Montana Trappers Association

06/10/2026

You’ve probably seen the anti hunter headline going around that the Trump administration is being sued because they “shrunk grizzly bear habitat from 2,500 acres down to 1 acre.” Sounds crazy, right? Well, that’s not really what happened. This one-acre language first showed up in June of 2024, under the Biden administration. Nobody is saying a grizzly bear only needs one acre to live on. That’s ridiculous. This is about how the government counts different types of habitat on paper.

The old 2,500-acre number was for big chunks of secure habitat away from roads and people. This Montana project is outside the main grizzly recovery zone, and it’s more about travel habitat and forest management. The Fish and Wildlife Service isn’t saying “grizzlies only need one acre now.” They’re saying a small patch of cover in a travel corridor is not the same thing as a giant block of core grizzly habitat. That’s a massive difference. But activist lawsuits do this all the time. Take one scary line, rip out the context, and use it to stop logging, prescribed fire, and actual forest management.

— Stephen Ziegler
Outdoor writer | Owner, DeLong Lures

06/10/2026

06/07/2026

Pay attention folks. If your state isn't being attacked by these animal rights extremists, they just haven't gotten to you yet.

Make no mistake: IP28 is the most radical piece of anti-sportsmen legislation ever. By removing long-standing exemptions within Oregon’s animal cruelty statutes, this measure would criminalize harvesting game or catching a fish to feed your family. It would decimate scientific wildlife management, strip conservation funding generated by license sales, and completely ignore treaty-protected Tribal rights.

Not on the Ballot Yet – Signature Must be Verified First Initiative Petition 28 (IP28), the radical animal-rights measure also known as the "PEACE Act,"

06/07/2026

50 YEARS ago today! The Montana Trappers Association was brought into existence. 50 years of defending your trapping rights. 50 years keeping your rights and heritage alive. Here's to 50 more!

To get your gear go here: t.ly/w4d4W

05/30/2026

COMING SOON!
The MTA 50th Anniversary Collection
Stay tuned.....

05/27/2026

If you thought the idea of a bill that would straight-up cancel hunting, fishing and even farming was something that would simply wander off and die somewhere, you, like me, would be wrong. By turning the dial up to about 11, Oregon’s animal rights crowd is continuing to shove Initiative Petition 28 right down our throats. The so-called “PEACE Act”, which was designed to treat hunting, fishing, and raising livestock like felonies, has officially submitted enough raw signatures to likely qualify for the November 2026 ballot.

This Insanity Might Actually Hit the Ballot

05/22/2026

The anti-hunter crowd got their headline.

Turns out, it wasn’t hunters.

Wyoming is proposing to cut its 2026 regulated wolf hunting limit to 22 — the lowest licensed-hunter cap since wolves were delisted there.

Why?

Canine distemper.

Disease ripped through the packs. Yellowstone produced only 17 surviving pups — the worst recruitment number in 30 years of monitoring.

But for the last decade, the conservation-by-headline crowd built an entire fundraising machine around one simple story:

Hunters are the problem.

Hunters are the threat.

Hunters are the reason wolves need saving.

Then one brutal disease outbreak did more damage than years of regulated hunting, and suddenly the same crowd that never shuts up got real quiet.

Because that’s the problem with turning wildlife into a fundraising mascot.

Eventually, biology shows up and ruins the bumper sticker.

The wolf deserved better than being used as a prop in someone’s donation email.

Real conservation is not hashtags, outrage, and influencer tears.

It’s management.

It’s science.

It’s habitat.

It’s disease monitoring.

And yes — sometimes, it’s regulated hunting whether that hurts your feelings or not.

Send this to the influencer who lectured you about wolf hunting last year.





Shaun Kogut - Host: Saltlick Sessions Podcast

05/16/2026

On April 2 of this year, Etsy announced that a revised animal product policy would go into effect on August 11, banning sales of items containing “fur from animals killed primarily for their pelts, regardless of age or origin.” In an email it sent to sellers, Etsy called the move part of “ongoing biodiversity efforts”.

A month has passed since I sent a letter to Etsy urging it to reconsider a ban on the selling of fur products. So far, I’ve not heard back.