Access, Access, Access

I’m not a hunter. But I work for an agency that manages wildlife populations for the people of Montana so that they are healthy and thriving … and huntable. I am a passionate advocate for the environment; the habitat it provides for critters and the majesty it provides for my spiritual health. But, I didn’t realize until working here that hunting is an intricate part of keeping healthy and thriving wildlife populations in this state (and other states, I suspect). My zealous advocacy, personally and professionally, for the environment now includes the same fervor for the legacy of hunting. So if you think hunting is just a sport for rednecks and their blood-thirsty, testosterone-charged, trophy-game-lusting ways, you’re probably right. But it’s more than that. For those that treat it as a way to be a part of the age-old natural duality of prey and predator that keeps our ecosystem thriving, I subscribe whole-heartedly.

In these changing times, however, where new landowners don’t recognize the value of hunting as a tool to manage a population, the populations are exploding. The elk population in Montana is increasing every year due to mild winters and the creation (intentionally or not) of safe-havens for large herds. As the population increases, the whole system is thrown off balance and the wild, natural habitat threatens to be trampled and can no longer support the increasing elk populations. The populations move to greener pastures to forage and feed – the crops and fields on large ranches. Those ranchers who don’t allow access for hunting, harbor the elk and charge hunters to take trophy elk that is supposed to be available for veiwing, enjoying, and hunting to all the people of Montana; not just the rich who can afford it. Cabela’s is an example of just this type of problem.

I can’t say it any better than the Montana Wildlife Federation said it in a letter to the CEO of Cabela’s requesting them to consider some alternatives to selling ranches that were traditionally open to public hunting. Rather, MWF request that they exercise their private property rights in a manner that could take into consideration the hunting and fishing legacy of access and conservation in Montana; the legacy and conservation that has made their coporation rich:

“The MWF Executive Board finds that Cabela’s is trading on its trusted
reputation as a merchant of sporting goods to engage in a real estate marketing
activity that is calculated to subvert and destroy the very system of North
American wildlife conservation that has provided Cabela’s with the
hunter-and-angler markets that gave your company life in the first place.”