Page 58 - Flathead Beacon // 11.9.16

MOUNTAIN EXPOSURE
OUTDOORS IN BRIEF
CSKT JOINS TREATY OPPOSED TO GRIZZLY HUNTS
As the federal government pre- pares to announce its decision to remove protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem, the Confederated Salish and Koote- nai Tribes has signed onto a treaty opposed to removing the iconic spe- cies from the Endangered Species Act list.
The local tribes signed the treaty on Oct. 18. Initiated by the Piikani Nation of the Blackfoot Con- federacy, the so-called grizzly treaty rejects post-delisting trophy hunt- ing of the grizzly. Elected and tra- ditional leaders of the Eastern Sho- shone, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and Northern Arapaho – the three tribes with seats on Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee-Yellow- stone Ecosystem Subcommittee — have all signed the treaty. All three tribes have previously issued or been party to resolutions opposing the delisting of the grizzly bear.
“The CSKT is in agreement with the aspirations and goals of the Grizzly Treaty particularly regard- ing the reverence that tribes have
for the grizzly bear, and the spiri- tual, cultural and ceremonial role the grizzly plays in the life and his- tory of each signatory tribe,” stated CSKT Chairman Vernon Finley.
The Obama administration is seeking to lift protections under the Endangered Species Act for more than 700 grizzlies around Yellow- stone National Park, saying that speci c population has su ciently recovered in a 19,279-square-mile area spanning southwestern Mon- tana and parts of Wyoming and Idaho. On the heels of the proposal, Montana has prepared for state management of the species by craft- ing guidelines and details of a possi- ble limited hunting season, similar to how wolves are now managed.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice is expected to announce its decision to strip federal protec- tions for grizzlies near Yellowstone National Park in the coming weeks or months. The agency received more than 278,000 public com- ments during the scoping period.
OUT OF BOUNDS ROB BREEDING PIGEONS OF THE
TUNE IN! 1180 AM OR NOW FM 104.3
PYRENEES
IN THE PYRENEES, THE MOUNTAIN range separating France from Spain, Basque hunters are gather- ing palombes, or wood pigeons, as the birds migrate over the mountains to winter range. The Basque hunt them for food, but also to sell to restaurants and markets.
It’s a fall tradition, according to a story in the New York Times. The birds are hunted with shotguns, but are also captured with large nets. As the birds y over the mountains they are hazed in the direction of the nets by hunters in raised platforms who throw large wooden pad- dles at the birds, forcing them to y low to the ground where they become ensnared in the nets.
There’s even a mountain restaurant that has its own net system to capture wood pigeons to sell to diners.
This kind of market hunting was once widespread in the U.S. Market hunting is considered one of the main causes of the extinction of the passenger pigeon in the late 1800s. The pigeons are thought to have been the most numerous bird in North America at one point, and they were thought of as cheap and easy meat.
Market hunting alone didn’t drive the birds to extinction, but probably worked hand in hand with habitat loss. In the passenger pigeon’s case it was woodlands cleared for farming. Eventually, the mas- sive ocks that were somehow necessary for the bird’s survival dropped below lev- els that were sustainable, and the species blinked out.
The last con rmed passenger pigeon killed in the wild was in 1900. Captive birds hung on until 1914, when Martha, believed to be the last passenger pigeon, passed away in the Cincinnati Zoo.
Today we make a distinction between our market hunting past and the fair chase hunting ethic that is a central tenet of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. No one is making a living shooting birds all morning so restaurants will have wild game to o er diners in the
evening, and some market hunters once did. Instead, we limit hunters to meth- ods of take we’ve deemed fair, and have established bag limits intended to be sustainable.
The idea is that there won’t be any more passenger pigeons.
Market hunting, or maybe I should say market shing, is still alive and well in the Flathead. There is that commer- cial shery for Lake Superior white sh on the river, and the way shing contests are being used on the lake to suppress lake trout in a way simulates the impact of a commercial shing operation. Since lake trout are non-native, and are consid- ered a threat to bull trout, we’re actually encouraging non-sustainable harvest.
With the spread of the Eurasian col- lared dove across most of the U.S. there might again be a place for market hunt- ing for birds in the U.S. These invasive non-natives have moved into much of the Northern Rockies and setting hunt- ers on the birds might be a good way to keep their numbers in check.
For this to work, however, pigeon meat would have to again become fashionable with American diners. Eating pigeon was once far more common and you’ll nd squab recipes in old cookbooks. The meat is dark and gamey and other than dove hunters in the southern states, few eat them today.
I haven’t hunted dove in years, since I lived in Arizona. From a sporting stand- point dove hunting is hard to beat. When the birds come in fast and furious you can empty a box of shells in moments. You might not hit many, but you’ll have fun with all the missing.
But then you’re left to deal with the birds, and I never did develop a taste for dove. So I stuck with birds I like to eat.
Those nets the Basque palombe hunt- ers use are carefully regulated, by the way. The number is limited to ensure the take is sustainable. It’s market hunting without the unlimited market that led to the passenger pigeon’s demise.
Robin Sorg Sunti Pichetchaiyakul Allen Jimmerson
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OpeningReception:
Saturday 5:30 - 8 pm
Montana Wildlife Studio (Snappy’s upper level)
1400 mt hwy 35
Please use entrance by life-size elk bronze.
A A
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kalispell
meet the artists, enjoy delicious food & listen to the beautiful music of glacier symphony’s string quartet.
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NOVEMBER 9, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM