Artificial animals: AI threatens photo competitions and conservation efforts

AI has come for the animals.  When the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks unveiled its 43rd annual photo issue of Montana Outdoors on Jan. 1, the magazine carried an explanation on page 1: Magazine staff, editor Tom Dickson wrote the magazine had gone to great lengths to verify that phot…

Hunt Quietly: Matt Rinella on the hyper-commercialization of hunting

According to Dr. Matt Rinella, The grass-roots traditions that have defined hunting in America are being displaced by a hyper-commercialized pay-to-play model.  In response, he has created an organization called Hunt Quietly, and what he calls a movement to combat this tainting of the principles o…

Outdoors roundtable: E-Bikes, Snowbowl, tribal bison hunt and Anaconda mule deer

As the year comes to a close I thought it would be a good time to gather our team of outdoors writers and put a bow on it. I asked the reporters to send me some of their most important stories from 2023 so we could re-hash them for folks as the last episode of the year. So with me today is Rob Ch…

Prairie bears: Managing co-existence with grizzlies in the land of grain

As the federally-protected grizzly bear continues to make its life outside of the wilderness enclaves of its recovery zones it is met with human civilization and the problems that arise as a result. The folks whose lives and livelihood are on the line in these situations are the farmers and ranche…

Endangered Species Act turns 50 and Montana has been the battleground

The Endangered Species Act turns 50 this December. Often called “the pit-bull of environmental statutes,” the ESA has given federal protection to more than 2,000 animals and plants. It has also drawn critics who claim it takes away property rights and hurts economic development.  After half a cen…

Ousted ranger alleges issues among Forest Service leadership

Last April, Scott Snelson was quietly transferred from his post at the Spotted Bear District to a desk job at the Flathead National Forest headquarters at the behest of then Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele. Snelson finished his career as a staff officer of recreation, engineering, heritage and land. …

Deer in decline: Why Montana is proposing big changes to hunting regulations

Thirty-one years ago, 1,321 mule deer were shot by hunters in Hunting District 502 — a record high. In 2021, the total mule deer harvest in HD 502 was 477.  There are a number of hunting regulations being proposed for big game species in Montana that the Fish and Wildlife Commission has on its De…

Eastbound bear: Grizzly seen in Missouri Breaks, most east one has gone in century

In late October, what appears to be an adult male grizzly bear was captured on a game camera in the Missouri Breaks. Although tracks of grizzlies have been found farther east, in the Winifred area, this was the first photographic evidence of a grizzly so far from the Northern Continental Divide Ec…

Melting masses: Study demotes 52 glaciers to snowfields

It's no secret that glaciers in Montana and the world over are disappearing. But now a new study puts a number to the losses, at least for the Western U.S.  Of the West's 612 officially named glaciers, 52 no longer qualify as glaciers. That's according to a study released last month by Portland St…

Where should buffalo roam? Montana and Yellowstone clash over bison management

The Interagency Bison Management Program partners met at Chico Hot Springs Resort in early November. The partners include tribal representatives, state and federal officials.  When the Park Service attempted to change some language in the group’s adaptive management plan, the executive officer of …