Just to balance the discussion a bit, here in Montana we have our own set of incompetent administrators, a Republican super majority of leather headed folks who want to monetize wildlife and who care nothing for the preservation of habitat. They chose to put a million dollars a year into rearing pheasants for plant-and- shoot. These birds do nothing to preserve real hunting. They don't survive in the wild. Our administration sought to give landowners big game tags to distribute as they saw fit. They permit more and more out-of- state licenses. It's all an effort to accommodate wealthy new comers who are busy buying up prime landscape for their private pleasures. Fortunately, our strong traditions of public access and public ownership of fish and game offer strong resistance to this sort of foolishness. Still, the overall effect has been a slow, steady erosion of hunting and fishing quality.

Bill Ferguson