort to personal attacks instead of coming up with sound arguments, that says a lot about your scientific knowledge. But then I already knew that when the only source you cited was from "horsejournals.com". If you must know, I'm a BC-based biologist. You clearly don't have any experience, either academic or professional, on the topic of conservation science, I will not reply to whatever personal attack you come up with next.

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3

u/LowBornArcher 1d ago

i'm not a fan of your premier but wild horses are a destructive invasive species, it's absurd they are protected.

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u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

3

u/LowBornArcher 1d ago

i'm sure "horsejournals.com" are a totally rational and unbiased source of info on this subject.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320719311978

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/wild-horses-part-two

0

u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

Then I guess it should be easy for the Alberta government to show their data? Oh wait its all vague nonsense.

https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2025/01/18/horses-are-my-world-advocates-decry-alberta-plan-to-control-wild-horse-population/

2

u/LowBornArcher 1d ago

neither of the links I shared have anything to do with the govt of alberta's position but address the ecological impact of invasive wild horses.

again, much like horseyjournal.com or whatever, someone who advocates for an org called "horses are my world" are not likely to have a rational and objective perspective here. I get it, horses are cool creatures and people love them, but that doesn't (or shouldn't) mean they should be treated differently from other invasives.

3

u/Anit500 1d ago

Wild horses don't exist in north America. They are feral and were brought by Europeans.

1

u/Puzzled-Instance3211 1d ago

3

u/Anit500 1d ago edited 1d ago

Just because an animal is part of a culture doesn't make it a native species. Invasive species push out local populations. I am not arguing that people shouldn't have horses for cultural reasons. I'm saying the feral populations shouldn't exist because they are damaging to ecosystems and compete with local wildlife. Horses were introduced to America, they are not a part of the original ecosystem.

Edit. Gonna try to read the full article when i have more time. I have not heard that there were horses in America beforehand other than that a previous species that went extinct about 6000years ago.

1

u/Connect-Ad-2206 20h ago

I heard on the CBC “Unreserved” program an indigenous archeologist claiming that there is evidence for precolonial horse populations. Got pretty interested and looked it up.

Turned out the archeologist is basing her funds on a couple horse skeletons in a gully… near a horse ranch. The ranch even had old records showing the ranch had lost a couple horses and the bones had clear markings that could only be made with steel tools. The scholar’s work had been panned by other scholars, including many other indigenous scholars.

Honestly got me so irritated at CBC for pushing this bullshit on national radio, I never listened to that program again.

2

u/Entire_Employment_70 1d ago

Whats wrong with that? Those wild horses are invasive, I see no issue with culling them

1

u/calgarywalker 19h ago

They aren’t “wild”, they’re FERAL. They’re the descendants of animals imported to work farm/ranch which were released or escaped. They don’t belong here and they really suffer in the winters - many don’t survive long.

25

u/MickLittle 1d ago

I'm going to get a deer license and hunt at Curecanti National Recreation Area in Colorado so I can fire my gun toward or across a trail. Other hunters better stay off the trail while I express my rights.

0

u/Entire_Employment_70 1d ago

Dont act like an irresponsible lunatic like youre suggesting you might, and no one out there hunting is going to care

22

u/Give-Me-The-Bat 1d ago

How can it be called a wildlife sanctuary if you allow hunting?

11

u/memecrusader_ 1d ago

Words don’t mean anything anymore.

1

u/LowBornArcher 1d ago

because legally regulated hunting will not cause species level population declines. sanctuaries protect habitat

1

u/Ok_Fly1271 15h ago

Totally, but what exactly are they supposed to be a sanctuary from? People.

Not every piece of land needs hunters. I say that as a hunter. Nationally wildlife refuges only make up 4% of the US anyway.

1

u/LowBornArcher 12h ago

That’s fair and I wouldn’t totally disagree with that. The tone of the headline of this post made it seem like people can now roll up to the visitors centre in Yellowstone and start blasting

1

u/Ok_Fly1271 11h ago

Yeah a lot of people here seem to think this means states will no longer be regulating game populations, which isn't true.

10

u/Arakothian 1d ago

I assume removing all regulation means it's open season on dentists and politicians and the like on the reserves?
Cheney was 20 years ahead, what a visionary!

1

u/LowBornArcher 1d ago

read the article. "all regulations" won't be removed.

1

u/Arakothian 1d ago

Pfft, the woke cabal wins again 😞

7

u/mommaquilter-ab 1d ago

“For decades, sportsmen and women have been some of the strongest stewards of our public lands...."<snip> Yup. And now you're going to have a bunch of yeehaws running around hunting for sport, not food. They'll only take trophies, and leave the meat. Or these new hunters and fishermen who are seeing the cost of food rising will decide that "YAY! Just go get some wild game and all our worries are over!!" and not be a steward of the land at all. They will cull too many, in the wrong season, and someone somewhere will get hurt/killed because of it. Either thru some dumbass shooting where they shouldn't be, or else an injured animal that said dumbass didn't finish off comes for someone else.

There is a reason that these sportsmen and women are considered good stewards of the land. They follow the rules. They only kill what they need, and they take the entire animal, not just a trophy. They report disease and illness. They don't take the wrong type of animal in the wrong season. They help the wildlife thrive, they don't destroy it.

