2012 is in the bag. It’s been a wild ride for hunters and anglers. We've seen some pretty low points, including the death of the Sportsmen’s Act, lack of passage  of Forest Jobs and Recreation, Rocky Mountain Front  Heritage Act, increased polarization of hunting and angling issues (especially funding these programs), conflicts over bison, wolves, trapping, bull trout, lake trout and land management. Relations between sportsmen and landowners/outfitters are at all time lows. This upcoming legislative session looks to be as contentious as the last one.

By Rita Wolfe

The final weekend of this past hunting season, after 13 days of hunting (not necessarily consecutive), Gary got a nice 5x4 whitetail buck, and after 17 days, I got a 2½ year-old, 5x5 bull elk!!!  I’ve taken a number of cow elk over the years, but this was my first bull.   Luck had finally caught up to us.

Last night I was outside building a 7 ft snowman with my four year old daughter and heard rustling just across the street.  I looked up just in time to see three Hungarian Partridge land on the neighbors lawn.  I grabbed Cid and started to creep on the birds.  That's when she spied a single "Hun" that was only 10 feet away in a juniper brush.  We froze, the bird froze and for a moment we were stopped in time.  Then a small explosion erupted and all the birds flew down to another neighbors, hopefully to fascinate them as much as they did us.  It wasn't the prairie but definitely a gift from mother nature.  Make sure you get out and enjoy the holidaze!  

There’s a special holiday coming, but it’s not Christmas. It’s not New Years, Hanukah, Kwanza or Guru Gobind Singh’s birthday (look it up).

By Land Tawney and Ben Lamb

Congress just fumbled an easy hand off. On a largely party-line vote, the Senate failed to pass a bill that would have helped hunters and anglers for decades. 

I’ve watched the sun come up over hay fields, coulees, mountains and river bottoms. I chased deer for two weeks, passing up bucks nobody in their right mind would have passed up, even on the first day of the season. I didn’t want it to end.

We all cringe at the words: Congress is back in session.

In a few short hours, I’ll point the truck north and head up to the highline for a week of chasing gnarly old whitetails and a few monster muleys. If I’m lucky and find a deer willing to take a bullet, I’ll point the truck west and start seriously looking for an elk to fill the freezer and a wolf for the mantle. I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to arrive.

By Jared Serigne

I could almost see feathers falling from the sky and taste the duck gumbo in my mouth when I boarded the plane from New Orleans on my way to Missoula. My good buddy Land Tawney like the Willy Wonka of Montana waterfowl extended me a golden ticket invitation to come up for a few days of duck hunting in Mid-October this year. The big duck season wouldn’t begin for another month in Louisiana so my friend Bob Marshall and I left the marsh behind and headed for the mountains in pursuit of all things fowl.

A vote is like a rifle. Its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

T. Roosevelt.