Hunting Buffalo or Shooting a Ford Pickup?

I started hunting at 12. No stocked game, an old Stevens single shot 12 gauge and a love for the outdoors all came together for me. My uncles and father taught me the rules of hunting. I learned to respect nature, and understand the need for balance between hunter and game.

Sentimentality aside, there is a time to kill. It is not a season as much as a natural balance.

We were contemptuous of bad hunters, those that lost wounded game or made a bad kill. Trophy hunters that left meat in the field were not sportsman. Slaughter was not hunting.

I no longer hunt. I like those that do. To me, hunting a buffalo would be like shooting a Ford F-150. I would not do it, but if others choose to, that is there business, but this small story makes no sense to me. There is no balance here and states don't get much bigger and less populated than Montana.

Open Season on America’s Last Wild Bison
By LetBuffaloRoam, New West Unfiltered 11-15-07

Montana’s Buffalo Hunt Opens Without Any Buffalo in Montana

WEST YELLOWSTONE & GARDINER, MONTANA – Today marks the opening day for Montana’s bison hunt, authorized by the Montana Department of Livestock. Montana has issued 44 tags to kill members of America’s last wild bison population that migrate out of Yellowstone National Park into Montana. It is expected that the Nez Perce as well as Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes will conduct separate buffalo hunts under treaty right. The state’s hunt will continue through February 15, 2008.

There are currently no wild bison in Montana.

Glenn Hockett, President of the Gallatin Wildlife Association, a hunting organization that opposes the current bison hunt and is working to help restore wild bison in Montana had this to say, “Recent reports from Yellowstone National Park indicate there are no bison in the state of Montana for hunters to hunt. I think this points out the flawed nature of this shoot ‘em at the border Department of Livestock led “hunt” with no year round habitat.”

Wild American bison, while native to vast expanses of North America, are granted no year-round habitat in Montana. There is never a time that wild bison are allowed to be in the state without being subjected to harassment, capture, slaughter, quarantine, or shooting. Wild bison are ecologically extinct everywhere outside of Yellowstone National Park.

Montana’s bison hunt is not authorized by the state’s wildlife agency Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, but by the Montana Department of Livestock, an agency that promotes cattle interests.

“I don’t think most people understand that only the Department of Livestock can authorize the hunting of wild bison in Montana, and their goal is no bison left standing in Montana,” said Glenn Hockett.

“Allowing the Department of Livestock to have authority over the management of wild bison or any wildlife species is a clear conflict of interest,” said Buffalo Field Campaign spokeswoman Stephany Seay. “They have no interest whatsoever in wild bison or their habitat, and you may as well put the fox in charge of guarding the hen house.”

Fewer than 4,700 continuously wild American bison exist in the United States; all reside in Yellowstone National Park. A joint state-federal agreement signed in 2000, the Interagency Bison Management Plan prohibits wild bison from migrating to lands outside of the Park and maintains a zero population of wild bison in Montana in an effort to benefit cattle interests who claim they fear the spread of the livestock disease brucellosis from wild bison to cattle. There has never been a documented case of wild bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle.

Buffalo Field Campaign strongly opposes Montana’s bison hunt as well as the Interagency Bison Management Plan. BFC maintains that wild bison should be allowed to naturally and fully restore themselves throughout their native range, especially on public lands, and must be managed as a valued native wildlife species by wildlife professionals, not cattle interests.

“Our position on the hunt is clear,” said Buffalo Field Campaign’s cofounder and subsistence hunter Mike Mease, “No habitat, No hunt.”

2,018 wild American bison have been killed or otherwise removed from the remaining wild population in Yellowstone since 2000 under actions carried out by the Interagency Bison Management Plan, as well as state and treaty right hunts.

Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field, every day, to stop the slaughter of the wild Yellowstone buffalo. Volunteers defend the buffalo and their native habitat and advocate for their lasting protection. Buffalo Field Campaign has proposed real alternatives to the current mismanagement of Yellowstone bison that can be viewed at For more information, video clips and photos visit .

Forget Rabbits and Quail, Bag a Moose.

Why not?

The hunting season for big game begins this weekend in many parts of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most big game hunting seasons in central and western portions of the island and in Labrador opens Saturday. The hunting seasons for other areas of the province open Oct. 6.

Non-residents wishing to hunt big game (bear, moose, caribou) must apply through one of the Provinces outfitting companies.

For more information on available outfitters visit the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Hunting and Fishing site. Non-resident small game licences are available through regular vendor outlets (i.e. general stores and sporting goods stores) and at Government Services Centers. Federal Migratory Game Bird Permits are available through Canada Post Offices.

Non-resident hunters must possess a valid non-resident hunting licence. He/she must also possess proof or verification of having met his/her own jurisdiction hunter education requirements and must present this information immediately upon request of a Conservation Officer. Non-resident big game hunters are required to be accompanied by licenced guides. Guides are supplied by licenced outfitters. Small game or waterfowl hunters do not require guides.

Do it in style, the Miller and Crum Model 70

Non-resident big game licences are only available through licenced outfitters. Hunters should contact the outfitter of their choice to determine the availability of licences and to obtain the required application forms.

Hunters must use a U.S. Customs Declaration Form 3315 for all game entering the United States from Canada. American hunters should obtain these at U.S. Customs when leaving the United States.

Hire a Guide

Hunters must possess a game export permit to take game out of the Province. Export permits are available free of charge from all Forestry/Wildlife Offices and licenced outfitters.

Non-resident black bear hunters also require a CITES permit to transport black bear parts outside Canada.

Non-residents hunters must declare their firearms when arriving at a Canada Customs Port.