Group not opposed to hunting in general but finds conditions of the bison hunt wrong

Montana’s first bison hunt in 15 years will be seen around the world, vows the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group that advocates for bison.

“We’re going to be out there from sunrise to sunset standing with those buffalo,” said Mike Mease of the BFC.

The group plans on escorting national and international media crews to the hunt areas, taking and distributing footage of their own and being a presence the entire season, which starts today and runs through Feb. 15.

Mease, who said he is a subsistence hunter, said his group doesn’t oppose hunting, but says the current version of the bison hunt is wrong for several reasons, including that bison managers haven’t allowed a wild herd to establish outside of Yellowstone and that the “fair chase” claims of the hunt are suspect.

The hunt also doesn’t do anything to deal with the underlying issues of the bison controversy, including looking for ways to manage the risk of transmitting brucellosis between bison and cattle, Mease said.

Bison spend most of the year around thousands of Yellowstone tourists, Mease said. It’s hard to imagine that they’ll flee the hunters. Members of the BFC plan on having a video camera and still camera trained on every bison that leaves Yellowstone.

“No matter what, this hunt is going to look ridiculous on film,” Mease said. “I see this as a huge black eye for the state again.”

While the emphasis will be on documenting the hunt, protests are also likely.

“I can’t be held responsible for how people are going to be on the scene,” Mease said. “We ask people not to get between the buffalo and the gun.”

Jim Kropp, who heads the Law Enforcement Division of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Helena, was stationed out of Bozeman from 1988-2002. As such, he was involved with many of the bison kills, both by hunters and by management personnel. Kropp also wound up being on the front line in dealings with protestors and with the media — local, national and international.

“The issue with some of the media is clearly that they were there looking for the worst opportunity they could find to put on national TV,” Kropp said.

“They just tended to take what they had and portray it in a bad light. I’m sure some of them did it purposely,” he said. “It was a situation back then which was a hard sell to the American public at the time because of various management scenarios, different agencies representing different points of view on why bison are being controlled.

“And,” he added, “let’s face it. The bison is a national symbol. It’s a symbol people have some emo-tionalism over. It turned into being a political issue.”

This year’s hunt is designed to be different. But even then, hunters should be ready for protesters and the media.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of interest from both sides, whether you’re for the hunt or against it,” Kropp said. “It is important that we prepare the hunters for what they may encounter. It does have to do with protesters. It does have to do with being interviewed with the media and being in the spotlight. That is not consistent, necessarily, with other hunting in Montana where you’re off by yourself alone.”

FWP said that even though hunters won’t be accompanied by state personnel when they’re in the field, as they were in the ’80s and early ’90s, they aren’t going to ignore the hunt.

Mel Frost, information officer for FWP in Bozeman, said there are plans for personnel from her division to be on hand when needed in both the Gardiner and West Yellowstone areas.

Kropp said that game wardens would also be making their normal patrols.

“We’re not going to be guiding the hunters. As far as patrol goes, we’ve got other duties going on,” he said. “But if we’re called to a scene, we will respond when needed, as will the county sheriffs’ deputies.”