News

The Montana Wildlife Federation (MWF) is requesting a fast-food restaurant reconsider offering farm-raised elk to customers in Montana over concerns the practice could fuel an expansion of unethical commercial markets and erode Montana’s fair chase hunting culture.

In a letter sent today to Arby’s Corporation, MWF says the new menu options in three western location, including Billings, could lead to an increase in game farming practices which have been proven to impact the health of wild herds and privatize a public resource.  The letters states, “elk and deer are best left as wild, free-ranging animals that are part of the public trust, managed by the state for the benefit of all Montanans.”

“There is a real danger in marketing wildlife as a commodity like this,” said Nick Gevock, conservation director for the Montana Wildlife Federation.  “This runs counter to Montana’s fair-chase hunting values by encouraging the commercialization of a public wildlife resource.”

Game farms are already illegal in Montana after a citizen voter initiative banned them in 2000. Groups including the Montana Wildlife Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Montana Bowhunters Association, and other local rod and gun clubs asserted the practice spreads disease to wild herds including chronic wasting disease, a fatal neurological disorder.

Although game farms are legal in other areas of the globe, the Montana Wildlife Federation says that the majority of Montanan don’t believe the practice is ethical or necessary. The letter states, “Fundamentally, Montanans would rather hunt wild elk on public and private lands in our state than get them from a game farming operation that threatens the public wildlife resource.”

The Montana Wildlife Federation is urging the restaurant find a better way to promote hunting that doesn’t place public wildlife values at risk.

“There are much better ways to promote our hunting heritage and we welcome a productive dialogue with the leadership at Arby’s,” said Dave Chadwick, the executive director of Montana Wildlife Federation.

We need you to help defend Montana’s public wildlife and hunting heritage.  Join MWF Today!

Marcus is the Central Montana Field Representative for MWF and a passionate big game hunter. For Marcus, making sure his gear is ready prior to the beginning of each hunt is nothing short of ritualistic. Finding the balance between functionality and weight is critical to a successful hunt. One must avoid carrying unneeded gear, but be prepared. Thus, Marcus carefully selects his gear to fit the hunt. Here is his suggested gear list for big game hunting.

Clothes

Marcus’s boots of choice are the Danner Powderhorn. They are a solid, all-around boot that performs equally well chasing elk through the mountains or hiking to a tree stand along a river bottom. For camouflage, he wears King’s Camo. It’s a high quality, low-cost camo that can be found through many different dealers across Montana. Whether one believes that camouflage is needed or not, having comfortable clothes while hunting is essential. The one rule for Marcus is to avoid cotton due to its tendency to absorb water and cause chafing.

Pack

The ideal pack is one that can be used as a daypack or as a multi-day pack. Marcus uses the Sky 5900 from Stone Glacier, an expedition pack that can convert down into a daypack. If you’re looking for a less expensive option, check out ALPS Outdoorz or the King’s Camo Mountain Top 2200. Whatever pack you choose, make sure that it can handle the weight of a pack out.

Day Hunt

For Marcus’s day hunts he carries these basics:

• Hunting Licences
• Binoculars – Vortex Diamondback 10×42
• Rangefinder – Vortex Ranger 1000
• Harvest Kit – Alaska Game Bags, electrical tape, fluorescent flagging tap, and skinning knife
• Bear Spray – UDAP
• 550 paracord
• Wind Checker – Dead Down Wind Wind Detector
• Facepaint – Nature’s Paint
• Headlamp – Black Diamond Ion
• First Aid – Quickclot and Ultralight/Watertight Medical Kit .9
• Game calls – Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls

Multi-Day Hunt

For a multi-day hunt, Marcus’s list is a little more involved. The attached Excel sheet is a complete list of everything Marcus uses for a seven-day backpack trip. This is a good starting point and checklist for you to use as you plan your next adventure. Download the file and adjust it to fit your needs. If you have any questions about gear contact Marcus at mstrange@mtwf.org. Good luck out there and shoot straight!

Click the link below to see Marcus’s full list. 

Marcus Strange-2017-Backcountry-Hunting-Gear-List-V1_0

Though we are now in the middle of hunting season and many sportsmen and sportswomen have headed to the mountains for big game, the month of October to many anglers is an opportunity to have some amazing fishing. In addition to some great dry fly fishing, pre-spawn fish are often aggressive and for those anglers who like to fish with large streamers, there is no better time of year to get on the water to search for large, aggressive trout. Fall is a great time to seek large brown trout as they prepare to spawn, and rainbows as well as cutthroats are also very aggressive and will actively chase streamers.

While on the water this fall, it is important to remember why Montana’s rivers are amongst the greatest trout fisheries in the world; clean water. Without the high-quality habitat and clean headwater streams that feed our larger rivers, Montana would not have these robust wild trout populations. That’s why it’s more important now, more than ever, to stand up for clean water.

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently seeking to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule which created protections for intermittent streams and wetlands across the United States. These waters account for approximately 60% of streams in the country, and without the protections, would be at risk of being polluted or degraded. For trout, these headwater streams are important in sustaining trout populations across the state.

Apart from our fish, the streams and wetlands that also provide clean drinking water to Montana communities and wildlife. It is time to speak up for Montana’s clean water and for fish and wildlife. Please send your comments to the Environmental Protection Agency and tell them not to repeal the Clean Water Rule.  It takes only a few minutes to submit your comments!

– Alec Underwood is MWF’s Western Montana Field Representative

A leaked plan by the federal government to remove protections on some national monuments is being criticized by Montana sportsmen as a top down distraction that takes power away from local community planning and sets dangerous new precedent for other protected monuments in the west.

The report, uncovered by the Washington Post on Sunday, shows the U.S. Department of Interior has recommended redrawing boundaries and altering the management of at least ten national monuments across the country.

In response to the report, the president of Montana Wildlife Federation, Bill Geer, called the entire process a distraction from local community planning.

“Instead of trying to redraw national monuments from the top down, we should be working with local communities to develop smart management plans.  We know that approach works, because it is what we’ve done here in Montana at the Missouri Breaks.  This entire review process and now these recommendations have just been a needless distraction from the real work of working together to protect public access, wildlife habitat, and multiple use public land management.”

While the report doesn’t propose eliminating any national monuments in Montana, Dave Chadwick, Executive Director of MWF, said it sets a ‘dangerous precedent’ that calls into question the future of other protected areas across the West.

“While we are glad to see the Interior Department recognize the importance of hunting and fishing on national monuments, this plan includes many recommendations that are at best unnecessary.  Top-down edicts to shut down some national monuments set a dangerous precedent that will forever leave our Breaks and other national monuments vulnerable to the political winds in Washington.  This plan ultimately imperils the public access to public land that is so important to hunters and anglers,”  Chadwick said.

The Montana Wildlife Federation is specifically concerned these recommendations create an atmosphere where future administrations could continue to attempt to shrink public lands or manage them from the top down.  If the Department of Interior can roll back monument protections in Bears Ears National Monument, nothing prevents future administration from undertaking the same to other places, including the Missouri River Breaks.

Prior to today’s recommendations the Department of the Interior received 2.8 million public comments. Independent analysis has found more than 99 percent of the electronic comments received express support for protecting monuments and maintaining them at their current sizes.

In August, the Montana Wildlife Federation joined eight other other western state wildlife federations and the National Wildlife Federation in calling on Secretary Zinke to uphold the protection of wildlife and habitat by recommending no changes to any national monuments.

The Montana Wildlife Federation also produced a response to a new a new hunting and fishing plan proposed last week by the Department of Interior.