Puppy progress with Andy

I got a brief note from John McIltrot (Seranoa Kennels in Broadview, MT) and Andy seems to be taking his lessons well.

Right now the theme is yard work and barrel work, but on July 15th, he will begin running on wild birds - Hungarian partridges and sharp-tailed grouse. John reports that it looks like a good year for birds, so I am expecting Andy to get a lot of exposure to birds.

So far, so good

Montana proposes ban on hunting sage grouse

Montana Wildlife and Parks is currently considering a closure of sage grouse hunting in the state. This proposal seems to be sponsored by oil & gas developers and cattlemen in the state. 

Once there were more than 2 million sage grouse throughout the West. Now, the best estimates show there are somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 of the birds left in the Unites States, mostly in Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Idaho.

Sage grouse ARE under stress across their current range, but the primary reasons are oil & gas development, sage land conversion, over grazing, and West Nile virus. Hunting mortality is not a major contributor to the continued decline of sage grouse populations.
Please take a minute to click >here< to post a comment on the Montana Parks and WIldlife website. Comments close on June 23rd.