Tatonka!

[cowboy]

One of the neatest animals I have ever hunted and been around. I have new respect for the animal and for what it takes to get one out. It took all 3 of us to break it down with a guy trying to hold the legs and the other 2 fighting that thick hide and skinning. Couldn't believe how many blades it took only because that hide is sooooo thick..

Sounds like a good opportunity for Big Fin to pick up a couple more sponsors to me.
I'd go with Havalon Knives and Work Sharp sharpeners for the fixed/folding blades.

 

[sweetnectar]

It seems the part of the hunt that is the most challenging is dealing with the BFC people and the pressures that come with it. As for the actual go out and shoot a buffalo thing, it seems easy. Getting it done under the microscope of buffalo worshippers is another story.

Also, are you sure Bart just isn't praying for deliverance from the BFC people while he is laying on the ground? Maybe it is just a road hunter/snowmobiler recovery break. You guys made the best of the situation.

 

[noharleyyet]

Alrighty then, We want to see a picture of someone with a Buffalo Head being packed out! All we have seen is an old man on the ground being eaten by the rare Grouse Buzzard! John

Lawnboy heard one of em say he looked like Ned Beatty and passed out.

 

[Big Fin]

From the Buffalo Field Campaign email blast this morning:

Eight more of America's last wild buffalo have been killed by hunters since we last wrote, every one of them less than a mile from the boundary of Yellowstone National Park. One young bull was shot by a hunter who has a hunting TV program. He filmed the event for his show and wrote thoroughly about it on his blog. Of everything he had to say about it, the following is something we certainly agree on:

"The bison deserves to be treated as wildlife and not livestock. Until we as hunters make that case, the plight of the bison is relegated to the same path, rather than the path of abundance we have provided for all our other wildlife." ~ Randy Newberg.

While this is excellent sentiment, I am reminded of Ed Abbey's statement, "sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul."

Over the past seven years, hundreds of hunters have killed hundreds of wild buffalo on the fringes of Yellowstone National Park, under the guise of a legitimate hunt. The Montana Department of Livestock is kicking back, enjoying having hunters do their dirty work. Montana hunters in particular are proud of all the wildlife species they have "brought back" from the brink, but what have hunters accomplished for wild bison in Montana? The people who come to kill bison are failing their conservation ethic, putting the cart before the horse by taking from the buffalo without doing what is necessary to ensure that they survive into the future. Hunters have a responsibility to NOT kill ecologically extinct native wildlife and a responsibility to defend animals who are hounded and killed by state and federal agencies, brutally kicked off their tiny fraction of habitat after hunting is over.

Buffalo Field Campaign is not opposed to hunting, but we strongly oppose the current buffalo hunt. Some of us are subsistence hunters and honor the sacred life that not only helps feed some of our family, but plays a key ecological role outside of the human spectrum. A profound statement buffalo hunters could make -- especially those with a TV show -- would be to publicly oppose the Interagency Bison Management Plan and to publicly refuse to participate in a hunt that is set up to keep buffalo from accessing and inhabiting their Montana habitat.

Wild is the Way ~ Roam Free!
~Stephany

I guess we will disagree on approach and tactic while agreeing to advocate for bison. Will I see them in Helena today, as I drive their to testify against a really bad bison bill?

 

[Mark Albrecht]

Randy glad you are heading up to Helena. Hope to see you there but I may miss you if I decide HB 312, which would potentially use sportsman dollars to test and slaughter elk ,is in need of more opposition. HB 312 places the burden squarely on the sportsman to fund, directs action at seroprevalence reduction, which does nothing to change impacts to the livestock producer. So it costs the sportsman, does nothing but reduce the number of elk, and sportsmen(and women) get to foot a large bill - Wyoming spent over $1.3 million a small study! The elk brucellosis working group has asked for local landscape level education and involvement from all concerned citizens. HB 312 is divisive, fiscally irresponsible, and damaging to sportsman, and will hurt Montana's image and to some degree our tourism.

To address the brucellosis issue we need to work together as the elk working group has advocated, not through activist legislation. Sportsman and landowners can and will work together if given the opportunity. And I believe we may be able to have more elk and bison to enjoy watching and hunting and not have a negative impact on the livestock industry - let the people work together without legislative barriers. Ask your legislator to stop the War on Sportsman and Wildlife oppose HB 312

 

[Ben Lamb]

Mark,

Totally your call. There are two buses headed over from Missoula and Pablo today as well as a large contingent coming from NE MT& at least 4 full vehicles heading over from Bozeman. It sounds like a great turnout for the buffalo meeting. I'll be in House Ag testifying against HB 312 & we can always use a strong voice. Either way, make sure you sign in at both hearings as opposed. Numbers matter.

 

[Big Fin]

Mark - Given how long SB 143 will take for the testimony, I plan to testify on HB 312, then go to testify on SB 143. I agree, HB 312 is a terrible bill, especially as it relates to trying to reduce the prevelance in elk - read "Reduce elk number around YNP."