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Blood on the Tracks

courtesy of Outdoor Life
by Andrew McKean

Earlier this winter, as the first wave of deep snow and arctic cold slammed northeastern Montana, Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ game warden Todd Anderson was dispatched early one morning by the Valley County (Montana) Sheriff’s office.

“I was told that the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad) engineer had just called to say his train had hit a herd of antelope west of Vandalia, and there were wounded animals to dispatch,” Anderson told me this week. “I drove out there, and as I got close, I was flagged down by a railroad worker.”

The incident had happened a mile from the nearest crossing, so the BNSF employee offered to drive Anderson to the scene in his converted pickup, outfitted with a locomotive’s running gear to travel the tracks.

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Trains Kill More Than 800 Antelope & Deer on Montana Tracks This Winter

courtesy of The Missoulian
by The Associated Press

Hundreds of pronghorn antelope and deer have been killed by trains in Montana this winter after herds gathered on tracks to escape deep snows, a state wildlife official says.

Mark Sullivan, of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, said that a train recently killed about 270 pronghorn antelope near Vandalia in northeastern Montana, and 18 deer were found dead on the tracks by a grain elevator near Chinook.

Many antelope not killed by the impact had to be destroyed by Blaine County authorities.

“To hunt and shoot animals is just different than shooting wounded animals like that,” Blaine County Undersheriff Pat Pyette told the Great Falls Tribune. “You’re close to it. You can look into their eyes. We see a lot of things, but (the deputy) was sick to his stomach after that.”

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Utah Rejects Coyote Trapping Proposal

by John Hollenhorst

The Utah Wildlife Board shot down Tuesday a controversial proposal to change the regulations for trapping coyotes after critics roundly condemned it as unethical, inhumane and impractical.

Even hunters who detest coyotes had trouble swallowing the proposal because it would allow animals caught in a leg-hold trap to suffer as long as a week.

Utah law currently requires trappers who put out such traps to go back within two days to see if an animal is caught in the trap. The proposal was to require visits to the trap only once a week.

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