Yellowstone bison hunt halted

BILLINGS – State wildlife officials temporarily stopped bison hunting beyond Yellowstone National Park’s western boundary Tuesday after bison migrated too far into Montana.

Authorities rounded up and trucked the small group of bison to a capture facility after having difficulty hazing the animals, said Mel Frost, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The bison were well beyond the park boundary, and at one point, bison were seen lying on U.S. Highway 287, she said.

Marc Bridges, executive director of the state Department of Livestock, said officials expected to make a decision early today on what to do with the nine bison. He said Tuesday evening that the animals were being held overnight with food and water in the capture facility, near West Yellowstone.

Dan Brister, of the Buffalo Field Campaign, called the capture unnecessary, and said authorities made “virtually no effort to haze those buffalo.”

Frost did not immediately know how long the hunting closure would stay in effect. This is the second temporary hunting closure along the park’s western edge in less than a month and third overall during Montana’s first hunt in 15 years of bison that leave the park.

The hunt is set to end Feb. 15. The final general-public license had been filled Tuesday morning, near Yellowstone’s northern border, Frost said. That brought to 40 the total number of bison killed so far in the three-month hunt.