Ruining best pheasant spots

The Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge used to offer the best public pheasant hunting in Montana.

It no longer does.

Not even close.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Russian olive eradication program has effectively put an end to the good hunting there.

For years now the USFWS has been cutting down olive trees on the refuge. As the trees went, so did the pheasants. The feds blame the decline on drought and predators just like they did when the Northern Yellowstone elk herd suffered dramatic losses following the reintroduction of wolves. Just a coincidence they say.

The fast-growing Russian o...