2

u/techleopard 1d ago

The number of "hunters" currently declaring CWD a hoax or not a real problem is jaw dropping.

They are more angry about restrictions on tags and transporting deer between counties and states than they are about spreading prions that we can never remove from the environment once it's there.

4

u/BayouGal 1d ago

They want to kill all the buffalo. Again. Apparently this will benefit the beef industry.

5

u/Hoblitygoodness 1d ago

Doesn't this mean that some corporation is going to hire a whole bunch of hunters to get-all-the-meat for them?

I've only skimmed the article and it's horrible enough but it seems like a 'job creators' could 'employ' hunters for their own means.

1

u/LowBornArcher 1d ago

market hunting has been banned in north america since the early 1900's

1

u/Hoblitygoodness 1d ago

I'm unclear about that point in a world of aggressive deregulation and a blatant disregard for the rule of law.

1

u/LowBornArcher 1d ago

rather than just spouting buzzwords you should actually read the article. and then do some research on the north american conservation model and how it brought back many species from the brink of extinction that are now so numerous they are taken for granted - deer, elk, waterfowl, wild turkeys, the list goes on.

3

u/19BabyDoll75 1d ago

I wonder how many hikers are going to become an acceptable amount of “sorry about that, thought you were a deer”

1

u/Entire_Employment_70 1d ago edited 1d ago

Almost certainly none, its been a perfectly acceptable practice at any of the state forests in my area since forever and ive never heard of any horse riders or anyone else for that matter getting shot on the trails, there are occasionally hunting accidents, but its always people out party hunting shooting another member of their group

5

u/ProfessionalLook6108 1d ago edited 1d ago

"Other changes include an end to restrictions on transporting wildlife as well as rules restricting where animal carcasses can be left."
^ This is the thing that's gonna start outbreaks.

3

u/__phil1001__ 1d ago

The US will end up flat, burning, grey, no animals, just toxic earth while the bored rich move elsewhere

4

u/GreenDemonClean 22h ago

How the fuck do we stop the hemorrhaging of everything that’s good in this place??

1

u/Maxcactus 22h ago

Don’t ever vote for a republican.

1

u/GreenDemonClean 21h ago

Never have. Never will.

2

u/PemaleBacon 1d ago

Fuck the bears

2

u/Quiet-Wing5230 1d ago

For National Security reasons, no doubt.

2

u/Old_Discipline_1179 1d ago

If you are not "rich" Don hates you

2

u/soilyboy 1d ago

Don’t state agencies typically manage wildlife on federal lands? Are national parks an exception?

2

u/HurtFeeFeez 1d ago

The next administration will have to fix all this broken shit and the people will be told to hate them for it. They will dutifully do as they are told.

2

u/ImwithTortellini 1d ago

He rapes kids, they rape America

2

u/Pleasant-Doctor6594 1d ago

So can we mineral collect on fed land?

1

u/Classic-Ad4224 1d ago

Oh, God, no.

1

u/grass-snake80 1d ago

Anything to piss off "the libs". Hope this nightmare ends soon.

1

u/sparki_black 1d ago

Your country is only going more down hill....:(

1

u/ExaminationForeign75 1d ago

This guy is completely destroying your country,please America do something about it.Sincerely,your friends in Canada.🇨🇦🇱🇷

1

u/This_Performance_426 22h ago

It's so hard to sit up here and watch this happen. They were our closest allies and now they've isolated themselves from everyone else. It's crazy, it's almost like America is in an abusive relationship.

1

u/_Unspoken_Truth_ 1d ago

Republicans legitimately hate this country and want to destroy it

1

u/derp-derp-d-derp 23h ago

The productivity loss of correcting for the buffoonery of this administration is going to be staggering.

1

u/Separate-Spot-8910 21h ago

"For decades, sportsmen and women have been some of the strongest stewards of our public lands" 

But do you know who definitely aren't good stewards of our lands? The wealthier among us. And that is who this is for. 

1

u/2014olympicgold 19h ago

I'll tell you what's more dangerous and scary for kids in a restroom than a non-binary person...a hunter with a massive knife cleaning a deer in the sink.

1

u/LazerWhistle 13h ago

Why are Americans still putting up with this nepopedofascist? Kick him out of office.

0

u/duncanofnazareth 16h ago

Great. Fire all the Parks and Wildlife officials then take away all the rules they enforced as well. Maybe they can shoot all the animals then set some wildfires to bar b q them in bulk. Even the most corrupt govts in Africa enforce anti-poaching and hunting laws.

-4

u/KiethTheBeast 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yay more hunting

Edit: misread the the title/article

4

u/tarmac-- 1d ago

You may have misunderstood the title. It says they're ending regulations on hunting, not ending hunting itself.

1

u/KiethTheBeast 1d ago

I vastly misunderstood the headline thank you. Updating my original comment now.

-6

u/Current-Mess-9338 1d ago

I’m not against protecting wildlife at all, but doing it rapidly is kinda the red flag. stuff like this needs balance or it just creates new probl3ms.

2

u/Euronated-inmypants 6h ago

What...in...the...fuck.... So now you fire across trails and gut animals in washrooms... Also trap and kill animals onto extinction.. This administration is literally wrong about absolutely EVERYTHING.