[primroselane]

The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. Oct. 9, 2004 — On a spring day in 1990, there was chaos near the border of Yellowstone National Park.

Bison were running. Hunters were facing off with activists who were trying to keep them from killing the bison. And D.J. Schubert was in the thick of it, leading the protesters.

Cameras captured it all, igniting a public outrage that Schubert believes ultimately led the state a year later to halt bison hunting. Today, the wildlife biologist and his fellow activists promise the same craziness including more bad publicity for Montana if the state allows hunting to resume this winter, as planned.

"Once again, you're going to give the state of Montana and hunters a black eye," Schubert, of The Fund for Animals, said Friday. "It's going to be an embarrassment for the state and hunters."

Mike Mease of the Buffalo Field Campaign agrees. He's planning to document the hunt himself.

"I can guarantee you lawsuits. I can guarantee you public outcry," Mease said. "These animals are sacred to a lot of people."

The controversy heats up each winter when the bison leave Yellowstone in search of food. Ranchers in Montana worry the bison will transmit brucellosis, which can cause cattle to abort. Activists counter that there's no proof that bison can spread the disease to cattle in the wild.

Several state and federal agencies allow bison that wander out of the park to be captured and tested brucellosis. Bison that test positive are sent to slaughter.

Some hunters believe they should have the opportunity to take a rare trophy if bison are to be killed anyway. Wildlife commissioners agree barely, voting 3-2 this week to allow bison hunting to resume for a monthlong season tentatively set to start in January. Future hunts would go from mid-November to mid-February, with the number of permits varying each year.

About 670 bison were killed in hunts in the 1980s most in the winter of 1988-89. The hunts drew outrage in part because of the way they were conducted. Wardens led each hunter to a bison, peacefully grazing when it was shot at close range.

 

[Meg Z]

Wardens led each hunter to a bison, peacefully grazing when it was shot at close range.

I've hunted. I've slaughtered livestock. This sounds more like livestock slaughter. It could become hunting at some point in the future...like when the bison regain a fear of man.

Meg

 

[Laura]

Whatever...harvesting meat for the table is harvesting meat for the table.

Here, it is a felony to harass or interfere wih a legal hunt so protesters are thrown in jail and hunters don't need an escort.

 

[pointer_hunter]

Maybe if they put each hunter on a horse, bareback with a stick bow in their hands.

That's almost as bad as putting someone in a stand and then turning a caged "wild" animal out to shoot. Just don't see the sense in it all.

 

[insanity]

The Associated Press

Some hunters believe they should have the opportunity to take a rare trophy if bison are to be killed anyway.

Yea don't they usually slaughter a few hundred every year or so to keep the numbers down anyway? Looks like allowing hunters to have a chance at them would be fare.
Not much hunting involved (should call them harvesters maybe) but they have to keep the numbers down somehow.Someone would be glad to have the chance and meat.


Theres always going to be a tree huger somewhere.If i was a judge and they brought this up in a court of law in front of me.Id have the problem solved. Id have every tree huger in the crowd take one or two of these Buffalo home with them and keep it in there back yard. There problems of both solved.No more bison would have to die and the tree huggers would have won. Well ok sooner or later the population of tree huggers might go down,and we would have a problem again.Or would we? :haha:

 

[Meg Z]

(should call them harvesters maybe) but they have to keep the numbers down somehow. :haha:

I don't have a problem with the animals being culled for meat...I just don't think under the circumstances, it should be called 'hunting'. Especially since it is so publicized...that will make city folk think that is how all hunting is. What a shame.

Meg

 

[DrippingSprings]

Avid hunter and trapper all my life and I agree it makes the unknowing believe this is how all hunting is. I know they make a buck or two off the hunter as well as draw down the numbers in the herd. Why not just let whoever wants to buy a chance and after they load them and deliver to a slaughter house pull names to see who wins the meat of each bison? Probably make more money and it wouldnt cause so much uproar and bad press for real hunters. That way they leave alive and are slaughtered and besides if they sold chances on say 100 pound packs look how many folks would buy into it.

 

[GrannieD]

. That way they leave alive and are slaughtered and besides if they sold chances on say 100 pound packs look how many folks would buy into it.[/QUOTE]


The transporting of the buffalo chosen would be interesting to watch from what I've heard about handling them..A slaughter house near here said they would'nt take them in their cattle capable pens due to the distructive ability of the buffalo.
.Seems a reality check for folks who look at them as sacred...the population has needs & how that is handled is up to people who are able to do it..not the non-involved..its a better death than going hungry or being tormented with the trauma from herding,hauling ,& killing..I'm going hunting ! GrannieD

 

[primroselane]

The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. Oct. 9, 2004.

Some hunters believe they should have the opportunity to take a rare trophy if bison are to be killed anyway.

The hunts drew outrage in part because of the way they were conducted. Wardens led each hunter to a bison, peacefully grazing when it was shot at close range.

A trophy?

 

[Stand_Watie]

I believe you can call it whatever you want and it's still a good idea to make use of meat that would be going to waste otherwise.

The [sniff]"That's not 'sporting', it's not really hunting because it isn't difficult enough"[/sniff] argument is a device used by the anti-hunters to divide the varying groups of hunters by appealing to the ego of those who want to feel superior to others.

