CROW AGENCY – Crow tribal members learned more about a case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear at the beginning of the year involving hunting rights for tribal members.
The American Civil Liberties Union Montana hosted a forum at Little Big Horn College on Wednesday night.
The ruling will not affect hunting on the reservation, according to the ACLU.
The case, Herrera v. Wyoming, involves Crow tribal member Clayvin Herrera, who was cited for hunting elk in the Big Horn National Forest in Wyoming, without a license and out of season.
Herrera believes hunting is lawful under the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, according to Samuel Enemy-Hunter, ACLU Montana indigenous justice organizer.
“With Crow tribal members, we still have those hunting rights because of this treaty,” Enemy-Hunter said. “And so he has been practicing his right as a Crow tribal member to hunt for his family and hunt for his family. That is part of our original territory, part of our original land base.”
The U.S. Supreme Courtis scheduled to hear the case Jan. 8.
The court is expected to release its decision in the spring.
