More changes to Montana hunting on the horizon.

[rmrwade]

The thought of choose your weapon makes me sick. The good old days of Montana seams to be coming to an end.

well montana made it almost 40 more years than colorado.

 

[Rambucsabillbul]

To make the licensed hunter have to choose is pure insanity ! WTHell?
Times change, speaking from Canada, no one should expect the herds to be able to cope with the great deal of current pressure .... the status quo isn't working.
Go to a draw system unfortunately, try to limit the amount of hunters with tags, and co hunters, yes it's a drag, but it reduces pressure and makes for a more enjoyable experience, mandatory reporting on harvest of course.

Like everywhere, you can't have your cake and eat it too .
It's a growing world, and it's only going to get worse.

The thought of having to choose between Bow and Firearm is going to divide the hunters .
Now elitist will scream foul, firearms owners will scream foul.
No win here.

 

[Geewhiz]

well montana made it almost 40 more years than colorado.

As if that should feel like success..

 

[rmrwade]

As if that should feel like success..

I hear you. but if your an old guy youve seen the changes. not long ago people were killing buffalo out here without fences all over the place.

 

[Logan T]

Montana needs to trim the fat and get rid of all these freaking NR tags that are treated like resident tags. Do that first, but that will never happen. MT FWP is too freaking greedy.

17,000 is 17,000. Not almost 60,000.

This article is from last year, but still very relevant.

Guest view: Montana issued 59,395 deer/elk licenses to nonresidents

Montana issued 59,395 deer/elk licenses to nonresidents, Skyline Sportsmen's Association finds.

mtstandard.com

 

[Geewhiz]

Montana needs to trim the fat and get rid of all these freaking NR tags that are treated like resident tags. Do that first, but that will never happen. MT FWP is too freaking greedy.

17,000 is 17,000. Not almost 60,000.

This article is from last year, but still very relevant.

Guest view: Montana issued 59,395 deer/elk licenses to nonresidents

Montana issued 59,395 deer/elk licenses to nonresidents, Skyline Sportsmen's Association finds.

mtstandard.com

Bump up nonres tags to $5k per combo. Win win. Less non res pressure, more revenue. Of course the nonres hunters won't be for it but if you want to hunt MT that bad then move here and contribute to our society and make our wages. And don't even try to feed me the line that residents are the problem. Non res plates are well over half of what I see and thats a fact.

 

[Rambucsabillbul]

I agree ! About reducing your Nonresident Tags! Your residents should be first in line, Priority.

I'd LOVE to do the same up here, heck many of our Canadian Guide Operations are owned by extremely Wealthy Americans, pricing most layman right out of the market. Stone sheep as much as $90000. Moose 30,000, Elk 30000 for quality areas . Insane!

Some have made it almost like private hunting clubs, only the Rich can afford .

Go to a draw system, limit tags, and co hunters it should be all about the ELK anyway not the Hunters. Make it about a quality Draw, a quality hunt. Not a gong Show

 

[Jon Boy]

Man I dont think it will do a thing in regards to private land elk over population. And also hate to say it, I just don't see much of an over crowding issue in either rifle or archery season. The first week of both seasons can be hectic but after that I'm pretty well pissed if I see a rig at a trailhead in either season. And I feel like i hunt fairly popular areas in Gallatin, park and sweet grass counties. I know when I've hunted in the far southwest corner its been pretty dang busy with mostly road hunters. But outside of that most of region 3, 4, and 5 I dont see much of an over crowing issue. If you want to talk about state sections and block management then sure. But the vast majority of the wilderness and harder to access forest service has a tolerable amount of pressure. Which is the vast majority of public land in the state.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Muledeer185]

I’m ok with this because I have been archery only for elk the past 20+ years. I can sure see both sides though.

 

[Geewhiz]

I’m ok with this because I have been archery only for elk the past 20+ years. I can sure see both sides though.

Ive killed elk in archery for the past 10 or so years too but its not about that, its the principle.

