It’s a hallmark trait of bears, a characteristic known even by small children: bruins hibernate through winter.

Except, this year around Missoula, many of them aren’t.

From neighborhood “trash bears” to near-city grizzlies feeding on frozen roadkill all season — plus, rural grizzly tracks spotted amid a frigid and snowy February — bears in west-central Montana are active in greater number and frequency than normal for this time of year.

On this episode is Joshua Murdock, the Missoulian’s outdoors and natural resources reporter. He’s been reporting on all sorts of unusual bear activity in recent months, including this. 

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In 2022 a male wolf that was captured and fitted with a GPS collar south of Dillon decided to take a long hike through some of Montana’s most spectacular wild country.

If the wolf had hitchhiked a ride in an automobile, the distance covered is close to 300 miles. But those miles don’t reflect the elevation gains and losses of climbing up and over the mountain ranges. They also don’t tally the rivers that course through the landscape, including the Madison, Gallatin, Yellowstone and Clarks Fork Yellowstone.

Unfortunately, we only know all of this because the wolf made a decision that proved fatal.

With me today is Brett French, Outdoors Editor for the Billings Gazette, to tell the story of this lone wolf’s trek.

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The Blackfeet Nation, tucked along the north end of the Rocky Mountain Front, has played host to a tribally managed buffalo herd for decades. 

Now in the past, the tribe has sold occasional bison hunts to individuals, but last month marked the first time a tribe in Montanan opened a raffle bison hunt to the public. In partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the Blackfeet Nation invited members of the public to enter two trophy bison hunt raffles. People could buy 20 tickets maximum at $10 apiece and the winner had to pay $2,500 to secure the spot.

Jeff Larson out of Victor was the first winner, and reporter Nora Mabie and I headed out to the Blackfeet Reservation in February to see what the hunt was all about. Nora, who covers Indigenous communities for the Lee Montana newspapers, joins me today.

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Christopher Preston went wandering with buffalo and running after barred owls in the dark to explore the fate of wild animals in a human world.

In Tenacious Beasts, the University of Montana environmental philosophy professor examines what choices we make as we try to restore and rewild creatures that we’ve nearly wiped off the face of the planet. The effort took him many unexpected places, from Norwegian fjords full of humpback whales to Italian mountains with apple-munching grizzly bears and English countrysides with transplanted bison. It also features many animals dear to Montanan landscapes, such as migratory salmon, gray wolves and beavers. 

Tenacious Beasts hit the bookshelves this February, and Preston spoke with Missoulian Managing Editor Rob Chaney about its findings.

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Montana has one of the most unique wildlife situations in the world. Yellowstone National Park bison almost annually migrate into Montana during the winter. Since the bison are carriers of the disease brucellosis, which can cause pregnant female cattle to abort, the park animals are not allowed to freely roam like other wildlife. Instead, they are confined to designated zones outside the park’s north and west entrances, near the communities of Gardiner and West Yellowstone.

Incremental progress has been made in addressing the conflicts between those who believe the bison should be allowed to roam like other wildlife and state and federal officials in charge of managing the big mammals. With the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considering a petition to list bison as an endangered species, and Yellowstone officials writing a new bison management plan, the iconic species that is now the national mammal stands at the cusp of more management changes. In addition, a bison advocacy group has publicly plotted a plan to argue that bison should be allowed to roam freely so tribes can hunt them, bringing treaty rights into the mix.

On this episode is Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette, who recently wrote a story on the ins and outs and disagreements over bison management.

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It’s the suit-and-tie version of a grizzly bear hunting season, with the federal government announcing it will consider petitions from Montana and Wyoming to remove the grizzly from Endangered Species Act protection and state legislators scrambling to make new laws and policies to exert local control of the big bears. 

But a lot of fine print stands between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service review and a future grizzly trophy hunt. The apex predator has made big gains since the ESA gave it threatened status in 1975. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the act itself.

Ranchers and hunting outfitters report increasing encounters with big bears in the woods, and they fear for their livestock and lives. So do hikers and tourists, who thrill to the chance of seeing a grizzly in the wild. Wildlife managers must envision how to handle an animal that doesn’t pay attention to boundaries, jurisdictions or laws. 

On this episode is Rob Chaney, managing editor of the Missoulian newspaper, and Tom Kuglin with the Montana State News Bureau.

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For almost three-quarters of a century, the start of ski and snowboard season was marked by the Warren Miller Film Tour that fall.

The narrated films, shown around the country and world, have documented the evolution of skiing and the rise of snowboarding across multiple generations. But for the first time, a new Warren Miller Film won’t actually be filmed this year.

On this episode, Missoulian newspaper reporter Joshua Murdock, who writes about outdoor recreation and is himself an avid backcountry and resort skier shares the down low on this news.

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It’s a fish of many names: burbot, ling, eel pout, lawyer, mud shark and poor man’s lobster, just to name a few.

Montana’s major rivers and reservoirs are home to a fish that may not be the first to come to mind like trout or walleyes for anglers, but ling have a certain following when it comes to a unique fishing experience and great eating.

Today I’m with Tom Kuglin with the Montana State News Bureau and we’re going to talk a bit about this species and a story we did taking to some dedicated ling fishermen and our local biologist.

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Across the West, federal and state land management agencies are strategically logging, thinning and burning forests with the goal of making them more resilient to uncontrolled wildfire, as well as diseases. But conservationists and wildlife advocates worry the work will harm grizzly bears and other federally-protected species that call those habitats home.

In Western Montana, three projects from different agencies have drawn criticism and lawsuits from stakeholders that say the work will damage grizzly bear habitat. 

With me today is Joshua Murdock, the outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, to talk about the projects and people’s concerns.

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In Montana’s backcountry, as well as along some well-traveled highways and railroads, avalanches are a cause for concern.

Scientists have been working for decades to better understand these natural phenomena for a number of reasons – the biggest being to save lives. At the same time, national forests have created avalanche forecasting services to provide daily information to backcountry snowmobilers, snowshoers, skiers and snowboard about weather and avalanche conditions. Combined with newer cellphone apps, beacons, airbag backpacks and avalanche safety courses, backcountry users can be better prepared than ever for winter outings.

Despite all of this work, avalanche fatalities continue to capture headlines. The most recent in Montana was the death of a Washington man snowmobiling outside Cooke City. 

To learn more, I am talking today with Billings Gazette Outdoors editor Brett French. 

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