Nr hunters supply virtually nothing for federal tax dollars to support public lands.“you guys shouldn’t care about a measly $85 increase. You already pay over 50x more for your tag than we pay. That’s a drop in the bucket.”
Next week. “Please help delist grizzlies. We all need to come together on this.” “Please contribute to HOWL. We need all the help we can to fight XYZ.”
“Don’t let them transfer federal lands to the state! Then you non res wouldn’t be subsidizing them for us!”
Nr hunters supply virtually nothing for federal tax dollars to support public lands.
Its the non hunting tax payers that actually fund the public land and they can use them as much as they want
The end of resident OTC is coming and likely sooner than you think. Just look at all the units that have gone to LE since 2000. LE is working its way across the state from west to east and it is not going to stop as long as we continue with the current five week season. While LE fixes the issues in the units where it is applied, every time a unit goes from OTC to LE more pressure is applied to the remaining OTC units increasing the need for them to be fixed with LE. We can not afford any more LE units because at some point we will reach a tipping point and all remaining OTC units will need to be LE. We may be at that point now.I know nothing of the bill and where the money is going. I also feel that both sides should be supporting the system. I've been in the Montana hunting system 1988 and have watched all the changes and seen the ups and downs of our game management. Nothing will ever be done that everyone will support. In the end I just hope to be able to continue to hunt my home state with and OTC resident tag as long as my body allows. If a Montana resident has to draw to hunt their own state we know that we really mucked up the works.
Jay
What LE districts are you referring to? The mule deer units in the Bitterroot that have been in trouble for 20+ years? The wilderness and trophy units that have been LE for 20+ years? Or is it the units near our largest population centers that have been hammered for longer than I've been alive that been LE since mule deer crashed in the late 2000's. Do you mean the LE elk permits for trophy areas and wildlife management areas? All of these areas have OTC hunting of some sort. Mule deer LE areas have general tag whitetail hunting. Trophy elk areas have spike bull and cow elk general tag options. I'm not seeing any areas where you are 100% locked out except for specific areas that are wilderness only areas like 455 where you can still hunt whitetails during archery season. There were a bunch of changes in the elk hunting for Region 7 but those areas have never been high elk harvest areas due to the terrain and limited public land in the higher density elk areas.The end of resident OTC is coming and likely sooner than you think. Just look at all the units that have gone to LE since 2000. LE is working its way across the state from west to east and it is not going to stop as long as we continue with the current five week season. While LE fixes the issues in the units where it is applied, every time a unit goes from OTC to LE more pressure is applied to the remaining OTC units increasing the need for them to be fixed with LE. We can not afford any more LE units because at some point we will reach a tipping point and all remaining OTC units will need to be LE. We may be at that point now.