From Western Tradition Partnership…
WTP members and allies have done it again!
Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission narrowly voted down an attempt last Friday by a liberal appointee on the commission to ban lead shot for upland game bird hunting in the Feezeout Lake and Canyon Ferry Wildlife Management Areas.
It went down to defeat 3-2, after WTP Director of Grassroots Coalitions Tim Ravndal alerted Montanans to the sneak attack on hunting rights. WTP members and allies spoke out strongly against it in public comment. The commission earlier proposed banning lead shot in all management areas, but amended the motion.
“That’s how WTP works. When public officials attack your rights, WTP alerts and mobilizes people to take action. Thanks to WTP members and allies, this attack on hunting has been shot down,” said Ravndal.
The idea was imported from California, where animal rights extremists and radical environmentalists proposed it as part of a larger effort to ban hunting entirely. Alternative to lead shot are more expensive, which would drives hunters out of the targeted areas.
Anti-hunting activists often claim the ban is needed to prevent the poisoning of birds who supposedly eat lead shot. But “Quentin Kujala, chief of the agency’s Wildlife Management Bureau, said no ‘site-specific’ scientific data exist linking concentration of lead shot around Freezeout Lake and death of waterfowl or game birds,” the Missoulian reported.
But commission members, all of whom are appointed by Gov. Schweitzer and none of whom are hunters, are expected to tinker with the ban and attempt to pass it again.