Fwp December commission meeting

[Big Fin]

Is it unusual for a region 5 commissioner to make amendments to region 7 regulations?

Yes, very unusual. If I lived in Region 7, I'd be making that point, the same as when the Region 1 Commissioner decided to insert an amendment last December for Region 3. Why even have Commissioners selected by Region if they are going to do that BS?

 

[huntin24/7]

From what I’ve heard, areas in the u.s and Canada where cwd prevalence rates were high and cwd seasons were enacted to greatly reduce numbers, the prevalence was just as high later when deer numbers rebounded. Is that information accurate or not enough study done yet to know?

 

[Schaaf]

And now they're proposing to increase the 700 elk quotas. These people piss me off.

Got my comments in already.

“In response to the first bullet point in the amendment, I strongly oppose the proposed increase in both the 700-20 and 700-21 licenses. As shown by the most recent survey, we are below the districts objective of 30 bulls:100 cows. If we are not going to follow guidelines on managing wildlife, then what purpose do they serve in the first place.

As to the second bullet point, I would hardly say that elk numbers in HD 700 are increasing. Between 2010 and 2020 numbers have stayed fairly steady between 1100 and 1500 total elk counted. This statement also doesn’t take into account the proposed elk objective for HD 700 in the new Elk Management Plan that proposes an objective of 1600-2400 elk. We are effectively below objective going into the 2024 Hunting Season. The last thing we should be doing is increasing either-sex elk permits by 25% if we are effectively under objective.

Lastly, I oppose the amendment because it circumvents the public process of public meetings regarding these proposed changes. Having a public comment and meetings during hunting season and the holidays is hard enough but adding last second amendments that dramatically changes the district I’ve been applying for over the last decade feels disingenuous.

I urge you to oppose the amendment to increase 700-20 and 700-21 licenses.”

 

[Hunting Wife]

From what I’ve heard, areas in the u.s and Canada where cwd prevalence rates were high and cwd seasons were enacted to greatly reduce numbers, the prevalence was just as high later when deer numbers rebounded. Is that information accurate or not enough study done yet to know?

True, because again, once the environment is contaminated to a point it becomes a significant driver of infection rates, no amount of shooting can fix that.

 

[brockel]

Im pretty sure I know the answer to this but Is fwp testing road killed deer throughout the year? Would seem like an easy way to track the prevalence throughout the state instead of relying on hunters for a 1/4 of the year.

 

[DFS]

Im pretty sure I know the answer to this but Is fwp testing road killed deer throughout the year? Would seem like an easy way to track the prevalence throughout the state instead of relying on hunters for a 1/4 of the year.

I’m going to go ahead and delete this reasonable comment.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Im pretty sure I know the answer to this but Is fwp testing road killed deer throughout the year? Would seem like an easy way to track the prevalence throughout the state instead of relying on hunters for a 1/4 of the year.

They used to, and I assume they still do if these get reported. They also test anything that gets reported as sick or found dead. But opportunistic sampling is not ideal. The sample size is nowhere near high enough to get the statistical power to draw any meaningful conclusions. It’s hard to achieve sufficient sample size even with hunter harvested samples. That’s another reason why nearly every state targets their sampling effort in individual regions every year rather than statewide… to get the sample size up.

 

[Nameless Range]

Im pretty sure I know the answer to this but Is fwp testing road killed deer throughout the year? Would seem like an easy way to track the prevalence throughout the state instead of relying on hunters for a 1/4 of the year.

I have been on the scene of dozens of road kills, and FWP has never been present. Not all road kills are reported in the slightest, and many are now hauled off within an hour of the incident. If a vehicle can keep moving, no one is under any obligation to notify any authorities of a roadkill - it really only happens if the vehicle is disabled and even then sometimes folks just take care of it themselves.

 

[brockel]

I have been on the scene of dozens of road kills, and FWP has never been present. Not all road kills are reported in the slightest, and many are now hauled off within an hour of the incident. If a vehicle can keep moving, no one is under any obligation to notify any authorities of a roadkill - it really only happens if the vehicle is disabled and even then sometimes folks just take care of it themselves.

Are these carcasses hauled off and thrown in the nearest wash or are they actually taken to a proper cwd landfill?

 

[Nameless Range]

Are these carcasses hauled off and thrown in the nearest wash or are they actually taken to a proper cwd landfill?

When they are so destroyed no one wants them, I think they are taken to the local dump by the county road dept, but I don't know where they go. We had a deer vs car a week or so ago, no one wanted the young buck, and so one of our firefighters took it home. No CWD test was taken.





Back to the commission meeting. I requested an amendment the boundaries of the wide open either sex mule deer portion of 335 that was proposed by a biologist who is no longer an employee of the dept, in a district with no deer surveys, that also happens to have had no doe harvest in the last two years due to low deer numbers. I spoke to the region 3 biologist supervisor, and on his recommendation wrote as good a letter and justification as I could for this amendment. I have yet to receive a response, though I have no doubt they are inundated with emails, and I don't expect my commissioner, who probably knows nothing about the geography, to do what I asked though I still hope for it.