 

[Muledeer185]

Ive killed elk in archery for the past 10 or so years too but its not about that, its the principle.

Yes, good point

 

[mike.adams.467]

How many have you found? In 40 years of hunting I have found 6 deer that were fresh enough to tell how they were killed and all of them were shot with guns. Not disputing that plenty of game doesnt get lost by bowhunters but it is a little disingenuous to act like gun hunters dont shoot up and lose a bunch of game too. Maaybe your perception is skewed due to gun seasons following archery season increasing the likelihood of you finding archery losses, the same as my hunting late season here after the gun seasons close probably has influenced my findings.

Now that we have thousands of snipers hunting elk with a rifle, I suspect more are wounded from long range shots that aren't followed up than are wounded with arrows.

 

[breaks_mud_man]

At first when I herd about the choose your weapon I really was against it. The more ive thought about it though the more I am coming around to it. It really would lessen the hunting pressure overall. that along with choose your district could transform the hunting experience for the average hunter. Only thing after that is MT needs to give waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay fewer NR tags across the board.

 

[Preston]

At first when I herd about the choose your weapon I really was against it. The more ive thought about it though the more I am coming around to it. It really would lessen the hunting pressure overall. that along with choose your district could transform the hunting experience for the average hunter. Only thing after that is MT needs to give waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay fewer NR tags across the board.

You are correct. I read somewhere that MT FWP issued like 50-60k nonresident big game licenses. It’s not the 17k and 5,500 we have been lead to believe. Montana could have the best big game hunting anywhere if it managed correctly.

 

[MallardSX2]

Turn the entire state into 12 day hunt increments for nr’s instead of full seasons. The state would double its revenue….

 

[MT257]

At first when I herd about the choose your weapon I really was against it. The more ive thought about it though the more I am coming around to it. It really would lessen the hunting pressure overall. that along with choose your district could transform the hunting experience for the average hunter. Only thing after that is MT needs to give waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay fewer NR tags across the board.

I wish they would go back to only issuing only 17K NR tags. Also, at the same time we may also need to look at the resident population as well. It has grown in recent years, I would assume we have also more R hunters too. At some point the whole OTC general deer tag is not going to be sustainable. I mean for crying out loud you see guys saying all over how hard the hunting conditions were this year and so what did they do they shoot a two point instead of eating a tag. No wonder the hunting conditions are getting worse.

 

[Rich M]

Turn the entire state into 12 day hunt increments for nr’s instead of full seasons. The state would double its revenue….

Turn it into 12 day increments for everyone and it would be like a majority of other states. Even more win win. Less folks in the woods at any given time, more licenses available, 1/2 the guys can’t kill in a 2 week period, etc…. Add some antler restrictions to protect the yearlings (2x2) deer and maybe we got something to start with.

I have no skin in this game, got a guided hunt next year and then you guys can continue to beat the system to death. Funny how this forum promotes hunting, tags, and points in every state on one hand, and bashing NR for various state induced problems on the other. LoL!

It’s sad to see the death spiral of hunting in my lifetime.

 

[MT257]

It’s sad to see the death spiral of hunting in my lifetime.

Just gotta remember at the current rate its going alot of people better remember this was the best they will ever have because we have pounded the resource for too damn long. It will take a long time for it to be "better".

 

[Rich M]

Just gotta remember at the current rate its going alot of people better remember this was the best they will ever have because we have pounded the resource for too damn long. It will take a long time for it to be "better".

Over the years I was always told by the older guys to enjoy my hunting cause it is never gonna be better than it is today.

The state fish and game departments set the seasons, the quotas, and supposedly manage the resource. Have they done their job if the resource is clinging on a hope and a prayer?

 

[MT257]

Over the years I was always told by the older guys to enjoy my hunting cause it is never gonna be better than it is today.

The state fish and game departments set the seasons, the quotas, and supposedly manage the resource. Have they done their job if the resource is clinging on a hope and a prayer?

Depends are we measuring the health of the herd or the money the Dept. can generate by selling a tag to take your weapon for walk?