Just days before the end of the 2024 legislative session the RI General Assembly approved three wildlife bills in concurrence, each of which was supported by the New England Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. Now, each will be transmitted to the Governor for the final step of RI’s legislative enactment process.   “The New England Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is grateful to the House and Senate bill sponsors, the Committee Chairs, and House and Senate Leadership for their ...

Michigander Mark Kenyon is the host of the Meateater podcast Wired to Hunt, and the author of the definitive book on the American public lands, That Wild Country. Mark is at work on another book about the future of American conservation, and the hunting and fishing that do not exist without it. He’s also hunting and fishing and gardening, raising outdoor kids with his wife, and establishing himself as one of our country’s leading voices in conservation, public lands and the outdoors.  Mark ...

Video by The Herd Studios Last weekend, 22 BHA volunteers gathered in the Grasshopper Valley near Dillon, MT to remove nearly three miles of barbed-wire fencing in a crucial big game migration corridor.  The project took place on a combination of public and private land. Staff from the National Wildlife Federation coordinated the project and secured access with landowners in the area. The weekend’s mission involved removing old, seven-strand wire fencing, stacking coils, pulling t-posts, ...

When it comes to hunter crowding and the state of mule deer, non-resident hunting pressure and harvests aren’t the only culprits, but mounting evidence shows they’re a big one. According to an FWP Interoffice Memorandum dated 5/6/2024, the “total Region 6 mule deer harvest in 2023 was estimated at 9,986, 28% above the 26-year average” and — for the first time ever - non-residents harvested more antlered mule deer than Montana residents in Region 6. The memo added that “antlerless ...

Forty years ago, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed that the public may use rivers or streams – regardless of who owns the streambed or adjacent land – for recreation purposes. This is now known as Montana’s Stream Access Law, and it’s a beautiful thing. But we can’t take it for granted, as it continues to be challenged and threatened. First, what exactly is the Stream Access Law? What constitutes recreation? And how are rivers and streams defined? Following the Supreme Court’s establishment ...