| There
isn't likely to be a public bison hunt this winter,
no matter how many of the shaggy giants wander out of
Yellowstone National Park.
And when the hunt does come, it's likely to be limited
to a relatively small number of hunters, according to
Ron Aasheim, spokesman for the Montana Department of
Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The Montana Legislature last winter passed by a considerable
margin Senate Bill 395, which reinstitutes the controversial
hunt.
However, FWP officials want the next hunt to look a
lot different from the last one, in which images of
stodgy bison falling into the bloody snow were broadcast
around the country.
The Legislature eliminated that hunt more than a decade
ago after loud protests and a threatened boycott of
Montana by the Fund for Animals, a nationwide animal
rights group.
FWP's commission in September gave the go-ahead so staffers
could start planning details of how the hunt will work.
The legislation, authored by Sen. Gary Perry, R-Belgrade,
requires FWP to cooperate with the Montana Department
of Livestock. That bureaucracy's board also gave the
nod in September. Now it's time to work out the details,
Aasheim said.
FWP staffers and a hired contractor are now working
on an environmental assessment that will outline several
possible ways the hunt could be conducted.
That document should be complete this month, Aasheim
said, and will then be available for public comment.
A completed plan of how the hunt will work should be
finished by March. Then potential hunters can apply
for one of a limited number of tags, which will cost
$75 for residents and $750 for nonresidents. Current
plans call for tags to be issued next August.
Details that remain unsettled include the duration of
the hunt, the number of tags issued and how to dispose
of gut piles. Some bison carry brucellosis, the disease
that makes Montana intolerant of wandering bison except
if very limited areas. The bill calls for all hunting
to be done on foot and away from public roads. Officials
cannot designate specific animals for shooting, the
law says.
One thing that is unlikely to change is the presence
of protesters. Every winter, when bison leave the park,
people protest government actions to kill or haze them.
Michael Mease is one of the founders of the Buffalo
Field Campaign, a protest group active in and near the
park for several years. "I would pretty much guarantee
some groups might do something," Mease said Monday,
adding that he might join them unless bison are given
more room outside the park and DOL loses its authority
over them.
"Under this plan, I would be out protesting and
I'm a subsistence hunter," Mease said. Some protesters
were arrested during the previous hunt after placing
themselves between bison and hunters.
There are about 4,250 bison in the park, which is at
or near a record level.
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