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Special hunts help farmers: Antelope eating landowners' livelihood
Story By BRETT FRENCH, Billings Gazette Staff
1/14/03
Typically, it's cold weather and heavy snow covering natural food sources that prompts the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to initiate damage hunts. Usually, deer or elk are targeted.
But in this fifth year of drought, it is dry weather that has winter wheat farmers requesting a special hunt to thin antelope herds northwest of Billings.
"It's kind of a different circumstance, that's for sure," said Don Childress, FWP's wildlife division administrator in Helena.
So don't be alarmed if you see hunters walking the fields so long after the regular season. FWP has initiated two damage hunts to help out Molt-area farmers.
The agency issued 300 permits for two portions of hunting districts 550 and 560. The permits are split into two areas -- Area A, Comanche Basin, north of Molt Road and East of Buffalo Trail Road; and Area B, west of Buffalo Trail Road and including the Big Lake Waterfowl Management Area west of Molt.
Two seasons will split up the hunt and hunters. The first hunt began Saturday and runs until Sunday. The second hunt runs Jan. 25-Feb. 2. Hunters were allowed one of the four possible permits on a first-come, first-serve basis. The permits were issued Thursday and quickly sold out.
To ensure they'd get permits, Steve Nave and his nephew, Dustin Marry, camped out from 11 p.m. Wednesday until FWP opened its doors at 8 the next morning.
"You would've thought we were a rock band," said Clair Simmons, a wildlife biologist from Big Timber who was called in to help handle the crowd.
Nave and Marry were among about 200 people, mostly men, assembled outside the office on the brisk morning. Billings resident Jim Tippets, who snagged a permit for the special hunt in Area B, said he arrived at 5 a.m. to ensure he would get a permit. Why brave the cold wait and long line for a permit?
"Love of the hunt," Tippets said. He was certainly dressed for the cold, clad in a fluorescent orange parka, camouflage bibs and snow boots.
Ed Knight of Billings said he bought a permit in one of last year's three special hunts in the same area. He said the antelope became skittish soon after the hunt started.
"They learn pretty quickly what the range of a hunting rifle is," he said. And by the time he hunted the last week of the special season, antelope 2 miles away were running when a pickup approached.
To fill his tag, Knight said, he walked into a field under the cover of darkness and waited for other hunters to push the animals to him.
In the past, damage hunts have typically been used to scare elk or deer off haystacks. But the problem northwest of Billings is different. What winter wheat the antelope aren't eating, they're sandblasting as wind picks up dirt the antelope kick loose when they run across the fields.
"It turns into a catastrophe on top of a mess," said farmer Dan Downs, who lives north of Molt.
Antelope numbers in the area, which is bisected by Highway 3, are way up. According to wildlife biologist Shawn Stewart, the antelope population in all of hunting district 560 jumped to 4,762 this past summer. The previous high was 4,291 in 1992. And after the severe 1996-97 winter, antelope numbers dropped to 2,500.
Hunting district 550 hasn't seen such a dramatic increase, Stewart said, partly because it has less habitat. He said the FWP counted 1,200 antelope in 550 in 2000. That was down from 1990 when 1,700 were tallied.
Mild winters seem to have helped the herds flourish, despite a dwindling amount of surface water. Landowner Bill Downs said he's seen more antelope this year than at any time in the 40-some years he's been farming.
"And up until the last couple of years, there haven't been a lot of people hunting antelope, either," he said.
But many hunters welcome the second big game season that comes with a late hunt, even if it is short-lived.
Knight said late hunts fill the gap between seasons. "And it sure beats ice fishing," he said.
Last year during the special hunt, Dan Downs said the antelope just ran across the road where the special season didn't apply.
"One of the difficulties of that area is the topography is very flat," said Jay Newell, a Region 5 wildlife biologist. So antelope, with their keen vision, can see trouble, or hunters, coming from a long way off.
This year, with the hunt set up in two different units, hunters should have a better chance of bumping into some animals.
"They set up the hunt well this year," said landowner Curtis Foreman. "They've got hunters on both sides."
According to Newell, antelope numbers were at record or near-record levels across much of south-central Montana this year. In response, FWP allowed either-sex permit holders in some areas to purchase an extra doe-fawn license for the regular season.
"I think hunters were fairly successful this year," Newell said. He estimated that about 70 percent of the hunters filled their tags. But he said only 25 to 30 percent purchased the extra doe-fawn permit, possibly because they didn't know they qualified for an extra tag.
During the regular 2002 season, FWP issued 400 either-sex permits in 550 and 1,000 in district 560, a large area that is bordered by Highway 12 between Ryegate and Lavina to the north and the Yellowstone River to the south.
Although hunting season often taxes landowners' patience, with hunters knocking on their doors or ringing them on the telephone for permission to use their land, both Dan and Bill Downs said that's not the case on their places.
"We've got so many antelope, I don't mind having hunters," Bill Downs said. "Every little bit will help.