Next they will want to not call anything hunting if it involves shooting an animal from an elevated platform or a blind. Then they will claim it's not really hunting if you use a firearm to take the animal. Eventually the only thing that will count as real "hunting" will be running down and killing animals with your bare hands, fingernails and teeth.

At that point so few people will be able to do it anymore that it will be feasible to ban it outright with no political consequence.

I personally don't care to go hunting for "sport", but as long as hunters who do so are environmentally responsible in the manner they hunt and are not wasteful with the meat, I won't denigrate them nor join political opposition against them.

"We can all stick together, or we'll all hang separately..."

 

[oz in SC]

I doubt the animal in question really cares the finer points surrounding its killing....

Animals really don't care much whether they are killed in a sporting manner or culled in a slaughterhouse...either way the animals would prefer to be alive and THAT is not an option.

Judging from the description given,this is maybe culling the dumber examples of the species...

 

[sisterpine]

we have a very large problem with "tree huggers" here in montana. the feds have even given up posting log sales on all that timber that was burned in the horrid wildfires a few years ago just because they are tired of having to fight lawsuits from tree huggers at every turn. so all that good wood will go to rot, i think every tree hugger should have to support a loggers family for a year every time they lose a lawsuit!

 

[Bishaj]

While I like to consider myself and environmentalist, I don't relate with the radical direction some of these groups take. I don't think most people realize how well these wild herds are monitored, whether it be buffalo or even wild horses. I'm not an expert, but I believe the point of having a warden guide the "hunter" is to make sure the right animals are culled from the herd. The same is done when they are choosing which wild horses to auction. What the extremists don't realize is that this is whats best for the herd AND the ecosystem in the long term. The herd gets stronger as weaker animals or perhaps those that would represent too much inbreeding are removed, and ethe ecosystem does not become damaged by having too many animals trying to live off of limited resources. However, it seems to me that there would be more money in it if they rounded up what they could and sold them for use in the private buffalo herds that are growing more and more common. I would think the auction proceeds would go a long way toward paying for the costs of program management. Just my two cents.

 

[DrippingSprings]

[/QUOTE] Judging from the description given,this is maybe culling the dumber examples of the species...

I have owned buffalo in the past. I fell into the ''beefalo'' experiment one time. I was afraid at first that they would be hard to handle. They actually werent as aggressive as my charolais or my brahmas. I had no trouble whatsoever with them. I bought them at a very young age from a farm on North Dakota. They were basically free range out there and never touched til loaded and I brought them here. I turned them loose and never touched them again save for running them into a chute for vet care. On the other hand my bottle fed brahmas and charolais would put you out of the pasture post haste. I did have occasion where a Charolais felt the need to go through a fence and attack one of my buffs. I had to put him down as the buff really did a number on him. I kept them around as they were a neat novelty and as far as meat for our personal comsumption the ''beefalo'' was great but I couldnt find a really profitable market for them. I sold them to a neighbor. The bull I got originally is almost 16 and still kicking.

 

[peanutgreen]

DH and I are hunters. I don't see any problem with hunting as long as you use as much of the animal as possible. We save the hides to tan, boil the bones to feed to the dogs, and put the meat in the freezer. About the only part we don't use is the intestines. I guess we could use them for sausage casings, but the idea of washing them is just gross. I do have a problem with "hunters" who want to go shoot animals for "sport." If the don't have any intention of eating what they shoot, then they shouldn't be hunting.

Maybe some hunters need to get together and protest the killing of innocent lettuce plants. Give the tree-huggers a dose of their own. :haha:

 

[cloverfarm]

My thought about the warden taking them up to a particular buffalo and dropping it, was that that would actually be ideal. No suffering for the animal if it was done right. I hope all the meat and hides went to good use.

Ann

 

[Paul O]

Here in Maine its also illegal to harass anyone engaged in legal hunting.

My own view is that when it comes to killing an animal, be it wild or domestic, it should be done in the most efficient and humane way available. This sometimes conflicts with romantic images of hunting from horseback or archery or whatever but if you really respect the animal you should try to dispatch it as quickly as possible. If that means having the odds more in your favor such as described in the bison hunt, so be it. The animal shouldn’t suffer, or be wasted. Whether that does anything for the hunters self esteem or the anti’s image doesn’t matter.

 

[Buckrun]

I haven’t read any one mention that these hunters paid a fee (probably a large fee) to hunt these buffalo. I would think a shot in the heart or lungs would be less stressful than being caught in a trap, getting a blood test, loaded on a truck and taken to a slaughter house and killed.

May be they should be panicked and stampeded over a cliff. Like the Indians use to do.

Steve

 

[oz in SC]

''May be they should be panicked and stampeded over a cliff. Like the Indians use to do.''

BUT that was done by Native Americans who cared and nurtured the land and all the animals....TV told me so.

 

[65284]

It is too bad they can't declare open season on some of these radical activists. A lot of these clowns really don't care that much about animals. For them is more of an ego/power trip. They will do anything, including terrorism, to try and force everyone else to comply with their demands. If they could somehow achieve all of their stated "animal rights" objectives tomorrow I suspect many of them would soon become bored and find another cause to agitate for.