TJ Allderdice has taken an interest in a career with Fish and Game. Since Big Sandy is located close to the river, our community has a lot to do with wildlife and the laws that protect it.
To begin his career, Tj is interning at a hunting checkpoint. This is a great opportunity for anyone looking for a career in wildlife. A hunting checkpoint is crucial, primarily because of the spread of Chronic Waste Disease (CWD).
Chronic Waste Disease is a neurological disease that occurs in deer, elk, and sometimes moose. It is contagious but only through the deer family. It is highly unlikely that it can spread to people and cattle, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get your game checked anyway.
According to Montana Fish Wild and Parks, “Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a transmissible neurological disease of deer and elk that produces small lesions in brains of infected animals. CWD is classified as a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), and is similar to mad cow disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep.” CWD Management Zones are areas where CWD is known to exist. (See Map) To prevent the spread of CWD from infected areas of Montana to other parts of the state, the whole carcass, whole head, brain, or spinal column from any deer, elk, or moose harvested within a CWD Management Zone may not be removed from that Management Zone unless the animal has tested negative for CWD. Animal parts that CAN be removed from a CWD Management Zone include meat cut and wrapped or separated from the bone; Hides with no heads attached; Quarters or parts with no spine or head attached; Skull plates, antlers, or skulls with no tissue. Evidence of the animal’s sex does not have to be attached to any part of the carcass but cannot be destroyed and should accompany the animal from field to the point of processing. Northern Montana CWD Management Zone - Hunting Districts 400, 401, 600, 611, 640, 641, and 670, including the communities of Shelby, Havre, Malta, Glasgow, and others that are on the defined boundaries.”
These checkpoints are beneficial to Montana in so many ways. The two main reasons these checkpoints are so important are to stop the spread of CWD and to make sure everyone follows the laws that protect us, the environment, and others during hunting season.
Fish and Game officers are so essential to us as a community because of all the hard work they do. They protect us from dangerous animals and sometimes protect the animals from us. If you think about it, without Fish and Game, it would become incredibly expensive to buy meat from the store in the fall and calves in the winter and early spring. Those who work for Fish and Game put a lot of time and effort into taking care of our environment. They make sure wildlife habitats aren’t going to cause any harm to animals, and they work hard to see that our water and resources will last us a very long time.
