2008 Woodie Awards
Bison Hunting Legalized
For the first time in fifteen years it is legal to hunt bison in Montana.
Kelly McNoldy
Issue date: 10/14/05 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
For the first time in 15 years, it is legal to hunt bison in Montana. Since the state announced that it will be giving out 24 licenses last month to hunt for bison, more than 6,000 people applied, most of them residents of Montana.
Tom Palmer, a spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said that a drawing would be held sometime this week to give away those 24 licenses.
"It's a real hunt. I think hunters recognize that and are interested in participating," Palmer said.
Besides the 24 public licenses, 16 have been given to American Indian tribes in Montana and 10 have been given to people who were selected earlier this year to go hunting that was cancelled.
The hunt will be broken into two periods: Nov. 15-Jan. 15 and Jan. 16-Feb. 15. As many as 25 bison could be killed during each period.
Bison hunting has been illegal since 1990 after many protests and tourist boycotts. Yellowstone National Park has the highest population of these once near-extinct animals, with over 4,900 roaming the lands of the nation's most famous park.
During the winter, many bison leave Yellowstone to forage, which causes many people in Montana to worry because a few of the bison from Yellowstone are infected with brucellosis, a disease that if passed onto cows, could cause them to abort.
Under the federal-state management plan, bison that leave the park are subject to hazing, or capture and testing for brucellosis. Bison testing positive are sent to slaughter.
"We have done quite a lot in five years," said Karen Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Livestock, one of the five agencies involved in the bison management plan. The plan is in it's first of the three phases.
However, a review of the five agencies involved in the bison managing plan on Sept. 29 said that this plan was not ready to go to the next phase. It has not met five of the 14 goals, including inoculating bison against the disease brucellosis by administering vaccine using means such as darts fired from rifles.
But Mike Mease of the bison-advocacy group Buffalo Field Campaign called the plan a waste of time and money. "Even before it was in place, there had not been a documented case of bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle in the wild," he said.
"This is just a ridiculous thing that's going on out here," Mease said, "attention should focus instead on improving the brucellosis vaccine."
Steve Pilcher, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, said most ranchers in the region do vaccinate to protect their herds. But they also expect the agencies and specifically the National Park Service to do their part as well, said Pilcher.
Pilcher mentioned that while the plan has worked so far, there has been a lack of "true progress" toward eliminating brucellosis from the greater Yellowstone area and wiping out the threat of transmission.
Tom Palmer, a spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said that a drawing would be held sometime this week to give away those 24 licenses.
"It's a real hunt. I think hunters recognize that and are interested in participating," Palmer said.
Besides the 24 public licenses, 16 have been given to American Indian tribes in Montana and 10 have been given to people who were selected earlier this year to go hunting that was cancelled.
The hunt will be broken into two periods: Nov. 15-Jan. 15 and Jan. 16-Feb. 15. As many as 25 bison could be killed during each period.
Bison hunting has been illegal since 1990 after many protests and tourist boycotts. Yellowstone National Park has the highest population of these once near-extinct animals, with over 4,900 roaming the lands of the nation's most famous park.
During the winter, many bison leave Yellowstone to forage, which causes many people in Montana to worry because a few of the bison from Yellowstone are infected with brucellosis, a disease that if passed onto cows, could cause them to abort.
Under the federal-state management plan, bison that leave the park are subject to hazing, or capture and testing for brucellosis. Bison testing positive are sent to slaughter.
"We have done quite a lot in five years," said Karen Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Livestock, one of the five agencies involved in the bison management plan. The plan is in it's first of the three phases.
However, a review of the five agencies involved in the bison managing plan on Sept. 29 said that this plan was not ready to go to the next phase. It has not met five of the 14 goals, including inoculating bison against the disease brucellosis by administering vaccine using means such as darts fired from rifles.
But Mike Mease of the bison-advocacy group Buffalo Field Campaign called the plan a waste of time and money. "Even before it was in place, there had not been a documented case of bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle in the wild," he said.
"This is just a ridiculous thing that's going on out here," Mease said, "attention should focus instead on improving the brucellosis vaccine."
Steve Pilcher, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, said most ranchers in the region do vaccinate to protect their herds. But they also expect the agencies and specifically the National Park Service to do their part as well, said Pilcher.
Pilcher mentioned that while the plan has worked so far, there has been a lack of "true progress" toward eliminating brucellosis from the greater Yellowstone area and wiping out the threat of transmission.