Owls are special birds. I learn a little more each time I hear their call.
Freezer on defrost
It's time to take stock of the bird carcasses in my freezer.
Ice fishing education
A FWP program teaches women how to ice fish, and hopefully gets more women involved in the outdoors.
WTF! Sadists on snow machines run down coyotes
There's no excuse for animal cruelty. Sorry, please excuse the abbreviated profanity in the headline. If you follow this link to Todd Wilkinson's powerful article in Mountain Journal, however, you'll likely be just as outraged. And that's especially so if you follow the links in the story to videos of snow machine riders in Wyoming (apparently) running down coyotes just for kicks. In the Equality State a snow machine is a legal method of take, at least for coyotes and other predators.
Hunters need to develop new language to differentiate ourselves from people who practice animal cruelty. We believe in ethical, fair chase hunting. The Boone and Crockett Club has a fair chase statement here, and that statement links to a longer essay. It's worth a read. And here's a link to stories about Jim Posewitz, Montana's dean of hunting ethics.
Those of us who believe in the hunter's essential duty to hunt ethically need to be clear: we oppose this sort of despicable behavior. I've written about this issue before: here, and here.
Hunters are an ever-decreasing minority in modern, urban America. But that non-hunting majority may ultimately decide the fate of hunters. If we're perceived to be just like those sadists on snow machines we won't be a minority for long.
We'll no longer exist.
5 of 6
I gave it my best trying to kill a mountain quail over the holidays, but I remain five of six on the species native to the United States. I've added an additional hurdle on my quail slam challenge in that I want to hunt them in the mountains of Southern California near my hometown of Riverside. I might have better luck in Nevada or Oregon, but that would spoil the fun.
Unfortunately, the closest we came to finding birds were these tracks.
Here's my column on the hunt.
Wilks brothers planning land sell
Texas energy billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks are selling some of their Montana properties, but not the N Bar Ranch which was at the center of a controversial attempted land exchange involving the Durfee Hills and property north of the Missouri River. That land controls access to thousands of acres in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
The Durfee Hills is a 2,700-acre parcel that is surrounded by the N Bar Ranch. Despite it's landlocked nature, the Hills are a popular elk hunting destination. Hunters fly in and out to hunt.
The brothers rank second in the state of Montana in private acres owned, behind onlyWeyerhaeuser/Plum Creek Timber.
Montanans turn out for public lands
It's become a semi-annual tradition: The Montana legislature assembles for it's biennial session, Montanans turn out to demand protection for public lands.
Happy Holidays and cheers until the New Year
I will be traveling, and maybe getting a chance or two to chase birds, until the New Year. As a result, there won't be much action on this page for a few weeks. So I'll leave you with this wonderful holiday image from Rob Koelling, a former colleague of mine in Powell, Wyoming. Rob is an amazing wildlife photographer, and is known in some corners of the West as the Crane Whisperer. Thanks for letting me share your photo, Rob.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Hunting pheasants in the snow
Here's a link to my latest "Out of Bounds" column from the Flathead Beacon on the advantages of winter pheasant hunting.
Gov wins easement dispute
Gov. Steve Bullock won his dispute with Attorney General Tim Fox over who makes the call on FWP easement purchases. The Supreme Court overturned Fox's opinion that the State Land Board gets final say.