State OKs Nez Perce bison hunt

[Washington Hunter]

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

State officials have decided that an 1855 treaty between the United States and the Nez Perce tribe in Idaho allows tribal members to hunt bison on public land near Yellowstone National Park.

A group of Nez Perce youths from the reservation at Lapwai, Idaho, plans to harvest up to five bison early in February, according to Adam Villacicenio, a tribal conservation officer.

"It's intended to be educational and ceremonial," he said Monday.

The hunters, aged 15 to 18, are "very much excited," Villacicenio said.

"The state of Montana respectfully acknowledges that the tribe will be exercising its treaty-reserved rights on open and unclaimed land in Montana" by harvesting bison on the Gallatin National Forest, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer wrote to tribal chairman Rebecca Miles on Jan. 27.

The hunt will take place in addition to Montana's new bison hunting season, which sets aside 16 tags for tribal members from Montana, according to Mel Frost, spokeswoman for the the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Not all of those tags have been used.

The tribal hunt has been approved by Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath.

"They're a tribe that has a specific treaty," McGrath said Monday. "It's our obligation to see that those rights are honored."

It's difficult to say whether other tribes will assert similar rights, or what response they would get.

Maylinn Smith, director of the Indian Law Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, said the 1855 treaty with the Nez Perce, known as a "Stevens Treaty," is pretty clear in specifying the tribe's off-reservation hunting rights.

The Yellowstone area is defined as "part of their aboriginal hunting area," she said.

Numerous historical records note that the Nez Perce often hunted in the area.

Most other tribes in the region signed what are called "Fort Laramie" treaties, which are less specific.

Rights in the Stevens treaties "are more expressly defined," than the Fort Laramie treaties, in which rights are "implied," Smith said.

"The courts have gone both ways" in defining the Fort Laramie rights, she said.

A number of tribes from Montana, Idaho and Wyoming assert the Yellowstone area is part of their ancestral hunting land. McGrath said he wouldn't be surprised to see more requests from other tribes.

"We'll have to see how that shakes out," he said, and any future requests will be assessed as they arrive.

The young Nez Perce hunters will use modern weapons and will be trained by tribal conservation officers and elders in hunting and processing techniques, Villacicenio said.

The hunting rights only affect bison, and are good only on "open and unclaimed land."

The Gallatin National Forest fits that definition, McGrath said. National parks, like Yellowstone, do not.

 

[A-con]

I wonder if there are any historical records of the Nez Perce hunting wolf ?
Just a thought

 

[shoots-straight]

The young Nez Perce hunters will use modern weapons and will be trained by tribal conservation officers and elders in hunting and processing techniques, Villacicenio said.

I've got no problem with them using their treaty rights, but this thing was written with the thought of them using the weapon's of the day. I think that they would be better off hunting with traditional equipment. Hand made bow, horse, maybe cliff.

 

[1_pointer]

I'm not too big on treaty rights. Times have changed.

will be trained by tribal conservation officers and elders in hunting and processing techniques

That is funny!