AR-News: Montan hunters divided on plan to hunt bison

[jim robertson]

Hunters divided on plan to hunt

By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer

The idea of opening a bison hunt in Montana is popular among politicians, 
but got a mixed reaction from hunters at a public meeting in Bozeman Monday 
evening.

Most of the hunters in the crowd decried the involvement of the Montana 
Department of Livestock, which must approve the hunt before it can go 
forward.

"When the (Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks) is holding the 
reins on this, I'll support it," said Bill O'Connell, of the Gallatin 
Wildlife Association.

Others said hunters should get a crack at bison instead of letting 
government officials kill them.

FWP officials, along with several state lawmakers, praised the proposed hunt 
as a step in the right direction.

The goal is to get hunters "invested" in bison, explained Kurt Alt, regional 
wildlife biologist for FWP. Long term, he said he'd like to see bison in 
huntable populations in other places around the state besides some small 
areas around Yellowstone National Park.

FWP hopes to "create the political will among sportsmen to do something with 
those bison and not just in the Yellowstone area," he told about 45 people 
gathered at the Holiday Inn.

Bison are a species "we've not done well by as wildlife agencies or as 
sportsmen," Alt said.

The 2003 Legislature passed a bill calling on FWP to devise a hunt, which 
the agency did in the form of an environmental assessment.

That document calls for allowing between one and 25 people to shoot bison in 
the the Eagle Creek area near Gardiner or in the Horse Butte area near West 
Yellowstone.

Unlike a previous and highly controversial hunt in the 1980s, when FWP 
called hunters and escorted them to bison, hunters would be responsible for 
finding and killing their own prey.

The season would last from Nov. 15 to Feb. 15, under the FWP proposal.

Protesters can be expected, but by dispersing the small number of hunters 
"we're hopeful that would minimize any hunter harassment," said Pat Flowers, 
FWP regional supervisor.

In the current situation, bison don't get much room outside the park because 
of fears they will spread brucellosis to cattle. In the Eagle Creek area, up 
to 100 can roam free and untested for disease. The same number can roam the 
Horse Butte area, but only after they've been captured and tests show no 
signs of brucellosis.

Other animals are hazed back into the park, or trapped and shipped to 
slaughter.

Nobody likes the status quo, said Sen. Gary Perry, R-Belgrade, who wrote the 
bill allowing the hunt.

"We all want to see free-roaming, disease free bison on our national 
forests," he said, and establishing a hunt is a step in that direction.

Some maintained it is putting the cart before the horse, however.

"Hunters have never been used for disease control," said Randy Newberg, of 
the Headwaters Fish and Game Association, and they shouldn't be used that 
way now.

He urged FWP to wait until bison have established a "full and complete 
recovery" outside the park before opening a hunting season on them.

Both the FWP commission and the Montana Board of Livestock must approve the 
hunt before it can take place.

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2004/06/22/news/bisonbzbigs.txt


It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of the 
existence of Man. -- Maimonides (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon  1135-1204)