Montana state parks see record visitations for 2020
Recorded more than 3.4 million visitors in 2020, a 29.5 percent increase over 2019.
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks
Montana has dive team to search for aquatic invasive species
Last year inspection crews checked more than 109,000 watercraft and intercepted 16 fouled with mussels and another 170 transporting aquatic weeds.
This Grizzly bear sighting reportedly furthest expansion east of known grizzly movement
Grizzly bears on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountain Front have expanded in numbers and dispersed into areas where they have not existed for decades.
For first time, CWD detected in Montana moose
The harvest occurred less than half a mile to the west of the existing Libby CWD Management Zone.
Survivor recounts grizzly bear attack in northwest Montana
Bears attack people in northwest Montana a few times a year. That’s enough for medical professionals and wildlife managers to have developed a special protocol that’s part treatment, part forensics to ensure both parties recover.
Wolf shot in northeastern Montana for first time in years
It’s reportedly the first wolf harvested in that region since Congress removed federal protections for the predators in 2011.
Plan would keep about 1,000 grizzlies in northwestern Montana
Montana officials have adopted a plan to maintain the largest grizzly population in the Lower 48 states at roughly current numbers if the animal is removed from the threatend species list.
Are grizzlies impacting Montana deer, elk hunts?
Mostly lower-than-average hunter numbers and harvest success in second weekend, with grizzly sighting and reminder for hunters to be bear aware.
Montana bowhunter injured in grizzly bear attack
The hunter and his partner were in the Beattie Gulch area and surprised a sow and cub at very close range. The sow charged.
Hunting pheasant in Montana? Best be packing bear spray
As bears become more common in prairie creek bottoms and brush rows, encounters with bird hunters become more frequent as well.
Montana looks to keep 1,000 grizzlies amid push to lift protections
Public hunting of the animals could occur at some point in the future if federal officials move forward with plans to remove the population’s threatened species protections. No hunting plans have been crafted, but officials said if a hunt were to occur it would be constrained by the population objectives that were endorsed Thursday.
Grizzly relocated to grow numbers in northwestern Montana
It’s the 20th bear to join the region near the Montana-Idaho border under an augmentation program that began in 1990.
In Montana, boats coming from Lake Powell undergo additional AIS examination
(Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks photo)With the proliferation of adult quagga mussels in Lake Powell, on the border of Utah and Arizona, watercraft from this lake that are entering Montana will be subject to additional measures at watercraft inspection stations to ensure they are free from aquatic invasive species. Lake Powell is on the Colorado River and invasive mussels are…
Living with grizzlies just a part of life in northwestern Montana
As bears continue to move further into the prairie and remake their home in their historical territory, it’s up to both the agencies and the residents to prevent conflicts.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks: Minimizing catch-and-release mortality
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wants to remind anglers that as reservoir water temperatures increase, mortality associated with catch-and-release also increases. A past study published in The North American Journal of Fisheries Management found that walleye catch-and-release mortality rate rose from zero to 1.8 percent with water temps below 68 degrees to nearly 16 percent when water temps were above…
Montana wildlife agency: Wolf numbers remain strong
With about 900 wolves, it marks the 13th consecutive year that Montana has far exceeded wolf recovery goals, the agency says.
Elk from extreme southwestern Montana exposed to brucellosis
This is the first time a positive test has been found in the mountains southwest of Dillon, which is outside the area where ranchers are required to test livestock for brucellosis.
In Montana, 3 men plead guilty to illegally hunting bull bison
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Three men have pleaded guilty to the illegal hunting and wasting of bull bison north of Yellowstone Park. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports that Jesse Darr, Ryley Heidt and Peyton Simmons, all of Park County, were sentenced in justice court for unlawful possession. Each was ordered to pay fines and charges totaling $2,605 and each will lose…
Ten deer test positive for CWD in Montana’s Carbon County
It’s a small enough number that more herd management isn’t needed.
Montana recommends against Yellowstone grizzly hunt in 2018
State wants to demonstrate its commitment to the grizzly’s long-term recovery.
Survey: Elk herd in northern Yellowstone biggest since 2005
Elk numbers in northern Yellowstone National Park are greater than they’ve been in 13 years, according to a survey from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Results from the two-day survey, released yesterday, show a count of more than 7,500 in the area, a 40 percent increase from 2017. State scientists say good weather during the aerial survey contributed to the…
A perch mecca in Montana
Perch – not walleye or trout, the state’s poster fish species – attracting big numbers of ice anglers from across Montana and beyond to Holter Lake, boasting unexplainable quantity and quality of fish.
Montana mule deer hunters add to CWD hunt totals, research efforts
The special hunt is designed to gather information about the distribution and prevalence of CWD in deer in an area where a mule deer taken during the 2017 general big game season tested positive for CWD.
In Montana, licenses for special CWD deer hunt sell out fast
State wildlife officials are holding the hunt after a mule deer shot north of Chester tested positive for the disease.
In Montana, more than 100 deer harvested in first weekend of special CWD hunt
Includes 73 mule deer and 34 white-tailed deer. Season will run through Feb. 15, unless hunters fill a quota of 200 deer of each species before that date.
Montana investigators trace origin of illegally introduced walleye
KALISPELL, Mont. — Wildlife investigators have used a kind of biological fingerprinting to unravel the origin of a pair of walleye illegally introduced in a northwestern Montana lake. The Flathead Beacon reports that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists analyzed tiny bones from the two fishes’ inner ears. Those bones contain details of the water chemistry from where fish have…
Outdoor News Store
Shop our online store for products and gear: Print of the Year, Outdoor News History Book, Outdoor News Clothing and more!
