Straight Arrow
Well-known member
Other than specific remarks about the EMP objectives being way too high and the potential for many fewer elk in Montana as described by Gerald, it seemed that the consensus was for a need to drastically reduce elk populations across areas of Montana, bringing numbers to objectives. Following is my soapbox perspective regarding objectives.
Colorado, a state with 40 percent smaller area than Montana and 20 percent less publicly owned land, maintains a population of just shy of 300,000 elk, approaching almost twice the number of elk in Montana. According to a recent article by Debbie Barrett, her HB 42 needs to be more stringently enforced to get to the elk objective number of around 92 thousand elk, about 30 percent of the elk sustained by Colorado. Montana can do better than that on behalf of the elk wildlife, the highly valued hunting, outfitting, conservation legacy, and the important agricultural industry.
I assert that the problem is NOT an over population of elk, but an elk distribution problem (as evident by the contrast with Colorado), exacerbated by intolerance of elk and other wildlife in some quarters, deterioration of viable habitat (including security for elk), lack of access to key habitat during hunting season to redistribute elk, heavy-fisted political power and legislation hampering viable professional wildlife management, and specifically HB 42 itself.
This symposium was a huge step in convening many stakeholders together to discuss, recognize, and address potential solutions to what I describe above, as well as identify a myriad of other issues brought to light by the brief but positive discussions.
Again, huge thanks to all who participated.
Colorado, a state with 40 percent smaller area than Montana and 20 percent less publicly owned land, maintains a population of just shy of 300,000 elk, approaching almost twice the number of elk in Montana. According to a recent article by Debbie Barrett, her HB 42 needs to be more stringently enforced to get to the elk objective number of around 92 thousand elk, about 30 percent of the elk sustained by Colorado. Montana can do better than that on behalf of the elk wildlife, the highly valued hunting, outfitting, conservation legacy, and the important agricultural industry.
I assert that the problem is NOT an over population of elk, but an elk distribution problem (as evident by the contrast with Colorado), exacerbated by intolerance of elk and other wildlife in some quarters, deterioration of viable habitat (including security for elk), lack of access to key habitat during hunting season to redistribute elk, heavy-fisted political power and legislation hampering viable professional wildlife management, and specifically HB 42 itself.
This symposium was a huge step in convening many stakeholders together to discuss, recognize, and address potential solutions to what I describe above, as well as identify a myriad of other issues brought to light by the brief but positive discussions.
Again, huge thanks to all who participated.