"I'd rather have hunters get some good out of them than have them eat me out of house and home," he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett French can be reached at 657-1387, or at french@billingsgazette.com
Story By BRETT FRENCH, Billings Gazette Staff
1/14/03
Typically, it's cold weather and heavy snow covering natural food sources that prompts the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to initiate damage hunts. Usually, deer or elk are targeted.
But in this fifth year of drought, it is dry weather that has winter wheat farmers requesting a special hunt to thin antelope herds northwest of Billings.
"It's kind of a different circumstance, that's for sure," said Don Childress, FWP's wildlife division administrator in Helena.
So don't be alarmed if you see hunters walking the fields so long after the regular season. FWP has initiated two damage hunts to help out Molt-area farmers.
The agency issued 300 permits for two portions of hunting districts 550 and 560. The permits are split into two areas -- Area A, Comanche Basin, north of Molt Road and East of Buffalo Trail Road; and Area B, west of Buffalo Trail Road and including the Big Lake Waterfowl Management Area west of Molt.
Two seasons will split up the hunt and hunters. The first hunt began Saturday and runs until Sunday. The second hunt runs Jan. 25-Feb. 2. Hunters were allowed one of the four possible permits on a first-come, first-serve basis. The permits were issued Thursday and quickly sold out.
To ensure they'd get permits, Steve Nave and his nephew, Dustin Marry, camped out from 11 p.m. Wednesday until FWP opened its doors at 8 the next morning.
"You would've thought we were a rock band," said Clair Simmons, a wildlife biologist from Big Timber who was called in to help handle the crowd.
Nave and Marry were among about 200 people, mostly men, assembled outside the office on the brisk morning. Billings resident Jim Tippets, who snagged a permit for the special hunt in Area B, said he arrived at 5 a.m. to ensure he would get a permit. Why brave the cold wait and long line for a permit?
"Love of the hunt," Tippets said. He was certainly dressed for the cold, clad in a fluorescent orange parka, camouflage bibs and snow boots.
Ed Knight of Billings said he bought a permit in one of last year's three special hunts in the same area. He said the antelope became skittish soon after the hunt started.
"They learn pretty quickly what the range of a hunting rifle is," he said. And by the time he hunted the last week of the special season, antelope 2 miles away were running when a pickup approached.
To fill his tag, Knight said, he walked into a field under the cover of darkness and waited for other hunters to push the animals to him.
In the past, damage hunts have typically been used to scare elk or deer off haystacks. But the problem northwest of Billings is different. What winter wheat the antelope aren't eating, they're sandblasting as wind picks up dirt the antelope kick loose when they run across the fields.
"It turns into a catastrophe on top of a mess," said farmer Dan Downs, who lives north of Molt.
Antelope numbers in the area, which is bisected by Highway 3, are way up. According to wildlife biologist Shawn Stewart, the antelope population in all of hunting district 560 jumped to 4,762 this past summer. The previous high was 4,291 in 1992. And after the severe 1996-97 winter, antelope numbers dropped to 2,500.
Hunting district 550 hasn't seen such a dramatic increase, Stewart said, partly because it has less habitat. He said the FWP counted 1,200 antelope in 550 in 2000. That was down from 1990 when 1,700 were tallied.
Mild winters seem to have helped the herds flourish, despite a dwindling amount of surface water. Landowner Bill Downs said he's seen more antelope this year than at any time in the 40-some years he's been farming.
"And up until the last couple of years, there haven't been a lot of people hunting antelope, either," he said.
But many hunters welcome the second big game season that comes with a late hunt, even if it is short-lived.
Knight said late hunts fill the gap between seasons. "And it sure beats ice fishing," he said.
Last year during the special hunt, Dan Downs said the antelope just ran across the road where the special season didn't apply.
"One of the difficulties of that area is the topography is very flat," said Jay Newell, a Region 5 wildlife biologist. So antelope, with their keen vision, can see trouble, or hunters, coming from a long way off.
This year, with the hunt set up in two different units, hunters should have a better chance of bumping into some animals.
"They set up the hunt well this year," said landowner Curtis Foreman. "They've got hunters on both sides."
According to Newell, antelope numbers were at record or near-record levels across much of south-central Montana this year. In response, FWP allowed either-sex permit holders in some areas to purchase an extra doe-fawn license for the regular season.
"I think hunters were fairly successful this year," Newell said. He estimated that about 70 percent of the hunters filled their tags. But he said only 25 to 30 percent purchased the extra doe-fawn permit, possibly because they didn't know they qualified for an extra tag.
During the regular 2002 season, FWP issued 400 either-sex permits in 550 and 1,000 in district 560, a large area that is bordered by Highway 12 between Ryegate and Lavina to the north and the Yellowstone River to the south.
Although hunting season often taxes landowners' patience, with hunters knocking on their doors or ringing them on the telephone for permission to use their land, both Dan and Bill Downs said that's not the case on their places.
"We've got so many antelope, I don't mind having hunters," Bill Downs said. "Every little bit will help.
"I'd rather have hunters get some good out of them than have them eat me out of house and home," he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett French can be reached at 657-1387, or at french@billingsgazette.com
