Citing a short timeline for notifying participants, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission on Tuesday approved a deadline change and a new process for landowners to apply for free either-sex elk tags in return for providing public hunting access. The rule change to a June 1 deadline only applies to this year, the commission decided at its monthly meeting in Helena. Next year April 15 to May 15 would be the application period. Before the third year, FWP is hoping to have a new proposal to ...

Photo: Josh Bent BY TREVOR HUBBS BHA’s Armed Forces Initiative is a group of North American veterans from all branches of service who understand the power our land has. Whether it’s Coastal Carolina swamps, a logging road five miles into the Maine hardwoods or a misty mountain view in western Alberta, AFI members know there is something special to these places. They have walked across the chasm of leaving the service and through our public lands have come out the other side. The military is ...

Tallow is rendered animal fat and it is great for baking, soap making, frying and can be used in any number of beauty products such as beard oil, hair conditioner, lotion, or lip balm. It is really a gold mine if you know how to use it, and it makes use of a part of the animal that may otherwise get discarded during processing. I like the idea of giving use to as much of the animal as I can, and it reminds me that the product will have an echo of the place it was harvested. To start, you ...

We have long encouraged FWP to improve the 454 agreements, including most recently at March’s EQC meeting and in an oped published by one of our board members, Jake Schwaller. Some of our suggestions included a cap on these agreements (which are currently unlimited) and to move up the application process to time these with the existing landowner permit allocations and draws. Yesterday, FWP sent a press release announcing that our concerns are being heard; they are planning to take two big ...