FWP Hunter Behavior Council Selected

Friday, January 30, 1998
Headlines

This article was Archived on Monday, July 01, 2002

Sixteen Montanans from across the state have been selected to serve on Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ Hunter Behavior Advisory Council. "With nearly 90 candidates to consider, the final selection process was very difficult," said FWP Director Pat Graham. "We believe the 16 Montanans who have agreed to conduct this discussion have the right mix of interests, backgrounds, geographic location, and connection to their communities to take on the issue and to provide us with recommendations by December." The advisory council will lead a statewide effort to involve local residents and groups in identifying, defining, and recommending solutions to hunting behavior problems in Montana. The establishment of the council is in response to recommendations made by the original Private Land/Public Wildlife Advisory Council, and requests by hunters, landowners, the FWP Commission, and FWP wardens and biologists that FWP examine today’s hunting environment from the standpoints of sportsmanship, lands access, and wildlife management. "The future of hunting in this country will not be determined by anti-hunters." Graham said, "it will be determined by how the majority of people in this country who do not hunt view hunters. Irresponsible actions by a few can ruin opportunities to hunt on private land for all hunters." The council members are:

• Elaine Allstead--Big Timber--Rancher, Sweet Grass County Commissioner; former FWP Commissioner. John Berger--Bozeman--Sportsman; owner and operator of Berger Taxidermy.
• Don Bothwell--Kalispell--Hunter; Hunter Education Instructor; participant in Germany’s Jaegermeister program.
• Donald Dvoroznak--Thompson Falls--Hunter; member Montana Bowhunters Association.
• Chad Huddleston--(Ex-officio member) Missoula--U of M graduate student in Anthropology studying the behaviors of hunters in North America and the cultural rules guiding that behavior.
• Connie Lord--Philipsburg--Rancher, Block Management cooperator; member of Montana Stockgrowers Association.
• Judge Greg Mohr--Sidney--Hunter; Justice of the Peace; Chief Bowhunter Education Instructor for Richland County.
• Dan Peters--Butte--Hunter; retired Principal of Butte High School; member of Skyline Sportsmen’s Association.
• Jim Posewitz--Helena--Executive director of Orion:The Hunter’s Institute, president of Prickly Pear Sportsmen’s Association, member of Montana Wildlife Federation.
• Robert Reukauf--Terry--Rancher and Block Management cooperator.
• Mary Ellen Schnur--Deep Creek--Outfitter and rancher; member of Montana Guides and Outfitters Association.
• David Smith--Miles City--Rancher and Block Management cooperator.
• Michael Sprague--Great Falls--Hunter.
• Steve Woodruff--Missoula--Editor for Missoulian, hunter, member of Big Sky Upland Bird Association.
• Larry Whitmyer, Jr. --Billings--Student MSU-Billings, hunter, member of Montana Wildlife Federation, Billings Rod & Gun Club, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Rimrock 4x4 Club.
• Janice L. Youngbauer--Lewistown--Hunter, secretary of Lewistown Bowhunters Association.

Graham said he expects that council will conduct one of the most public discussions of hunter ethics and behavior ever sanctioned by a state wildlife agency. "If the response to our call for nominations for citizens to serve on this council is any indication, and I think it is, public interest is extraordinarily high," he said. Graham urged the group to work toward reaching four goals: (1) identify specific unethical behaviors that are most troublesome in Montana; (2) determine how hunter behavior affects private- and public-land access; (3) provide the hunting community--by December 1998 and through FWP-- with recommendations for teaching and advocating ethical hunting in Montana that will enable hunters to maintain public support for hunting by practicing and publicly advocating responsible hunting activities and behaviors. (4) recommend way to improve identified hunter behavior problems in the least regulatory way possible. The council’s first meeting is set for Feb. 24-25 at Helena’s Super 8 Motel, 2201 11th Avenue.