Monday, October 03, 2005

6, 177 Apply For Bison Hunting Licenses

Nearly 6,200 hunters submitted an application for Montana’s upcoming 90-day bison hunting season. A total of 5,992 residents and 185 nonresidents submitted applications.  

Earlier this month, the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission approved the sale of 25 either-sex bison licenses for use between Nov. 15 and Jan. 15, 2006; and 25 either-sex licenses for use between Jan. 16, 2006 and Feb. 15, 2006. In accordance with a new state law, a total of 16 of the licenses will be allotted to Montana’s Indian Tribes. A total of 10 licenses will be awarded to the hunters drawn for last season’s proposed hunt. The drawing for the remaining bison-hunting licenses will be held next week.

When they created the bison hunt, commissioners said they also wanted to ensure fair-chase circumstances, a longer hunting season, and a larger area for bison to inhabit. In the past, bison were not tolerated outside of Yellowstone National Park under any circumstances.   Now, a limited number of bison can roam on more than 460,000 acres, or nearly 720 square miles of wildlife habitat, that are available for bison near West Yellowstone and Gardiner.

Officials said, however, that hunters this season will likely find bison on about 60,000 acres of the wildlife habitat available to them, but wildlife mangers are hopeful that as the years progress bison will gradually learn that they can inhabit and graze additional areas as they search for food in winter. The Yellowstone National Park bison population has grown to 4,900 animals, the highest recorded in recent years.

Bison hunters will be required to attend special orientation sessions where all aspects of hunting bison will be discussed. While this hunt is Montana’s first in 15 years, public bison hunts are established in several western states, including Alaska, Arizona, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.  

Licenses will be valid on public lands in specifically defined areas outside the northern and western boundaries of Yellowstone National Park, and on private lands with landowner permission in those same areas.

Bison are managed under the Interagency Bison Management Plan, a cooperative state and federal agency effort. State and Federal agencies worked for over 10 years to develop the plan, which was adopted in 2000 and garnered approximately 67,000 public comments. The plan seeks to gradually establish bison as a free-ranging population in Montana without jeopardizing the herd or delivering unacceptable impacts to private property, including the transmission of disease to Montana cattle.

Some Yellowstone National Park bison that migrate into Montana carry brucellosis, a disease that can cause cows to abort, or result in premature and weakened calves, which in turn can increase operating costs and affect the ability of all Montana cattle ranchers to transport and sell their products.

Visit FWP’s Bison Hunt web page for more information.
 

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