buck59
06-08-2004, 06:07 AM
posted 6/8/04
Montana seeks limited bison hunting
By MIKE STARK
Of The Gazette Staff
As soon as this fall, hunters may be allowed to take aim at up to 25 bison that wander out of Yellowstone National Park and into parts of Montana.
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks on Monday released a draft proposal for a bison hunt for areas directly north and west of Yellowstone.
Under the agency's preferred proposal, one to 25 bison permits would be issued for hunts near Gardiner and West Yellowstone. The season would run from Nov. 15 to Feb. 15.
Kurt Alt, wildlife manager in the agency's Bozeman office, said it's possible that a hunt could be instituted by this fall. Delays in getting the rules in final form could push it back, he said.
Supporters of the plan point out that the new hunt would be significantly different from hunts in the 1980s, when state officials essentially took hunters to the bison and allowed them to kill the animals with ease.
"It wasn't exactly what one would term a 'fair chase' hunt," said state Sen. Gary Perry, R-Manhattan.
Negative publicity eventually prompted the Montana Legislature to stop the hunts in 1991. The idea resurfaced among lawmakers last year as the controversy continued over the hazing, capturing and slaughter of bison that leave the park each winter.
Perry sponsored a bill giving Fish, Wildlife and Parks authority to establish a bison hunt in areas where the animals moved out of Yellowstone and into Montana. The bill drew criticism, including some from some hunters and conservation groups, but eventually passed.
onthenet
Montana FWP
draft plan
"It's a sensitive issue and it was a sensitive bill," Perry said. "But this is truly going to be a fair chase."
In its environmental assessment, state wildlife officials looked at several alternatives for the hunt, ranging from not holding one at all to allowing up to 225 permits.
The preferred option is a measured approach that's meant to entice hunters without having a significant impact on the population, Alt said.
"The point is to reinvest hunters in the species and hopefully get them a voice at the table," Alt said.
The hunt would include 24,000 acres in the Eagle Creek drainage near Gardiner and 21,000 acres in the Horse Butte area outside Yellowstone's western boundary.
Permits, issued through a random drawing of applicants, would cost $75 for Montana residents and $750 for nonresidents.
The hunt will not affect ongoing operations to keep bison from leaving Yellowstone each winter. That effort, which is an attempt to reduce the risk of bison transmitting brucellosis to neighboring cattle, is conducted by federal agents and the Montana Department of Livestock.
"We will be hazing next year," said Karen Cooper, a Department of Livestock spokeswoman.
Last winter, more than 260 bison were captured and sent to slaughter, and more than 1,300 were successfully hazed back into the park.
"The legislation was not intended to replace those management actions with hunting," Alt said.
But Perry said he hopes the hunt could eventually become a better tool for dealing with wandering bison.
"We don't want to continue the slaughter," he said. "Nobody's happy with that."
There's no doubt, though, that the bison hunt will draw controversy and protests. State planners said opposition could come with a cost.
"The only substantial increase in costs would be associated with monitoring/controlling opponents of bison hunting, if they decide to interfere with hunters, and lost business that would occur if organizations opposed to bison hunting mount a successful campaign to boycott Montana," the state assessment said.
Josh Osher of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group that has opposed the hazing and slaughter of Yellowstone bison, said the hunt is sure to draw opposition.
"There certainly will be protests of the hunt under this plan," he said. "But a boycott is not something we've advocated in the past because we don't want to see the gateway communities hurt."
Because the bison have been exposed to people for years, including through hazing operations, they are unlikely to flee when hunters get close, Osher said.
"People are going to be able to walk within a few feet of them and shoot them," Osher said. "Seven years of hazing and 15 years of shooting them has not stopped them from coming out of the park."
The group also opposes the joint involvement of the state wildlife agency and the Department of Livestock in the hunt.
"The Department of Livestock will still have the power to say yes or no to the hunt season by season," Osher said.
The Gallatin Wildlife Association, a sportsmen's group, also opposes the bison hunt proposal, partially because of the Department of Livestock's involvement, according to Joe Gutkowski, a board member.
"We have a lot of misgivings," he said.
Instead of focusing on a bison hunt, state and federal officials should be looking at ways to expand habitat on public lands for bison that migrate out of Yellowstone each winter, he said.
"Right now, the plan depends on buffalo retreating back into the park or getting killed," Gutkowski said. "That's not enhancing wildlife in Montana at all."
The Montana Wildlife Federation, a statewide sportsmen's group, has not developed a position on the proposal.
Perry, who sponsored the bill last year, said he hopes the new hunt doesn't draw the same kind of outcry as the earlier ones.
"We got letters from New York, California, even Germany and Italy. One young girl said, 'Please don't kill all the bison in Yellowstone,' " he said. "There was so much misunderstanding about the whole program. The whole reason we're doing this is to preserve the bison."
State officials will host a public meeting in Bozeman on June 21 to discuss the bison hunt. Public comments will be accepted until July 9.
