Fall Photo Contest Winner - Congratulations to Ray Mounts for his winning picture (left)! Look for the 2nd and 3rd place winners in the Winter/February 2012 Newsletter.

Free Wolf Rug!
We hope by now you have heard that Montana FWP has extended the wolf season for most areas until February 15, 2012 (and may extend a few areas past this date). Considering the impact of these predators on our ungulate herds, we’d like to encourage you to get out in the field. We are holding a contest for a wolf rug (you provide the wolf, we provide the taxidermy). How do you enter? Easy - (1) you must be a member of the Western Montana SCI Chapter, (2) the wolf must be killed this season (2011-2012) in Montana, and (3) you must provide picture/story to be judged. The winner will be determined at the Board Meeting following the close of the season. So get out and do some hunting! 

If you have questions, please contact Chapter President Jon Wemple at 406.369.1771 or Vice President Matt Ulberg at 406.531.1142. We can also be contacted via email at info@westernmtsci.org.

SCI helps boy with muscular dystrophy bag his elk (and deer)
HAMILTON, December 12, 2011. - Dakota Hendrix knows what it's like to take a walk in the woods. Five years ago, his body still allowed him that. Those days are gone now.

He was 4 years old when his adopted parents learned that Dakota was stricken with a rare form of muscular dystrophy known as Duchenne.

Over the past few years, the disease has slowly robbed him of his ability to move. He can no longer walk. His hands barely work. From his wheelchair, he can bend a little at the waist, but it's a struggle.

But the disease hasn't stolen Dakota's ability to dream. Like many 12-year-old Montana boys, Dakota dreams about hunting in the hills with his dad. Read more.

Ninth Circuit Keeps Yellowstone Grizzly on the Threatened Species List
December 6, 2011. Despite the best efforts of SCI, the Federal government, Montana, Wyoming and others, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that the Yellowstone population of grizzly bears must remain on the threatened species list for now.  On a single ground, the Court upheld the 2010 ruling by Montana District Court Judge Molloy that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service improperly delisted the grizzly bear.  The Court agreed with the District Court that the Service had not properly explained how projected declines in Whitebark Pine seeds, a primary food source for the bear, would not threaten the species.  The Court did reverse Judge Molloy on one issue raised by SCI and others, that the existing regulatory mechanisms were sufficient to remove the grizzly from the threatened list.  Unfortunately, the Court’s concerns about the Whitebark Pine issue are sufficient to vacate the delisting.  What comes next is uncertain at this time.  Judge Molloy and FWS, with input from SCI and others, will now have to determine how to proceed.

Above the law: In Lake County, it's hard to tell some cops from the criminals
December 1, 2011. In 2005, a moose was standing somewhere in the mountains north of Columbia Falls when Jesse Jacobs allegedly shot it. Jacobs didn't have a permit, however, so he reportedly got one from a friend who was a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The tribal member took the meat. Jacobs claimed the head and antlers, which he would later mount and hang on his wall.

Jacobs, who had been in the Lake County Sheriff's Office's reserve training program, was charged with two poaching felonies in August 2010.

Meanwhile, Lake County Sheriff's Deputy Dan Duryee was spinning tall tales about his heroic service in the Gulf War, when in fact Duryee had never even been in the military. The Montana Public Safety Officer Standards and Training Council, or POST, is the state body that polices the police. As POST investigated Duryee's lies last year, it learned of other, potentially criminal activities in the Lake County Sheriff's Office—including poaching. Read more.