Because the WMA was purchased 

 with sportsmen's dollars primarily as a 

 place for hunting, managers have 

 focused on improving habitats required 

 by pheasants and waterfowl. The 

 success of this management is reflected 

 in the number of hunters returning year 

 after year to pursue the area's abundant 

 game birds. 



According to pheasant hunters — a 

 philosophical, dog-loving lot — 

 Ninepipe WMA is nothing short of 

 heaven. Jim Rogers, a long-time 

 businessman from Missoula, came to 

 love the area so much that when he 

 retired, he packed up and moved there. 

 "If there's a better place for pheasant 

 hunting. I'd like to see it," says Rogers, 

 who has hunted the WMA for 34 years. 

 "Where else do you have this kind of 

 scenery and these numbers of pheas- 

 ants, geese, and ducks? When I walk 

 along and look up at the mountains it 

 doesn't matter if I see a bird or not." 



Tlie 1,142-acre WMA. comprised of 

 blocks of land surrounding Ninepipe 

 National Wildlife Refuge, may be the 

 most heavily hunted property in 

 Montana. It's not unusual to see 200 

 vehicles parked around the area on 

 opening day of pheasant season. Even 

 though hunting pressure is heavy all 

 season long, bird numbers remain high. 

 "The pheasants are here because the 

 cover is here." says Rogers. "A lot of 

 the cover on other lands has disap- 

 peared, but the habitat on the manage- 

 ment area has gotten better and better. 

 On the last day of hunting season. I put 

 up over 200 birds in one field. In my 



Ninepipe WMA is one of the state's 

 most popular — and productive — upland 

 bird hunting areas. Due to good habitat 

 management, pheasant numbers remain 

 high despite heavy hunting pressure. 



opinion, Ninepipe has given hunters 

 more bang for their buck than any other 

 area in Montana." 



The WMA's proximity to the 

 national wildlife refuge, which is 

 closed to hunting, is also a boon to the 

 pheasant population. The canny birds 

 quickly learn that hunters can't pursue 

 them there. Once hunting season is 

 underway, many wise old roosters feed 

 in the grain fields scattered throughout 

 the WMA. but return to the secure 

 habitat of the refuge when the pressure 

 is on. 



"I like to look out my window and 

 watch folks hunt," says Dwight 

 Stockstad. another adjacent landowner 

 who has hunted the area for 43 years. 

 "The pheasants will often be running 

 for the refuge a quarter-mile ahead of 

 the guns and dogs." 



Stockstad, who managed the WMA 

 from 1954 to 1963. had a hand in 

 acquiring most of the property that it 

 now encompasses. "Practically all the 

 land bordering the refuge was owned 

 by private hunting clubs or leased by a 

 small group of hunters." he says. 

 "Public hunting areas had to be 

 provided if the average hunter was 

 going to have a place to hunt, and 

 habitat had to be protected if there was 

 going to be any game." 



Not everyone supported the land 



purchases at first. "Some hunters were 

 against buying the land." he says. 

 "They thought it wouldn't be worth the^ 

 money and that the cost of their hunting 

 licenses would go up to pay for it. 

 Now, without the management area, I 

 don't know where people would hunt. 

 In a time when there are fewer and 

 fewer places to hunt and fish, this place 

 is a jewel." 



Although pheasant hunting is now 

 the major activity at Ninepipe WMA, 

 waterfowl hunting predominated early 

 on. Years ago. recalls Stockstad, 

 hundreds of people would show up for 

 the limited number of goose hunting 

 pits provided there. To cope with the 

 heavy demand, managers eventually 

 adopted a lottery' system so blinds 

 could be allocated equitably. In the last 

 two years, however, some pits have 

 remained unoccupied on opening day. 

 Stockstad theorizes that this may be 

 partially due to hunters using grain 

 fields on private land in other parts of 

 the valley more than they used to, but it 

 also reflects a general decline in 

 waterfowl hunting across the state. 

 Steel shot requirements, increased V 

 license costs, pesticide warnings in the 

 1980s, more complex regulations, 

 societal changes, and low duck popula- 

 tions have all contributed to the waning 

 interest. 



