The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission will meet in Helena on Friday, May 8. At the meeting, which will start at 8:30 a.m. at the Colonial Park Best Western Inn, the Commission will set tentative rules for selecting an organization to auction Montana's 1999 bighorn sheep and moose auction licenses. The Commission also will adopt tentative moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat quotas and tentative mountain lion quotas and regulations for the 1998 hunting seasons.
(Headlines - April 24, 1998)

Based on results from research conducted on the Missouri River and Little Prickly Pear Creek in 1997, state fisheries biologists have discovered that the potential for whirling disease infections appears to be most prevalent when water temperatures range between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. "Real cold water appears to be safe," says Dick Vincent, whirling disease coordinator for Fish, Wildlife & Parks. "Infection seems to peak around 55 degrees.
(Headlines - April 24, 1998)

The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) and Fish, Wildlife & Parks remind anglers and floaters of the license requirements for recreational use of state school trust lands. For all persons 12 years of age and older who use these lands for access or for activities associated with fishing and floating (boat launching, camping, picnicking, etc.), a license is required if that use takes place above the high water mark.
(Headlines - April 24, 1998)

A poster produced by David Kukay, a fifth-grade student at Lewis & Clark School in Great Falls, has been selected as the winner of Montana's 1998 State Parks Poster Contest. Kukay's entry, a colorful, crayon drawing of an entire family enjoying the sport of fishing while camping, hiking, relaxing and playing at Sluice Boxes State Park, was selected by a panel of judges April 17 in Helena. The poster was cleverly bordered by an array of various fish.
(Headlines - April 24, 1998)

The 1998 spring black bear hunting season opens in most areas of Montana on April 15, and in a change to regulations that takes effect this year, hunters who plan to take part in the spring hunt must buy their licenses by April 14 . There is no hunting season in Montana for grizzly bears, so Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials encourage all spring bear hunters to take extra care to determine the species of bear that may be in their sights.
(Headlines - April 10, 1998)

Nonresident hunters who set their sights on taking antlerless whitetails in southeastern Montana each fall should be aware that the number of antlerless licenses available to nonresidents for use in southeastern Montana (Fish, Wildlife & Parks administrative Region 7) will be limited to 1,000 licenses in 1998. The 1,000 antlerless whitetail licenses available will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis only from FWP's Miles City office.
(Headlines - April 10, 1998)

Fish, Wildlife & Parks is now seeking public input on three documents that have been designed to help the agency prepare itself for the future. The documents--"Fisheries Beyond 2000," a Wildlife Environmental Impact Statement and "2020 Vision for Montana State Parks" -- provide a proposed management direction for the state agency.
(Headlines - April 10, 1998)

A surplus "Head and Hide"sale, conducted by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, will take place Saturday, April 18, at the agency's Region 3 Headquarters, 1400 South 19th, in Bozeman. Among the items to be sold are numerous bighorn sheep heads and several sheep capes, a couple of mountain goat skulls and capes, and numbers of lion, bobcat, otter, beaver and bear hides, and sets of black bear claws. Viewing of the items begins at 9 a.m., with the auction starting at 10 a.m.
(Headlines - April 10, 1998)

Montana's spring turkey season opens Saturday, April 11. Only gobblers (male turkeys) are legal game during the spring season and the legal bag limit is one turkey per hunter. The spring turkey season closes one-half hour after sunset on Sunday, May 10. All turkey hunters must have a valid upland game bird license, a conservation license and a turkey license in their possession to pursue turkeys.
(Headlines - April 10, 1998)