The Whitehall Ledger - Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

Wolf trapping and snaring in Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks administrative regions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and in Hill, Blaine, and Phillips counties won’t start until Jan. 1 and will run through Feb. 15, according to a federal court injunction issued...

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is accepting applications for more than $500,000 in recreation grants. Applications will be accepted for the Off-Highway Vehicle Grant Program and the Summer Motorized Trail Pass Grant Program. Applications can be submi...

The Montana Master Hunter Program (MHP) is accepting applications for the 2024 program. The deadline is Nov. 30. Led by One Montana, the MHP is for hunters who want to continue to improve and hone their skills, build relationships with landowners to...

Montana’s general hunting season has reached the midpoint this week with steady hunter numbers and mixed success rates as recorded at game check stations in southwestern Montana. Wildlife biologists with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks use check...

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks along with the Montana Department of Health and Human Services are advising hunters to have their deer, elk, and moose tested for chronic wasting disease (CWD). FWP strongly recommends that hunters receive a negative...

Fishing will close starting Oct. 1 for sections of the Big Hole, Ruby and Beaverhead rivers to protect trout during spawning season. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted emergency fishing regulations in June in response to struggling...

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has recently received questions on Montana’s Stream Access Law and how it is applied across the state. For landowners and recreationists alike, it’s important to know about the law and understand how it applies to...

Staff at Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park are seeking volunteers to help with a post-season cleaning of the caverns. Volunteers in this event will get the chance to see the park up close as they work to reduce some of the impacts from visitors in...

Bear specialists with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks have concluded a field investigation into a grizzly bear encounter that injured a man south of Big Sky last week. The attack happened Friday, Sept. 8, in the Yellow Mule area of the Madison Range....

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking a current high school student to fill a two-year term on the Future Fisheries citizen review panel. FWP’s Future Fisheries Improvement Program grants approximately $1 million annually for projects to...

Westslope cutthroat trout and Arctic grayling passage will be improved in the Mount Haggin Wildlife Area when four culverts are removed or replaced in the French Creek watershed. A landowner’s streambank on the Musselshell River will be stabilized...

An angler killed a grizzly bear in self-defense this week in the Tom Miner Basin. The encounter happened on Aug. 30 on private land along Tom Miner Creek. Two anglers were walking through dense vegetation when they were charged by a grizzly bear. One...

A small portion of the Jefferson River will be closed to all recreation while construction of a new bridge on Meridian Road continues. The closure will extend from Williams’ Bridge Fishing Access Site to the bridge site on Meridian Road beginning...

Block Management Area (BMA) Program information for 2023 will be available to hunters beginning Aug. 10. Hunters can request their BMA Access Guide online and can print individual BMA property maps and rules at fwp.mt.gov/hunt/acc...

So far this year, FWP and its partners have inspected 66,000 watercraft for aquatic invasive species. Of those, 35 were mussel-fouled and more than 200 were found with aquatic weeds. FWP and partner agencies, which include tribes, counties and...

Several events have been scheduled at Lewis & Clark Caverns state parks. There is no cost to Montana residents to attend these programs. An $8 entrance fee applies at Montana state parks for all nonresident vehicles. Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park...

Anyone training bird dogs using game birds not raised in captivity needs to hold a bird dog training license, whether on private or public land. If you are training dogs with captive-reared birds, a license is not required. These licenses can be...

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is advising anglers that portions of the Beaverhead River, Bitterroot River, and the entire Jefferson River are closed to all fishing daily from 2 PM to midnight, effective Wednesday, July 19. The restrictions will...

Hunter Education classes and a Trapper Education field day are scheduled in several areas of southwestern Montana next month. All in-person classes are free. HUNTERS EDUCATION: • Livingston begins Aug. 2 • Butte begins Aug. 14 • Bozeman begins...

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is launching several research efforts in response to trout declines in the Big Hole, Beaverhead, and Ruby Rivers. FWP, in partnership with Montana State University, has a four-pronged approach, including the following...

Working with the 68th Legislature, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) simplified licensing requirements on state lands as part of Governor Gianforte’s Red Tape Relief Task...

Elk hunters interested in how Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks manages elk will get a chance to weigh in on the new draft elk management plan starting today. The plan will be available on FWP’s website at fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwp/publi...