Montana seeks limited bison hunting
By MIKE STARK
Of The Gazette Staff
As soon as this fall, hunters may be allowed to take aim at up to 25 bison that wander out of Yellowstone National Park and into parts of Montana.
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks on Monday released a draft proposal for a bison hunt for areas directly north and west of Yellowstone.
Under the agency's preferred proposal, one to 25 bison permits would be issued for hunts near Gardiner and West Yellowstone. The season would run from Nov. 15 to Feb. 15.
Kurt Alt, wildlife manager in the agency's Bozeman office, said it's possible that a hunt could be instituted by this fall. Delays in getting the rules in final form could push it back, he said.
Supporters of the plan point out that the new hunt would be significantly different from hunts in the 1980s, when state officials essentially took hunters to the bison and allowed them to kill the animals with ease.
"It wasn't exactly what one would term a 'fair chase' hunt," said state Sen. Gary Perry, R-Manhattan.
Negative publicity eventually prompted the Montana Legislature to stop the hunts in 1991. The idea resurfaced among lawmakers last year as the controversy continued over the hazing, capturing and slaughter of bison that leave the park each winter.
Perry sponsored a bill giving Fish, Wildlife and Parks authority to establish a bison hunt in areas where the animals moved out of Yellowstone and into Montana. The bill drew criticism, including some from some hunters and conservation groups, but eventually passed.
onthenet
Montana FWP
draft plan
"It's a sensitive issue and it was a sensitive bill," Perry said. "But this is truly going to be a fair chase."
In its environmental assessment, state wildlife officials looked at several alternatives for the hunt, ranging from not holding one at all to allowing up to 225 permits.
The preferred option is a measured approach that's meant to entice hunters without having a significant impact on the population, Alt said.
"The point is to reinvest hunters in the species and hopefully get them a voice at the table," Alt said.
The hunt would include 24,000 acres in the Eagle Creek drainage near Gardiner and 21,000 acres in the Horse Butte area outside Yellowstone's western boundary.
Permits, issued through a random drawing of applicants, would cost $75 for Montana residents and $750 for nonresidents.
The hunt will not affect ongoing operations to keep bison from leaving Yellowstone each winter. That effort, which is an attempt to reduce the risk of bison transmitting brucellosis to neighboring cattle, is conducted by federal agents and the Montana Department of Livestock.
"We will be hazing next year," said Karen Cooper, a Department of Livestock spokeswoman.
Last winter, more than 260 bison were captured and sent to slaughter, and more than 1,300 were successfully hazed back into the park.
"The legislation was not intended to replace those management actions with hunting," Alt said.
But Perry said he hopes the hunt could eventually become a better tool for dealing with wandering bison.
"We don't want to continue the slaughter," he said. "Nobody's happy with that."
There's no doubt, though, that the bison hunt will draw controversy and protests. State planners said opposition could come with a cost.
"The only substantial increase in costs would be associated with monitoring/controlling opponents of bison hunting, if they decide to interfere with hunters, and lost business that would occur if organizations opposed to bison hunting mount a successful campaign to boycott Montana," the state assessment said.
Josh Osher of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group that has opposed the hazing and slaughter of Yellowstone bison, said the hunt is sure to draw opposition.
"There certainly will be protests of the hunt under this plan," he said. "But a boycott is not something we've advocated in the past because we don't want to see the gateway communities hurt."
Because the bison have been exposed to people for years, including through hazing operations, they are unlikely to flee when hunters get close, Osher said.
"People are going to be able to walk within a few feet of them and shoot them," Osher said. "Seven years of hazing and 15 years of shooting them has not stopped them from coming out of the park."
The group also opposes the joint involvement of the state wildlife agency and the Department of Livestock in the hunt.
"The Department of Livestock will still have the power to say yes or no to the hunt season by season," Osher said.
The Gallatin Wildlife Association, a sportsmen's group, also opposes the bison hunt proposal, partially because of the Department of Livestock's involvement, according to Joe Gutkowski, a board member.
"We have a lot of misgivings," he said.
Instead of focusing on a bison hunt, state and federal officials should be looking at ways to expand habitat on public lands for bison that migrate out of Yellowstone each winter, he said.
"Right now, the plan depends on buffalo retreating back into the park or getting killed," Gutkowski said. "That's not enhancing wildlife in Montana at all."
The Montana Wildlife Federation, a statewide sportsmen's group, has not developed a position on the proposal.
Perry, who sponsored the bill last year, said he hopes the new hunt doesn't draw the same kind of outcry as the earlier ones.
"We got letters from New York, California, even Germany and Italy. One young girl said, 'Please don't kill all the bison in Yellowstone,' " he said. "There was so much misunderstanding about the whole program. The whole reason we're doing this is to preserve the bison."
State officials will host a public meeting in Bozeman on June 21 to discuss the bison hunt. Public comments will be accepted until July 9.