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.

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