There is no open season on bison in Montana, a Bozeman judge ruled Friday, and a West Yellowstone man who killed one in his pasture last September must go to trial. Dale Koelzer, 80, shot a bull bison Sept. 27 on his land just outside Yellowstone National Park. He said the animal had threatened to charge his pickup and made him mad so he killed it.

Though he initially denied killing the animal, he later admitted to the deed and game wardens gave him three citations for shooting the animal, wasting its carcass and illegally possessing the head and cape. His lawyer, Bill Bartlett, sought to have the charges dismissed. He maintained that a loophole in state law essentially creates an open season on bison. "It appears that buffalo are unregulated vermin in Montana and have the same status as gophers, which are shot up by the buckets full each springs," Bartlett said in December.

Deputy Gallatin County Attorney Todd Whipple argued in a court hearing Friday that state law is clear: although different state agencies have different authorities over bison management, the animals are a game animal and that means you can't just go out and shoot one. Justice of the Peace Scott Wyckman agreed. "I don't find that the argument you've placed here, Mr. Bartlett, has merit," Wyckman ruled from the bench. He said the 1995 Montana Legislature, when it transferred most authority over bison from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to the Montana Department of Livestock, clearly did not intend to create an open season on the lumbering giants.

State officials have shot or shipped to slaughterhouses more than 3,000 bison over the past 15 years. However, that doesn't mean private citizens can shoot at will, Wyckman ruled. He scheduled a jury trial for March 22. Bartlett said he will confer with his client and may appeal the ruling. He said history keeps repeating itself in the complicated politics and bureaucracy surrounding the bison controversy, and that leaves people like his client stuck in the middle.

He said state laws fail to set "a clear and understandable policy." State law allows private landowners to shoot a bison in some circumstances, if it is threatening them or their property, and Bartlett said that will be a major part of his defense strategy. "The buffalo was harassing Mr. Koelzer and he shot it," Bartlett said, though he acknowledged that he didn't admit his actions when first contacted by game wardens. By law, anybody shooting a bison must report the action. "Maybe he stepped over the line," Bartlett said. "I don't know. That's for the jury to decide."

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