-Our tools for the pursuit of wildlife improve faster
than we do,” said Aldo Leopold in his 1949 book A Sand County
Almanac. But even the far-seeing Leopold might not have anticipated
hunting 1990s style: Hunters locate game with airplanes and two-way
radios, track animals before dawn with infrared night-vision
goggles, aim with electronically illuminated scopes, and shoot with
extreme-range rifles that can kill at over 1,000 yards.
In early February, the Montana Fish, Wildlife
and Parks Commission, faced with the increasing use of these
high-tech hunting tools and tactics, decided enough was enough. “We
want to maintain a more even playing field between traditional
hunters and those that want to do it with gadgets,” said commission
chairman Stan Meyer.
After a series of public
meetings, the commission banned two-way radios and infrared
night-vision optics for the active pursuit of game. It also
outlawed hunting animals tracked from an airplane on the same day
hunters were airborne.
Allen Weinert,
representative for the Prickly Pear Sportsman Association and the
Montana Wildlife Federation, also asked the commission to ban
electronically illuminated scopes, require hunters to be at least
10 yards from off-road vehicles when shooting, and outlaw
extreme-range center-fire rifles. Such weapons, he says, “are not
for hunting, they are for long-distance assassination.” The
commission did not consider Weinert’s suggested
restrictions.
For more information, contact the
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission at 406/454-5840.
*J.T. Thomas
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Shooting down high-tech hunting.
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