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A hunting trip to reservation provides visions of Montana
Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE Staff Writer
October 12, 2002
FORT BELKNAP INDIAN RESERVATION, Mont. – On grounds made sacred by the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Indians, in a state where the sky seems so big and close it can be touched from the ground, herds of antelope move as if they're flying on a carpet of prairie sage.
"Speed goats," is what Bryan Ireland of San Diego called them after spending his first day hunting, but mostly chasing, herds of 20 and 30 antelope. We hunted the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation's rolling prairies, grasslands and coulees (washes) here in north-central Montana. The area is called Hi-Line for the Northern Railway tracks that run through here. The Bears Mountains line the western sky, the Milk River forms the northern boundary and the Little Rockies, already snow-capped, with scenic Mission Canyon and the Natural Bridge and forest land, rise to the south.
Like the rest of us in the hunting group, Bryan Ireland hoped to connect on one clean shot at a trophy buck. He blanked the first day, but he dropped a fine buck on the second of the three-day hunt.
By any name, these fleeting ghosts of the prairie are magnificent to watch, stalk and hunt. Some scientists say antelope are related to the goat, but others contend they form a species unrelated to any other. After watching them, that's what I'm thinking.
I know this: There's no finer sight in nature than a herd of speeding antelope, cruising at 50 to 60 mph, their white rump fur raised, heads held high and proud like Olympic sprinters, disappearing into a coulee.
When you hunt antelope, you get used to seeing white rump hair, you get used to seeing the herd of 20 to 30 animals turn like a school of bait fish, and disappear.
Before this trip, hunt organizer John Ireland of La Costa warned me that most of our shots would be at moving animals, 300 yards distant. That turned out to be a close shot.
John Ireland was on his ninth hunt here to this land filled with lore of Indian-U.S. Army battles and buffalo kill sites, Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Trail, Lewis and Clark journals and rowdy tales of early settlers and gold miners. His cousin, Mike Ireland, discovered the hunting program at Fort Belknap and established an Ireland family tradition of hunting antelope every fall.
"It's become like a rite of passage for me every fall," John Ireland said. "I love the hunting, but I enjoy driving around the reservation and being in the wide-open country just as much."
Ignatius George Stiffarm, who is the reservation's fire control officer, greeted us on our first day at the Fish and Game Office. Stiffarm started the hunting-for-fee program nine years ago. He put together a team of guides that included Ron Speak Thunder and Christopher "Smiley" Gardipee. Since then, Stiffarm has brought other members of the tribe in as guides, including his 23-year-old son, Ignatius George, Jr.
"When we started the hunting program, we weren't sure how it'd go, but it's done very well," Stiffarm said.
Everyone in our original group of four shot a quality antelope. They consider a trophy to be any animal with 12-inch horns or better, and our best was John Ireland's buck that sported 14-1/2-inch horns. Ireland's brother, Rick, shot a 14-1/4, as did Rick's son, Bryan.
We finished our hunt by visiting the Stiffarm family for dinner at their home on the reservation.
George Stiffarm's wife, Nancy, who supervises the Indian history department at the reservation school, cooked a feast that included barbecued moose, elk stew, Italian-style venison, Indian bread and homemade wine.
The next day I accompanied George Stiffarm Jr. for my last day of hunting. At 23, after some summers traveling as a firefighter, young Stiffarm is ready to go off on his own. He showed me some of his favorite places such as Mission Canyon and the Natural Bridge. His favorite place of all, Snake Butte, is an amazing, rugged land mass, coiled like a snake and overlooking a prairie that is home to the tribe's buffalo herd, about 600 animals, and more herds of antelope.
"This is a sacred place, a place many of us come to for a vision that will guide us," Stiffarm said. "The ritual is to fast three to five days and then go to the top of Snake Butte."
I pictured young Stiffarm on that rocky ledge, looking out into his future for spiritual guidance, and I wondered what he'd see, what vision awaited him. Down below, he'll see sprinting antelope and burly bison, the tribe's symbols of speed and strength, two things he'll carry with him forever. Above him will be the biggest sky in the world, below him the earth and endless opportunity in the natural world for someone who has learned so much about nature, so soon.
I'd gotten what I'd gone to Montana to get, and it wasn't just an antelope.
Ed Zieralski can be reached at (619) 293-1225 or ed.zieralski@uniontrib.com
October 12, 2002
Casinos, no. Hunting, yes.
There are no casinos on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. The tribes' economy is based on agriculture that includes farming, ranching and land leasing and permits for cattle grazing. Wheat, hay and barley are grown, and hunting is offered for a fee. Antelope tags go for $600, plus a $15 conservation fee. Guides get $100 a day, plus tip.
Rock star Ted Nugent paid between $5,000 and $6,000 to shoot a buffalo with a bow here. There's also hunting for sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge, pheasants, wild turkey, waterfowl, mule deer and white-tailed deer, elk, moose, mountain lion and bighorn sheep. Plus trapping for muskrat, bobcat and beaver.
As for gaming, the old bingo hall now houses the Fish and Game Office, complete with freezers filled with buffalo meat and paintings of Gros Ventre and Assiniboine warriors.
For information about hunting the Belknap Indian Reservation, call George Stiffarm at (406) 353-2301.
Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE Staff Writer
October 12, 2002
FORT BELKNAP INDIAN RESERVATION, Mont. – On grounds made sacred by the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Indians, in a state where the sky seems so big and close it can be touched from the ground, herds of antelope move as if they're flying on a carpet of prairie sage.
"Speed goats," is what Bryan Ireland of San Diego called them after spending his first day hunting, but mostly chasing, herds of 20 and 30 antelope. We hunted the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation's rolling prairies, grasslands and coulees (washes) here in north-central Montana. The area is called Hi-Line for the Northern Railway tracks that run through here. The Bears Mountains line the western sky, the Milk River forms the northern boundary and the Little Rockies, already snow-capped, with scenic Mission Canyon and the Natural Bridge and forest land, rise to the south.
Like the rest of us in the hunting group, Bryan Ireland hoped to connect on one clean shot at a trophy buck. He blanked the first day, but he dropped a fine buck on the second of the three-day hunt.
By any name, these fleeting ghosts of the prairie are magnificent to watch, stalk and hunt. Some scientists say antelope are related to the goat, but others contend they form a species unrelated to any other. After watching them, that's what I'm thinking.
I know this: There's no finer sight in nature than a herd of speeding antelope, cruising at 50 to 60 mph, their white rump fur raised, heads held high and proud like Olympic sprinters, disappearing into a coulee.
When you hunt antelope, you get used to seeing white rump hair, you get used to seeing the herd of 20 to 30 animals turn like a school of bait fish, and disappear.
Before this trip, hunt organizer John Ireland of La Costa warned me that most of our shots would be at moving animals, 300 yards distant. That turned out to be a close shot.
John Ireland was on his ninth hunt here to this land filled with lore of Indian-U.S. Army battles and buffalo kill sites, Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Trail, Lewis and Clark journals and rowdy tales of early settlers and gold miners. His cousin, Mike Ireland, discovered the hunting program at Fort Belknap and established an Ireland family tradition of hunting antelope every fall.
"It's become like a rite of passage for me every fall," John Ireland said. "I love the hunting, but I enjoy driving around the reservation and being in the wide-open country just as much."
Ignatius George Stiffarm, who is the reservation's fire control officer, greeted us on our first day at the Fish and Game Office. Stiffarm started the hunting-for-fee program nine years ago. He put together a team of guides that included Ron Speak Thunder and Christopher "Smiley" Gardipee. Since then, Stiffarm has brought other members of the tribe in as guides, including his 23-year-old son, Ignatius George, Jr.
"When we started the hunting program, we weren't sure how it'd go, but it's done very well," Stiffarm said.
Everyone in our original group of four shot a quality antelope. They consider a trophy to be any animal with 12-inch horns or better, and our best was John Ireland's buck that sported 14-1/2-inch horns. Ireland's brother, Rick, shot a 14-1/4, as did Rick's son, Bryan.
We finished our hunt by visiting the Stiffarm family for dinner at their home on the reservation.
George Stiffarm's wife, Nancy, who supervises the Indian history department at the reservation school, cooked a feast that included barbecued moose, elk stew, Italian-style venison, Indian bread and homemade wine.
The next day I accompanied George Stiffarm Jr. for my last day of hunting. At 23, after some summers traveling as a firefighter, young Stiffarm is ready to go off on his own. He showed me some of his favorite places such as Mission Canyon and the Natural Bridge. His favorite place of all, Snake Butte, is an amazing, rugged land mass, coiled like a snake and overlooking a prairie that is home to the tribe's buffalo herd, about 600 animals, and more herds of antelope.
"This is a sacred place, a place many of us come to for a vision that will guide us," Stiffarm said. "The ritual is to fast three to five days and then go to the top of Snake Butte."
I pictured young Stiffarm on that rocky ledge, looking out into his future for spiritual guidance, and I wondered what he'd see, what vision awaited him. Down below, he'll see sprinting antelope and burly bison, the tribe's symbols of speed and strength, two things he'll carry with him forever. Above him will be the biggest sky in the world, below him the earth and endless opportunity in the natural world for someone who has learned so much about nature, so soon.
I'd gotten what I'd gone to Montana to get, and it wasn't just an antelope.
Ed Zieralski can be reached at (619) 293-1225 or ed.zieralski@uniontrib.com
October 12, 2002
Casinos, no. Hunting, yes.
There are no casinos on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. The tribes' economy is based on agriculture that includes farming, ranching and land leasing and permits for cattle grazing. Wheat, hay and barley are grown, and hunting is offered for a fee. Antelope tags go for $600, plus a $15 conservation fee. Guides get $100 a day, plus tip.
Rock star Ted Nugent paid between $5,000 and $6,000 to shoot a buffalo with a bow here. There's also hunting for sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge, pheasants, wild turkey, waterfowl, mule deer and white-tailed deer, elk, moose, mountain lion and bighorn sheep. Plus trapping for muskrat, bobcat and beaver.
As for gaming, the old bingo hall now houses the Fish and Game Office, complete with freezers filled with buffalo meat and paintings of Gros Ventre and Assiniboine warriors.
For information about hunting the Belknap Indian Reservation, call George Stiffarm at (406) 353-2301.
