2015 Legislature - Anti-Hunting Bill

[Ben Lamb]

Senator Brenden has just requested a bill for 2015. It would eliminate Sage Grouse hunting completely.

I've been talking with a number of folks who are looking to eliminate hunter opportunity on Sage Grouse due to the perception that if oil and gas have to follow best management practices, then hunters should give up their opportunity, even though there is no impact on grouse populations by hunters (or predators for that fact).

Ready to sacrifice your sage grouse hunting?

 

[bigskyblueman]

Does not surprise me. What I can not understand is why hunters and fishermen continue to vote for this guy.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Maybe Don Peay can ask for some money so he can lobby for predator control to "save" sage grouse hunting.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Maybe Don Peay can ask for some money so he can lobby for predator control to "save" sage grouse hunting.

I'm sure that bill will be forthcoming as well. The concept that predators are having a detrimental effect on sage grouse is being actively pushed by the Montana Petroleum Association.

Pretty funny since it was MPA that called for only using peer reviewed science when it comes to ESA listings.

 

[MThuntr]

Hunting likely has little or no effect on sage grouse. Habitat destruction via sod busting, oil/gas development, and subdivisions are major contributors. Overgrazing and West Nile are also players in the scope of things. A lot of people will point to predators but I'll argue that habitat loss results in more depredation. Also it wouldn't hurt to shoot a coyote, fox, raccoon, or skunk. I understand nest predation is the highest by birds (magpies & ravens).

Basically nobody can point at one things and definitely say that is the cause. Stopping hunting won't help if the whole isn't improved.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Hunting likely has little or no effect on sage grouse. Habitat destruction via sod busting, oil/gas development, and subdivisions are major contributors. Overgrazing and West Nile are also players in the scope of things. A lot of people will point to predators but I'll argue that habitat loss results in more depredation. Also it wouldn't hurt to shoot a coyote, fox, raccoon, or skunk. I understand nest predation is the highest by birds (magpies & ravens).

Basically nobody can point at one things and definitely say that is the cause. Stopping hunting won't help if the whole isn't improved.

I've seen trail cam photos of elk eating eggs out of a sage grouse nest.

Habitat is the key: maintaining current habitat will conserve the bird. Unfortunately, that means the O&G industry is going to need to live up to their rhetoric of responsible development rather than just try to take away our opportunity and our conservation funding for the Grouse.

Predation, to be clear, is a major mortality factor for Grouse, but it does not limit the overall bird population size because that's how the birds evolved. I don't think there's anything out ther ethat doesn't eat a sage grouse.

Coyotes are less of a factor than the smaller predators like skunks, badgers, etc. In fact, a protracted effort to reduce coyote numbers would probably have the reverse affect of what the proponents of predator control want because removing yotes would increase the mesopredator populations.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Best science will tell you that there is a very high mortality of birds each year. One of the primary keys to good populations is nesting habitat and available food sources for the young chicks

I know that doesn't sound near as sexy and appealing as waging warfare on all four legged tooth animals, and raptors, and magpies, and so on.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Best science will tell you that there is a very high mortality of birds each year. One of the primary keys to good populations is nesting habitat and available food sources for the young chicks

I know that doesn't sound near as sexy and appealing as waging warfare on all four legged tooth animals, and raptors, and magpies, and so on.

Hopefully someone more experienced with the science will weigh in on this. My experience wit hSG is pretty dated now. Last I knew, SG Stips indicated that well pads needed to be a mile or two from any established lek. That still seemed to show some aversion by SG to the lek, IIRC.

The political battle on sage grouse will be pretty epic. Ag & O&G don't want any new stips or will accept a minimum standard that probably won't conserve the bird. They're both telling lawmakers and FWP that we need to eliminate hunting of SG due to the optics of them having to curtail their activities. The Big Sky Upland Bird Assn has said that we should cut the quota on SG. Not sure where that's coming from, but I can live with a quota reduction if we can prove that it will actually help the population.

 

[RobG]

What is his logic for stopping hunting?

 

[Ben Lamb]

That's a very good question. You should ask him:[email protected]