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Montana General Season Structure Proposal
First off, thanks to everyone involved for taking the time and effort for sitting down and putting this forward. I fully agree with the intent of what this proposal is aiming for and yes, it's time for some kind of change. However, there are a few things that concern me. First is not having... -
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Montana - Time to Shake it Up?
I get that and if MT were to adopt WY’s management that could happen. I just think realistically that’s a stretch chopping off a full month of MT’s season anytime soon. I think it’s gonna take more baby steps than a complete 180, but I could be wrong. -
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Montana - Time to Shake it Up?
What I’m saying is if we were to completely end deer hunting in November, the elk distribution problem would only get worse, people are gonna hunt whatever’s open. Giving folks the option to archery hunt deer instead would maybe lessen that blow. -
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Montana - Time to Shake it Up?
Good point. Not only are the issues statewide, but they overlap species. If we tell the Thanksgiving hunters they can no longer chase mule deer, they’re just gonna put all their focus on elk, which is busy enough as is. I’m almost more inclined to go with weapon restrictions to keep folks spread... -
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Fwp December commission meeting
This is a really good point, it would be a very slippery slope going this route. Ideally, the biologists would put together a justification for the tag quota, but that would mean the commission would actually have to let them do their jobs. You could base it on total acres of public, develop... -
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Fwp December commission meeting
100% agree with this. Current system only exacerbates the distribution problems. Take the Highwoods, you have 400 archery permits and 3 public access points - 1 on the west end, one on the east end, and a FS road down the middle. You couldn’t ruin a unit faster if you tried. -
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Fwp December commission meeting
I will second this, the commission pretty much single handedly ruined the archery hunting in the central MT 900 districts. By their math, they set about 100 tags per access point in some of these units, with no other option of going anywhere else. -
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Montana - Time to Shake it Up?
I would agree with this, analyzing whatever data’s available would be very interesting. Although I think we’re on the extreme end of the opportunity scale, I don’t think we want to wind up on the other end of it and forseeing any unintended consequences is very important. What comes to mind... -
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Montana - Time to Shake it Up?
That’s where we need a group of stakeholders with teeth. Sportsmen, landowners, biologists, outfitters, wardens, etc. Can’t just be FWP for the reasons you just stated. -
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Montana - Time to Shake it Up?
A good first step would be to clearly define what opportunity means. Every time they get challenged to change anything they hang their hat on a survey they put together, chose how to word, and make it sound like it’s an all or nothing change. Like either keep it status quo and let folks stack up... -
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Montana Mule Deer Mismanagement
Don't think I've ever seen an 87 page thread for deer hunting in CO, WY, ID, or ND, so there must be a reason for that. Also don't think I've heard anyone hunting those states say that they don't have decent opportunity or feel they might be at the point where there's not enough bucks to breed... -
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Montana Mule Deer Mismanagement
A couple observations from this last season. First, I’ve never seen so many groups of does without a buck during the rut. Usually there’s at least 2.5 year old dinks, but this year I’m guessing only about 30% even had a buck and 90% of those were 2.5 year old 3 points or less. And these spots... -
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Montana Mule Deer Mismanagement
There’s no way that deep down, the FWP thinks they’re doing a bang up job managing mule deer. The real problem is instead of doing what’s best for the resource, they’re doing what’s best for the agency. It’s a money issue. They’re restricted to 17k NR tags, but somehow they’ve used every... -
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Montana Elk Management Survey Results
Elk distribution and hunter crowding are the two biggest things that need addressing, so that was good to at least see acknowledged. The problem is the commission gets involved down to the nitty gritty of setting quotas, instead of letting the biologists do what they're paid to do. Take how... -
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Montana 2022 regulation changes.
I hunted one of these limited permit units this year and echo your post. Have been hunting this area for years and it was a zoo compared to prior years because everyone was stuck hunting with the pressure or throwing in the towel. I too liked the idea of sticking to your unit, but when the... -
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Montana Mule Deer Mismanagement
Yes, it's addressed on page 55, but FWP refuses to follow it. -
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Montana Mule Deer Mismanagement
Lotta talk about data collection being the problem and yes, it's a no-brainer that mandatory reporting would be night and day compared to today. However, if we have the best data you can get and the FWP does nothing to redirect or limit hunting pressure, we're still in the same boat. Case in... -
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UPOM suing FWP over elk regulations
You mean actually follow the EMP as written? Or are you still picking and choosing which parts you want to follow? -
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UPOM suing FWP over elk regulations
This couldn't be any more spot on. Can you imagine if there was a section in the EMP that gave landowners extra tags in over objective units? It'd the law of the land for the rest of time and we'd be told life just ain't fair. But since page 55 doesn't line their wallets or please the... -
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UPOM suing FWP over elk regulations
They actually do this in unit 270, so it's been done. Its a shame they haven't done this in the central and eastern units. These units are being totally mismanaged and each year more elk are being conditioned to never leave private because "opportunity" for armed hikes is what the fwp is all about.
