Until just recently, though, it has been anything but wintry. We’ve often mentioned that it could be September weather, except for the leafless trees imparting that unmistakable winter vibe. Still, it was awfully hard to complain about, and great weather for outdoor activities which for us lately have primarily consisted of skinning bison for the Buffalo Bill’s sideline. Although, I did make it elk hunting one last time during the two-week extended antlerless elk season. I went up behind the Wall Creek Game Range, and took quite a hike up into an area known to be a staging area for elk prior to dropping onto winter habitat on the Game Range. As luck would have it, the only elk I encountered was a pretty decent bull, especially for the Gravellies, although not legal game at the moment. The take for the extended season was almost nil, as the elk were quite happily ensconced in the highest, steepest hideouts in their entire habitat. FWP officials were completely over the idea of extending it further, and I don’t blame them. So, we joined the ranks of people with a buffalo in the freezer (actually still hanging in the cooler). So far we’ve only eaten some tenderloin filets, and man… They were fantastic! We’ve said it before, but if that sounds good you know where to go.

Besides being nervous about increasing potential for an overkill (Hah! A remote possibility in my experience), FWP’s reluctance to consider further extensions is in no small part because they had more pressing concerns. And, there are some big doin’s going on. At the most recent FWP Commission hearing in Helena, several items of significance came to fruition. First, the new Elk Management Plan, with some very minor tweaking, was approved. Overall, I think it’s a good plan, and lays a flexible framework that does as good of job as is politically achievable of balancing diverse interests. It does contain some points that will undoubtedly prove contentious down the road, and it’ll be interesting to see how that shakes out. One immediate effect, that comes as no real surprise is the near-elimination of the Gardiner late hunt to 100 tags versus 1100 last year and over two thousand a few years back. The situation there is complex, with many contributing factors, but there’s no denying that the most significant factor is wolves, with grizzlies running a close second. That item did not receive what I would consider extensive discussion at the Commission hearing, but what discussion occurred is significant. FWP Region 3 biologist Kurt Alt predicted continued low calf recruitment in the northern Yellowstone herd, and when asked if herd recovery was likely within ten years flatly stated "no". However, I take some comfort in his following comments that once you get away from Yellowstone, virtually all elk management units are near or at all-time high populations. He seems quite confident that Montana will be managing our wolves. You may recall for the Yellowstone wolves to be de-listed from the Endangered Species Act; Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming have to produce approved management plans. Montana and Idaho have done that, but Wyoming continues a stalemate. For that matter, after recent disease problems with their feedgrounds resulting in loss of brucellosis-free status, I think a lot of people involved in these issues here in Montana are glad we embarked down a different path than the Cowboy state all those years ago. While de-listing is in limbo, I expect to see a continuance of similar strategies for wolves who get into livestock trouble as what took place last spring in the Madison Range when two packs were taken out. I might add that not all the affected landowners in that area were completely happy with what took place there, and felt it was a bit of over-reaction, but as I’ve speculated before in this column, that took place right after Wyoming’s plan was summarily rejected, and I strongly suspect it was in part a political statement that Montanans need not unduly fear rampaging packs of wolves proliferating all over the landscape. Still, it was a bad deal for Sun Ranch owner Roger Lang, who was funding a graduate research student project on wolf/livestock/wildlife interaction. Not to mention, the wolves were a big draw for his Papoose Creek Lodge guests, and there had been zero depredation on cattle on the ranch. But when a neighbor who perhaps doesn’t follow quite the same procedures, or just has worse luck lost a dog and a heifer (as I recall) to wolves, those packs were marked for destruction.

In an additional personal twist on the situation; the Federal Predator Control Specialist charged with that job is a former outfitter client of ours (he since sold the operation), and I feel quite confident it's in good hands. He was successful in completing a very difficult task, which became vastly complicated when a local shot the only radio-collared wolf in the pack, resulting in obvious complications in locating the others, but he persevered and actually got the job done in fairly short order. Made for a very interesting few days, though… So you can see we’re looking at the situation from multiple perspectives, and overall, once again, I feel it’s in good hands.

Also approved, with considerable more discussion, was a bison hunt. That’s an issue I have keen personal involvement with, and I believe constructive comments were offered. FWP recommended one to five permits, valid only in areas where there are no hazing or capture activities present, which means the Eagle Creek area by Gardiner. Outgoing Commissioner John Brendan pressed for more permits, offering a motion to increase it to 25, which obviously is still dramatically short of what he’d like to see. For that matter, we’d love to see a dramatically expanded bison hunt also, but a couple of fundamental things have to change first. I might point out that currently, there’s only six bison in that area, so theoretically this hunt could extinct wild bison in Montana again! The Commission settled on ten permits, with Region 3 Commissioner Tim Mulligan the only dissenting vote. Tim, wisely I believe, felt the hunt should be temporarily put on hold until the Schweitzer administration is in office, as three new Commissioners will be appointed. Besides, there is considerable opposition to this hunt, and virtually all involved parties feel it needs some tweaking yet. I have called for formation of a citizen’s working group to iron out the conflicts in the situation, which are really quite minimal considering the degree of volatility with this highly charged situation. Recent discussions with some of the likely dissenters to our plan have been enormously encouraging, and we feel there is a historic opportunity to produce a truly win/win situation. How often does that come along?!

So on that encouraging note; I’m going to wind this column up with our Christmas wish for everyone.