Candidate, an avid outdoorsman and former firearms exec, talks hunting, fishing, public lands and access on popular podcast
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KALISPELL, Mont. — Hunting, fishing and access to public lands in Montana are “in peril” under the failed leadership of Greg Gianforte, former firearms executive Ryan Busse is telling the popular national podcast Hunt Talk with Randy Newberg.
“This is a state that has made me a better person,” Busse, now a candidate for Governor, says in the latest episode of Hunt Talk. “Much of it is rooted in the things that we love and care about: hunting and fishing, outdoors, the sort of lifestyle that Montanans love to live. I feel like it’s in peril. I feel like it’s been threatened. I feel it’s my duty to not just talk about how I care about it, but step up and try to protect it.”
Public lands and wildlife is a top issue for Busse, a lifelong outdoorsman who has railed on Gianforte for dismantling the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, advocating for the selloff of public lands, and suing Montanans to block public river access near his mansion in Bozeman.
As the Bozeman-based host of Fresh Tracks and the Hunt Talk podcast, Newberg has spent decades fighting to preserve public land access for hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts. Episode 251 of Hunt Talk, featuring Busse, is available online HERE:
Here are highlights from Busse’s conversation with Randy Newberg on Hunt Talk:
“I’ve seen in these last two legislative sessions really overt pushes to commercialize…our elk tags, to essentially say to big land owners that you have a preference on big bull tags, which means that the average public lands hunter has a disadvantage. I think that’s dead wrong… We have to manage our wildlife so we have a quality experience and Montana residents are first. Period, end of story. I’m not ashamed to say that.”
“Montana is a place where we have these equalization tenants, right? Public schools is one of them. Poor kid, tall kid, short kid—all the sorts of kids—when they step across that threshold in a public school, they’re all equal. They can all have the same opportunity. River access: when we step onto our rivers, we don’t need to be landed gentry. We don’t need be a king. We don’t need to have a trust fund. We don’t need to be a bajillionaire from California. It doesn’t matter if you are, or aren’t. Or if you’re a poor kid from Bozeman with a $39 fly rod who rode your bike out the Gallatin. Man, we all have the same access.”
“We have these things that equalize us. Our access to wildlife and fisheries and public lands are one of them. And those didn’t just happen either. I think somehow a lot of people maybe that’ve just moved here, or people who have lived here awhile, think, ‘Oh, this is like sunshine; like, it just shows up.’ No it didn’t. People fought for it. People made it happen. People fought against the forces of commercialization to make it happen, 100 years ago—120 now. And shame on us if we unwind that. Shame on us.”
“Lots of people come up to me and say, ‘Hey, this is the first time I’ve ever been to a political event, but I’m here for you.’ Or, ‘I’m a Republican. I’ve never voted for a Democrat but man, you’re speaking my language. I can’t take what’s going on in Helena now.’ And you see these people who are kind of ready to let their national politics float away, or at least put them on the shelf and worry about the state they live in. I don’t think we can fix our broken national politics. I mean, let’s face it; it’s a shit show. But we can care enough to fight for the things that make us Montanans, and make us special.”
“I think Montana is still the place where people come out of the woordwork and help you out…. They want equal opportunity for their kids. They want to go out and hunt mule deer like I got to… Those are hopeful things. But we can’t sit around and think they’re just going to happen. We’ve got to fight for them. We’ve got to vote for them. I have to campaign for them. I have to tell people what’s on the line. And some of that does entail negative statements. Why? Because I’ve got to highlight what I’m running against. But I’ve also got to highlight what I’m running for. And this place is worth running for.”
I’m running because the motto of our campaign is Get Your Montana Back, and I feel that deeply. This is a state that has made me a better person. Much of it is rooted in the things that we love and care about: hunting and fishing, outdoors, the sort of lifestyle that Montanans love to live. I feel like it’s in peril. I feel like it’s been threatened. I feel it’s my duty to not just talk about how I care about it, but step up and try to protect it—do the right thing for the state, and so I’m here. We’re running. We feel good about our candidacy and our campaign. We have only two rules: Have fun and win. Have fun is pretty important but win is more important.”
QUICK FACTS:
- Pronunciation: Ryan BUSS’-ee
- Home: Kalispell, Mont.
- Office Sought: Governor of Montana
- Affiliation: Democrat
- Website: busseformontana.com
- X (Twitter): @ryandbusse
- DOB: 2/23/70 (53)
- Occupation: Writer, Consultant, Firearms Expert and Former Executive (Vice President of Sales, Kimber America: 1995-2020)
- Family: Married to Sara for 24 years; two sons: Lander (18) and Badge (15)
- Alma Mater: Bethany College (Kansas)
- Chevy Odometer: 280,000 miles
- Hunting Dogs: Aldo and Teddy
- Bio: Ryan Busse is an author and former firearms executive who helped build the gun company Kimber from Kalispell between 1995 and 2020. Over his 25-year career Busse directed the sales of nearly three million Kimber firearms. His memoir, Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America, was published by PublicAffairs (Hachette) in 2021. Busse was born near the Kansas cattle ranch homesteaded by his great-grandfather. He is an avid hunter, angler and champion of public lands, and has held leadership positions with Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and Montana Conservation Voters. Busse and his wife Sara live in Kalispell and have two teenage sons.