Bill would give hunters a mulligan for CWD-infected animals

Dallas Carr had one thought running through his mind when he put his crosshairs on the bull moose.

“I’m not going to blow this,” the veteran hunter remembered thinking.

From a young age, Carr had dreamed of taking on a moose hunt. For more than four decades, he had applied for a license. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks finally awarded him one in 2019. The 66-year-old resident and mayor of Troy recalled his elation.

“It’s a coveted tag,” he said “You hope like hell you’re lucky enough to get it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

In 2019, FWP received a total of 28,001 applications, but only issued 341 moose licenses. Carr said he knew of a few Lincoln County hunters who had put in for the tag for their entire lives without receiving one.

Throughout the fall, Carr made 19 trips into the backcountry of northwestern Lincoln County. While he knew some moose hunters preferred to stick close to roads hoping to spot one of the elusive animals from their vehicles, Carr said his strategy involved more ground pounding.

“My philosophy is to keep going back,” he said “I know that area holds moose, it always has and always will.”

As a sportsman, Carr emphasized that he enjoyed the chance to be in nature as much as the hunt itself.

On his nineteenth trek in mid-October, Carr was accompanied by his nephew, Brad Hanson. By that point in the season, snow had begun to blanket the mountains. While glassing a clear-cut, Hanson spotted a bull and a couple cows.

Carr got about 100 yards from the moose before he set up for the shot. Reflecting on the moment, Carr said he felt the emotions he had experienced as a young hunter welling up inside of him again.

The roughly 20 seconds it took him to get settled felt like an eternity. After steadying his breathing, he took the shot and dropped the moose. With the bull in hand, Carr said he experienced the highest-of-highs.

But a few weeks later, the seasoned hunter felt the lowest-of-lows. His moose tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease.

CWD, a neurological disease that is known to affect deer, elk and moose, has spread into northwestern Montana at an alarming rate over the past few years. The condition causes animals to develop symptoms including dramatic weight loss, stumbling, listlessness and ultimately results in death. While there are no reported cases of CWD infection in humans, FWP strongly recommends not eating meat from animals suffering from the disease.

Having long shed his appetite for trophy hunting, Carr said the reason he took on the moose hunt was for the chance to harvest meat. After learning his moose was infected with CWD, Carr had to dump roughly seven boxes of the prized meat into the Libby landfill.

“It was one of the most disheartening events I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.

While FWP reissued Carr a moose tag for that season, he wasn’t able to mount another hunt so late in the year. Legally in 2019, the agency couldn't renew Carr’s license for an upcoming season. State lawmakers are working to change that.

State Rep. Steve Gunderson (R-Libby) has introduced a bill that allows FWP to reissue licenses for the following year to hunters who harvest animals that are deemed unfit for consumption. In addition to covering game infected with CWD, the bill applies to animals afflicted by parasites, systemic infections and other contagious diseases.

Speaking at a House Committee on Fish, Wildlife and Parks meeting in February, Gunderson said Carr was one of two hunters in Lincoln County who harvested a CWD-infected moose in 2019. The second man, who FWP Game Warden Jon Obst later said was a resident of Flathead County, was 73 years old.

Gunderson pointed out that both hunters invested around $2,500 to $3,000 into gathering the gear they needed for their expeditions. Neither was physically or financially able to undertake another hunt after their moose tested positive for CWD.

Testifying at the committee meeting, Carr told lawmakers he hoped they would pass the bill to keep any hunters from having to go through his experience.

“This is … for any other hunter that experiences the kinds of highs and lows that I did,” he said. “I don’t want that to happen to anyone in the future,”

Wildlife and outdoor groups have voiced support for the bill. During the committee meeting, Marcus Strange, program partnership director at the Montana Wildlife Federation, said the conservation organization backed the measure.

“In times like these when hunters still participate in hunting despite CWD, this seems like a good thing to do for those who lose their take to CWD or other diseases, he said.

Carmen Borchelt, conservation and legislative assistant with Montana Audubon, also endorsed the bill. She noted that hunters have played an important role in limiting the spread of the disease throughout the state. If a hunter were to harvest an animal with CWD, Borchelt reasoned it would only be fair for officials to reissue them a permit.

Rep. Marilyn Marler (D-Missoula), a member of the House Committee on Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said while she appreciated where Gunderson was coming from, she opposed the legislation.

During a March 3 interview, Marler said she found it unfair for hunters to receive two seasons to harvest lottery game animals. She noted that just because a hunter secured a license did not mean they were entitled to a kill.

“As a hunter myself, I think hunters have a high responsibility for the public to know we are ethical sports people,” she said. “The sport is not called a kill, it’s called a hunt.”

The bill has passed three readings in the House and is being crossed over to the Senate. Before the House committee, the act received a 16-2 vote. Representatives supported the bill 86-14 and 86-12 in successive votes.

After his moose tested positive for CWD, Carr had it European mounted. For Hanson, Carr’s nephew, seeing the antlers brings back memories from the day he glassed the bull in the snowy clear-cut. But he said the mount also reminds him of the contaminated meat his uncle had to throw away.

“The antlers are great but there’s an asterisk beside them because of the CWD,” Hanson said.