Thousands apply for 24 licenses to hunt bison

[The TRUST]

Thousands apply for 24 licenses to hunt bison


Tuesday, October 4, 2005; Posted: 10:03 a.m. EDT (14:03 GMT)

BILLINGS, Montana (AP) -- More than 6,000 people, most of them Montana residents, have applied for 24 licenses to hunt the state's bison for the first time in 15 years, wildlife officials said Monday.

Last month, wildlife commissioners approved a three-month hunt of bison that leave Yellowstone National Park and enter southern Montana. Friday marked the deadline to apply for a license.

A drawing will be held next week, said Tom Palmer, a spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks,

"It's a real hunt. I think hunters recognize that and are interested in participating," Palmer said.

The hunt will be broken into two periods -- November 15-January 15 and January 16-February 15. As many as 25 bison could be killed during each period.

Wildlife officials also approved 16 licenses for American Indian tribes in Montana and 10 more for people who were selected for a hunt that was canceled early this year.

The Legislature halted bison hunting in the early 1990s following protests, including a tourism boycott.

Yellowstone currently has its highest documented bison population -- an estimated 4,900 animals. Bison commonly leave the park, particularly in the winter, to forage.

But their wandering concerns Montana ranchers, because some bison have brucellosis. The disease can cause cows to abort, and livestock officials contend the bison could give it to cattle.

Bison advocates counter that there's never been a documented case of transmission between bison and cattle in the wild

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/04/bison.hunt.ap/index.html

 

[guppy]

The reason they leave the park to forage is that the park will not support their numbers during winter. It is unfortunate but if they do carry brucellosis and feed in the same area as cattle there will be cross contamination. Rather than hunt them I suppose that ranchers could be compensated for bison related losses but I do think that "fair chase" hunting of the bison is better than the "culling" round ups of the recent past.
This reminds me of an incident that happened in the early 80s on Angel island, California which due to lack of predation and hunting was experiencing an overpopulation of whitetailed deer. The Navy, who ran the island, offered free deer tags to handicapped hunters as most of the island is crisscrossed with wheelchair accessable graveled paths.
Protesters stirred up a bit of controversy so the Navy cancelled the hunt. The deer damaged the island enough that the next years lower than normal rain fall caused widespread starvation among the abnormally crowded deer. that led to a generally lowered resistance to disease which intern led to an epidemic among the deer. The overall result was that most of the deer died slow deaths of starvation and disease and the remainder were ordered shot to prevent the spread of the disease to the mainland. No deer remained on the island, the hunters missed out, the animal rights people gained nothing, and the navy spent thousands of dollars on proffessional shooters, disinfectants, and disposal of biohazardous waste.