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WILL STATE MANAGEMENT PLANS WORK?

This week, thirteen years since reintroduction into the northern Rockies, the federal government says the Big Dog, the wolf, is no longer an endangered species, which means the state wildlife agencies take over wolf management. The state agencies are already in the starting blocks to give us something we've never, ever had here in the New West, regulated sport hunting for wolves.

Regardless of the agency readiness, though, wolf managers expect delays as conservation groups drag delisting through the court system. But regardless when seasons open, will sport hunting accomplish the goal of reducing wolf numbers to target levels? [more]

LOADED FOR POLITICS, NOT BEARS OR CRIMINALS

You've probably heard about pending legislation to allow visitors to our national parks to carry loaded and accessible firearms. The cover story is the concern that people must be able to protect their families from perverts and wild animals infesting out national parks.

To this overused assertion, I must ask why doesn't the gun lobby get out front with the real reason it does these things?

Footnote: Click here to read more NewWest.Net articles on the NRA. [more]

WILL THE FWP COMMISSION STAND UP FOR HUNTERS?

In January, I posted a column about the most expensive deer in the world, which happen to be running around my house in Helena, Montana. I concluded, conservatively, that killing these deer might cost $2,000 or more per animal. Out of the comment section came the question: What would be a more cost-effective option?

Since then, I've been checking around on what's happening in other cities, and I have the answer. [more]

ANIMOSITY, EGOS GIVE WILDERNESS DROUGHT STAYING POWER

If you follow the Wilderness issue like I do, you know that Congress is currently considering the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA), which would designate as Wilderness basically all of the remaining roadless land in Idaho and Montana, and most of northwestern Wyoming as well as smaller tracts in eastern Oregon and eastern Washington--22.7 million acres in all, including 3 million already-protected as national parks, a chunk of real estate about the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.

That might be too big of a bite for anybody to chew, but it seems like something a pro-Wilderness group could support, don't you think?

And sure enough, the Wilderness Society and Sierra Club support NREPA, as does the Idaho Conservation League, the major pro-Wilderness group in the Gem State. But you might be surprised to learn that the major nonprofit we depend on to protect wild land in the Big Sky State, the Montana Wilderness Association (MWA), not only won't support NREPA, but opposes it.

Editor's Note: The MWA sent a response to this column. It's the 61st comment. To save time schrolling through the first 60, you can find it faster by searching for its headline, "New Montana Wilderness on the Horizon."--Bill [more]

REAL ESTATE IS RISKY BUSINESS

Yesterday, I had another chat with Mike Callahan, Cabela's Senior Vice President, concerning the company's controversial ancillary business, Cabela's Trophy Properties (CTP). As you can see in the resulting article, Callahan certainly has been open and sincere in his belief that Cabela's is not doing anything wrong and can actually help hunters solve the omnipresent hunting access problem.

I certainly hope he has it nailed because I've had so many comments, both online and offline, more than on any issue I've written about on NewWest.Net, and those comments tell me Cabela's could still be courting disaster. [more]

PUT THE BIG ONES BACK

They don't call it the water wolf for nothing. To some trout fanciers, pike, as in northern pike, is consummate four-letter word, just like wolf is to some ranchers and elk hunters. And for the same reason. Both species eat our prized native game species.

But there is a big difference. The wolf has a large constituency supporting its preservation, but when you go out and advocate preserving pike, especially here in the New West, here in Trout Country, you can feel mighty lonely.

Well, I guess I'll just have to learn to live with a little loneliness. [more]

A FEW BEST READ TWICE, AT LEAST

As I'm sure many of you have noticed, NewWest.net has engaged readers who take the time to make excellent comments that frequently add value to stories. And they keep coming in. The hardest part was narrowing down the list to a manageable size. Even though there are obviously many more comments worth repeating, here are some of my favorites. For more comments, check out the Comments Worth Repeating Chronology. Enjoy. [more]

WILL OTHER CITIES FOLLOW HELENA'S LEAD?

Pardon the cliché, but if you want to know why something is happening, follow the money. So, that's what I did this week, and at the end of my search, I found what must be the most expensive deer in the world.

You could have some of these high-priced deer in your town, too. What's happening in Helena, Montana, could be coming to a city near you. [more]

THE BIGGEST OUTDOOR STORIES OF THE NEW YEAR

It's that time of year again, when many of my peers in the writing biz reflect on what already happened--you know, the best and biggest stories of the year. But as I asked last year, how hard is it to look into the past and be a visionary? Being a forward-looking sort of guy, I again prefer to look ahead and predict what will happen instead of looking back to predict what did happen.

So, for the New West, here are my predictions for the top outdoor stories you can expect to read in 2008. [more]

A DECENT RECORD, BUT NOT EXACTLY A VISIONARY

It seems to me that predicting the news is a little like predicting the weather. You can be wrong most of the time and still keep your job. I hope the same is true for me.

Last December, I made some bold predictions on what outdoor news you might hear in 2007 and promised to report on if they came true. Here's my report. [more]

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