This commission has both disappointed and surprised me at times. I am hopeful, and am sending in additional comments based on those who have shared theirs above.

 

[MThuntr]

Im pretty sure I know the answer to this but Is fwp testing road killed deer throughout the year? Would seem like an easy way to track the prevalence throughout the state instead of relying on hunters for a 1/4 of the year.

Locally roadkill deer are being tested though it's no surprise that where they are focusing the testing is where we already know CWD is prevalent. Sheridan CWD area positive numbers for hunter submitted are hovering around 75% for Whitetail and 66% for Mule Deer (very small sample)

 

[bigsky2]

Not sure when this amendment came out, but today is the first I've heard of it.

https://fwp.mt.gov/binaries/content/assets/fwp/commission/2023/dec/black-bear/department-response-to-statewise-black-bear-amendment.pdf

Cebull is proposing a statewide spring bear season closure on June 15th. I'm not sure what to think of it. If we're just trying to get a lot of bears killed, I have no doubt it will do that. I live in R4 where we have no quota, and I do kind of worry that we might actually kill too many bears if the season goes that long. He is also proposing to do away with the in-person reporting and instead allow hunters to submit the teeth. Seems like if we are going to expand opportunity, we shouldn't simultaneously get more lax on the reporting requirements. I would be willing to bet a lot of hunters wouldn't take the time to send the teeth in.

 

[8andcounting]

So help me catch up - the proposals that are in the agenda are most likely going to be adopted or ? I know there was supposedly a public comment period but that seemed mostly like bs . They didn’t really want input . Minds are made up the way I’m seeing it ? Or am I looking at it wrong ? I like the R4 proposals. Why isn’t there any R7 deer proposals ?

 

[rogerthat]

So help me catch up - the proposals that are in the agenda are most likely going to be adopted or ? I know there was supposedly a public comment period but that seemed mostly like bs . They didn’t really want input . Minds are made up the way I’m seeing it ? Or am I looking at it wrong ? I like the R4 proposals. Why isn’t there any R7 deer proposals ?

Business as usual in region 7. Bios are all over this. They got this. We have been here before. Stay the course. Hold the line!

 

[stoep]

Not sure when this amendment came out, but today is the first I've heard of it.

https://fwp.mt.gov/binaries/content/assets/fwp/commission/2023/dec/black-bear/department-response-to-statewise-black-bear-amendment.pdf

Cebull is proposing a statewide spring bear season closure on June 15th. I'm not sure what to think of it. If we're just trying to get a lot of bears killed, I have no doubt it will do that. I live in R4 where we have no quota, and I do kind of worry that we might actually kill too many bears if the season goes that long. He is also proposing to do away with the in-person reporting and instead allow hunters to submit the teeth. Seems like if we are going to expand opportunity, we shouldn't simultaneously get more lax on the reporting requirements. I would be willing to bet a lot of hunters wouldn't take the time to send the teeth in.

Saw that, I will send in a comment on this. Thanks for bringing it up

 

[Eric Albus]

Im pretty sure I know the answer to this but Is fwp testing road killed deer throughout the year? Would seem like an easy way to track the prevalence throughout the state instead of relying on hunters for a 1/4 of the year.

What road killed deer? There are so few deer left it’s rare to see one smashed on highway 2.

 

[brockel]

My hat is off to region 4 staff. Looks like they are trying to address some issues.

Was thinking about this today. Any guesses which way all those deer hunters get displaced to depending on how limited the draw is? 700 is going to get even more crowded than it already is would be my guess. Maybe they will put some good gravel on the Stage Road now.

 

[DFS]

Was thinking about this today. Any guesses which way all those deer hunters get displaced to depending on how limited the draw is? 700 is going to get even more crowded than it already is would be my guess. Maybe they will put some good gravel on the Stage Road now.

I have thought about that as well but for staff to hang their neck out for it because they are going to get a lot of blow back I have to applaud them. Other regions should be but aren’t doing it. If 57% of mule deer buck harvest from nonresidents doesn’t raise some flags I’m not sure what will. Burn it down so even the region 7 staff has to acknowledge it. Sooner the better.

 

[brockel]

I have thought about that as well but for staff to hang their neck out for it because they are going to get a lot of blow back I have to applaud them. Other regions should be but aren’t doing it. If 57% of mule deer buck harvest from nonresidents doesn’t raise some flags I’m not sure what will. Burn it down so even the region 7 staff has to acknowledge it. Sooner the better.

Was in 410 last year. The mule deer numbers were the worst I’ve seen up there. They were never good in the 15 years I’ve hunted up there. Number of hunters was unreal

 

[DFS]

Was in 410 last year. The mule deer numbers were the worst I’ve seen up there. They were never good in the 15 years I’ve hunted up there. Number of hunters was unreal

I do think if you shut down region 4 it’s going to burn region 6 and 7 to the ground with with displaced hunters. At this point I don’t care though we are already there.