How fire danger is affecting hunting season

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on Friday issued a news release on how dry conditions and fire danger will affect the state’s hunting seasons. The agency is not recommending hunting seasons be closed, the news release states.

“Because of widely variable conditions and different types of hunting scenarios across the state, that is a decision rightly left to an individual landowner, a block management cooperator, or a land manager,” Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Martha Williams states in the news release.

Williams continued, “Hunters have to take personal responsibility to prevent wildfires and keep themselves and the property and lives of others safe.”

According to the news release, more than 80 block management areas are under restriction or have been closed at the request of landowners. A list of closures can be viewed at fwp.mt.gov/hunting/hunterAccess/blockman/. Closures or restrictions put in place at state parks, fishing access sites or other Fish, Wildlife and Parks properties can be viewed at fwp.mt.gov/news/restrictions.

The agency asks hunters to follow fire safety precautions including:

—Park your vehicle on ground void of vegetation.

—Drive only on paved and well-graveled roads.

—After you leave an area, wait for few minutes to make sure that a fire has not started where your vehicle was parked.

—Bring a fire extinguisher, shovel or axe.