OUTDOORS REPORT WILDLIFE MOVEMENT
SD cougar shot near Monarch
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Montana’s daily limit, in pounds, for bull trout in 1913, part of misguided efforts to eradicate what was then considered a “destructive” species. “New” March 15
deadline nears
Hunters long accustomed to applying for deer and elk permits in late spring need to remember the deadline is now March 15. This is the second year of the earlier deadline. The FWP Commission moved it ahead to give successful permit applicants three additional months to plan their fall hunts. Other application deadlines remain the same as in years past: June 1 for antlerless deer (Deer B), antlerless elk (Elk B), and all antelope licenses. May 1 is still the application deadline for moose, bison, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats. Questions? Call FWP at (406) 444-2950.
MARCH–APRIL 2013
In late January, a local hunter killed a female mountain lion in the Little Belt Mountains near Monarch, southeast of Great Falls, that had emigrated from South Dakota’s Black Hills. Cory Loecker, FWP area biologist, says the cougar was well known in the area because it wore a numbered yellow ear tag and a radio collar. He learned the lion had been incidentally caught in late 2007 by a bobcat trapper in the Black Hills National Forest west of Rapid City. A biologist with South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks collared the captured lion, estimated to be one and a half years old at the time. It was last seen in the Black Hills that following spring. Between then and December 2008, the lion traveled west and ended up in Montana’s Little Belt Mountains. “Her range seemed to be in and around Sluice Boxes State Park,” Loecker says. Upon examination, the six-and-a-half-year-old
lion was not lactating, indicating it did not have kittens. Though young male cougars sometimes roam for hundreds of miles to find new territories, it’s rare for a female to travel that far. “Between here and the The Black Hills cougar Black Hills is nearly 500 miles, as the crow flies,” says Loecker. “You have to wonder why she didn’t find the right habitat niche sooner, and what it was about this area that made her want to stay here and not keep going. It just goes to show that wildlife species have no boundaries here in the wild West.” n
COOPERATION
Hunters chip in to restore burned fencing It’s hard to imagine any good coming out of the tana’s Block Management Program. “We wanted to help offset at least some of destruction caused by last summer’s Ash Creek fire. The conflagration was ignited by lightning during a their out-of-pocket expenses,” says Bill Dawson, hot spell in late June. Winds that gusted up to 50 mph whipped the blaze into a firestorm that eventually consumed 250,000 acres surrounding the town of Ashland. Dozens of homes, outbuildings, and stock tanks were damaged or destroyed. “My great-grandparents’ homestead, built in the 1880s and still being lived in, was burned to the ground, along with the barn and corral,” says Clint McRae, owner of the Rocker Six Cattle Company in Forsyth. When smoke finally cleared several days later, McRae assessed even more The 2012 Ash Creek fire near Ashland damage. “We lost 60 percent of our summer grass, 8,000 acres, and 26 miles of the FWP game warden in Ashland. fence. And we were the luckier ones,” he says. Donations for the new fencing came in from One bright spot in the tragedy was the outpouring of goodwill it inspired among neigh- hunting groups as far away as Ravalli County in bors, townspeople, hunters, and others. The western Montana. “When hunters feel compelled not only to doMontana Game Wardens Association and nine sportsmen and conservation groups raised more nate their labor but also buy and donate material, than $11,000 to buy fencing materials for McRae it gives us pause to realize people appreciate the and seven other landowners enrolled in Mon- public access we provide,” says McRae. n
FWP.MT.GOV/MTOUTDOORS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ILLUSTRATION BY MIKE MORAN; KEVIN JACKSON; HUGAHUNTER.COM; MONTANA NATURAL HERITAGE PROGRAM; KTVQ; MONTANA FWP
permit -
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SURVEY FINDINGS
