34 bison killed in first days of Elk Refuge hunt

Hunters have killed 34 bison in the first 48 hours of the hunting season on the National Elk Refuge. Hunters took eight bulls, 25 cows and one calf between Wednesday and Friday. From 2007 to 2011, hunters took an average of just 11 animals on opening day. A 2007 plan drawn up by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service called for reducing the size of the bison herd to about 500 from 1,200. An aerial survey done last winter counted 910. Wyoming Fish and Game issued 410 of the once-in-a-lifetime bison permits this year. Of those, 300 licenses are for cows or calves and 110 are "either-sex" tags.