Photo by Jason Grose

Montana’s bison hunt attracted 10,363 individual applicants for the either sex bison licenses for the Nov. 15 – Feb. 15, 2010 season, including 909 nonresidents. Of these applicants, 34 residents and two nonresidents were successful in the drawing.

Of the 16 additional licenses offered to Montana Indian Tribes, only eight were accepted, the remaining eight are included in the 36 licenses issued to residents and nonresidents.

FWP placed 99 residents and one nonresident on a cow/calf license roster. The cow/calf licenses will only be issued if a sufficient number of animals migrate into Montana from Yellowstone National Park.

BILLINGS (AP) — Montana wildlife commissioners have set a tentative bison hunting season for next winter that would allow hunters to take up to 144 bison.

The figure is unchanged from last year, when only a single bison was taken.

Yellowstone’s bison population was driven down sharply two winters ago — from 4,700 animals to about 3,000 — through a capture and slaughter program meant to prevent the spread of disease from bison to cattle.

The hunting season approved Thursday allows for an initial 44 bison to be taken with the potential for 100 more, depending on how many bison migrate out of Yellowstone National Park.

That does not include animals that could be taken by American Indian tribes, which in recent years conducted bison hunts under long-standing treaties with the federal government.

Fifteen Yellowstone bison were killed on a two-mile stretch of road just north of West Yellowstone in three different collisions this week.

At around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, a Ford Fusion hit seven bison, four were killed immediately and three had to be euthanized, according to the Yellowstone National Park Public Affairs Office and the Montana Highway Patrol.

The Fusion, a midsize sedan, was totaled and the driver received minor injuries.

Then on Monday morning, eight bison were hit, seven of them by a semi truck. A GMAC Yukon, which was following the semi, hit the eighth bison, according to MHP and park officials. No major injuries were reported in those accidents either.

Read the full article here.

HELENA – Montana’s travel industry got its first look at a map that seeks to guide so-called “geotourists” through the Greater Yellowstone Region when National Geographic unveiled the map at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Recreation Tuesday.

Order the free map and/or you can download them here.

• Headwaters of three major river systems—the Yellowstone, the Snake, and the Green—spawning renowned trout fisheries and clear waters.

• A core of public wildlands surrounding Yellowstone, the world’s first national park, and the dramatic landscapes of the Tetons.

• A rich cultural tapestry rooted in Native American tribal heritage, explorers, ranchers, farmers and miners, recreation, railroads, the Wild West and the New West.

The region’s communities share the benefits of nearby natural areas and public lands, large wildlife populations, and plentiful opportunities for outdoor recreation. Like many parts of the mountain West, the region is growing rapidly, in large part, because of the lure of areas that couple natural amenities with attractive and welcoming communities.