The Montana elk bill from hell is back

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Lil-Rokslider
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Wylie Galt's HB505 got tabled in committee last week after a tied vote, but he's now kicking it to the full House for a floor vote. This is the worst legislation we've seen in Montana this year, and that's saying something. If passed, this would without a doubt fundamentally degrade the quality of elk hunting on public lands in Montana. Please reach out to your legislators and ask them to oppose any motion to consider this on the House floor. Here's a list of legislators with contact info
 

Legend

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Galt is not a friend of Montana elk hunting. I think k they said to meet objectives they wanted to kill 10s of thousands of elk. I should listen to the hearing again but I think that

Edit: didn't make time to find the exact number but it is huge reduction
 
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Rob5589

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Galt is not a friend of Montana elk hunting. I think k they said to meet objectives they wanted to kill 90,000 elk. I should listen to the hearing again but I think that is the correct number.
90000 out of ~140000? Yikes
 

cgasner1

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Idk where my buddy heard that from but just means we got time to send some emails and make phone calls hopefully end this once and for all


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cgasner1

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He said he got this and the hb 120 mixed up which also sucks that it got signed in I was pretty hopeful of my kid having enough points to maybe be able to moose hunt since I probably never will


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Turkeygetpwnd38

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He said he got this and the hb 120 mixed up which also sucks that it got signed in I was pretty hopeful of my kid having enough points to maybe be able to moose hunt since I probably never will


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I wasn’t aware of this and just saw it, was doing the same for my son. Any idea what happens to the points already accumulated?
 

BuzzH

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Not Wyoming not his problem


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Correct...and I haven't hunted elk in Montana for several years. Shot a 6 point bull the last time I did and felt guilty about doing so. I photocopied that tag and attached it to a shitty-gram I sent to the FWP Director and Governors office. The wasted potential in regard to elk in that State is staggering, worst elk management in any State I've ever hunted.

Sad too, because I had elk tags there for 33 years and I could still buy an OTC NR elk tag there for $200.

I'm not going to hunt elk in areas where I feel guilty killing a bull...based on the number of elk and bull to cow ratio's I can't biologically justify killing elk in the area I grew up hunting. I don't know how the FWP justifies it either, other than what one biologist said, "well, when the numbers are this low, killing a few more just doesn't matter"....

Not up to me to fix the problem, sent some emails and made a few phone calls, still have ties to a few influential people there.
 
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Lil-Rokslider
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Could someone summarize this bill from me?
Allows landowners to sponsor additional antlered elk tags for nonresidents in Montana and rewards hunters for killing cow elk on private lands with two additional bonus points per year. Neither our elk populations nor our bonus point system can handle this additional pressure without a decline in the quality of public hunting opportunities.
 

Airborne1

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Allows landowners to sponsor additional antlered elk tags for nonresidents in Montana and rewards hunters for killing cow elk on private lands with two additional bonus points per year. Neither our elk populations nor our bonus point system can handle this additional pressure without a decline in the quality of public hunting opportunities.
That sounds like a really dumb idea. Why would anyone even think that's a good idea. Thanks for the summary.
 
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In addition to HB505 .....
SB 306: Revises the Fish and Wildlife Commission to require four of seven members to be “engaged in agricultural production”. The Fish and Game commission is the primary policy setting organization for wildlife and fishery management in Montana. The majority of hunters and anglers in Montana are not engaged in agricultural production. This law will mean that the majority of the Commission will be people who are not representative of the hunters and anglers of Montana. This is unnecessary and will be harmful to wildlife and fisheries management in Montana.
 

MT257

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He said he got this and the hb 120 mixed up which also sucks that it got signed in I was pretty hopeful of my kid having enough points to maybe be able to moose hunt since I probably never will


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Kids shouldn’t get special rules to gain points. They should have to wait until they are old enough to hunt. In my opinion this was a great bill. Many people had to wait til 12 to hunt or to even buy points no reason the goal posts need to change.
 

MT257

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In addition to HB505 .....
SB 306: Revises the Fish and Wildlife Commission to require four of seven members to be “engaged in agricultural production”. The Fish and Game commission is the primary policy setting organization for wildlife and fishery management in Montana. The majority of hunters and anglers in Montana are not engaged in agricultural production. This law will mean that the majority of the Commission will be people who are not representative of the hunters and anglers of Montana. This is unnecessary and will be harmful to wildlife and fisheries management in Montana.
306 was tabled last week as well. I have not heard any rumblings of this coming back to life. You may have different sources with better info though.
 
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