The Sportsmen's Advocate Spring 2023 | Página 32

WE TRAVEL TO BIG SKY COUNTRY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE STATE ’ S FIRST HOUND HUNT FOR SPRING BEARS IN MORE THAN 100 YEARS .

MEETING IN

MONTANA

WE TRAVEL TO BIG SKY COUNTRY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE STATE ’ S FIRST HOUND HUNT FOR SPRING BEARS IN MORE THAN 100 YEARS .
By Brian Lynn , Vice President of Communications and Marketing

When Montana Gov . Greg Gianforte signed House Bill 468 into law on April 30 , 2021 , it allowed the Montana Fish and Wildlife commission to establish a season for bear hunting with hounds and a separate hound training season from the end of the spring black bear season until June 15 .

In the spring of 2022 , houndsmen in the state became the first in a century to pursue black bears behind a pack of dogs .
Mountain lions hunters in the state , eager to try their hounds on bears as their brethren next door in Idaho had been doing for decades , worked to figure out how to hunt bruins and to get their dogs trained up . Sportsmen ’ s Alliance member Joe McGillivray invited us to tag along — and there ’ s no way we were going to miss the first modern hound season in Montana .
Sportsmen ’ s Alliance President and CEO Evan Heusinkveld and I put in for the draw-only permits , which were limited to
BRIAN LYNN ( ALL )
30 SPORTSMENSALLIANCE . ORG