How Would You Improve Block Management?

[Dakotakid]

Some great suggestions.
Interested in hearing more.

I rarely use type 2 BMA, mainly because of what has been expressed.
I think a hunter accountability program would be helpful. They say one negative experience destroys a dozen positives. This also is true from the landowner perspective. Landowners spend lots of time alone working, lots of time dwelling on the bad apples.

 

[BWALKER77]

I loved the block management program because it promotes hunter access but the quality of deer on most of those is lacking to say the least.

Personally if it was up to me I would do away with ALL Type 2's. What a giant awkward pain in the a$$. Half the time the people arnt even home and its a mess trying to get things secured. Two of the landowners I had to meet with were super WEIRD. Especially the weird lady that lived in a shack... She came to the door with a pistol talking on the phone with someone telling them on the phone that "she had trouble and would have to call them back"....

My Dad who can get along with about anyone even asked me after we left what the hell that lady's deal was. lol

The other people were not around to sign their paper and when they were they were nice but they made me open and close like 4 gates just to get to their house, then proceeded to beat me to the road by driving around them themselves laughing as they passed me. So strange.

ALL of the Type 2's I signed up for were taken care of in advance and when I got there they acted surprised and didnt understand who I was and when I was planning to hunt. Then they said " oh ya, I let everyone hunt" even though it CLEARLY stated that they only allowed 6 people per day to hunt their land.....so that was cute.

Moral of the story, they need to do away with the type 2 and get sign in boxes and turn everything to type 1.

I agree with this.

 

[SAJ-99]

A friend of mine who I have come to view as a mentor, is close friends with the owner of the Block Management area above that is almost entirely burned up. 90% of their pasture and all their hay - gone. Generous people who have been in block management since its inception, and allowed public access before that.

It would be interesting if the conservation machines in place could do some sort of emergency fundraiser. I don't know. Here is something I thought of. Curious if it is a dumb idea:

When you buy a hunting license, you have an option to give to "Hunters against Hunger".What if, when you purchased a hunting/fishing license, there was a voluntary option to donate 10 or 20 dollars to the "Landowner Relief Fund", dedicated to the alleviation of damages to the livelihoods of working private landscapes due to grass depredation by wildlife or wildfire? Jesus, Montana had sold 45 million licenses by April 1st of this year. Imagine if 10% of those, a conservative estimate, donated $20 bucks to this fund. That right there would proivde 9 million dollars to aid landowners, voluntarily paid for by the sportsmen and women of Montana and those visiting. I feel like such an example, particularly if it came from our community as an idea, would be a powerful example for the hunters and fishermen of Montana to point to to say that in fact, yes, we do care about the landowners of Montana and acknowledge that little of this happens without them.

I think such a thing may take a legislative act, and I am sure there are some reasons against it - namely, the legislature seems to ruin everything.

Im not sure what happens, but I would like them to get the same block management payment they got last year so they can buy hay. Doesn’t solve their problem but everything helps a little. They participate in the program every year and should be rewarded for it.

Lots of good ideas here. I like the stamp idea. Ranchers can see the direct positive relationship between hunter $s and their operation.

 

[antlerradar]

Im not sure what happens, but I would like them to get the same block management payment they got last year so they can buy hay. Doesn’t solve their problem but everything helps a little. They participate in the program every year and should be rewarded for it.

Lots of good ideas here. I like the stamp idea. Ranchers can see the direct positive relationship between hunter $s and their operation.

I may be wrong, But I have heard that McRae's have never taken money in all those years of BM. Clint is going to sell all the cattle and buy back when the grass recovers. Could get ugly if the price of cattle jumps in the next few years.

 

[bullbugle307]

Some great suggestions.
Interested in hearing more.

I rarely use type 2 BMA, mainly because of what has been expressed.
I think a hunter accountability program would be helpful. They say one negative experience destroys a dozen positives. This also is true from the landowner perspective. Landowners spend lots of time alone working, lots of time dwelling on the bad apples.

I've always thought some kind of hunter accountability would be great for programs like BMA. You could have the ability for landowners or other hunters to report. I would report people every year for driving where they're not supposed to. Wouldn't be too hard to provide photo evidence in the really egregious examples that I would think really piss landowners off.

 

[SAJ-99]

I may be wrong, But I have heard that McRae's have never taken money in all those years of BM. Clint is going to sell all the cattle and buy back when the grass recovers. Could get ugly if the price of cattle jumps in the next few years.

Know someone looking to get out of ranching altogether. Couldn’t find a buyer for the whole herd and selling causes a realization of capital gains. If hers was fully depreciated, then the tax hit makes it difficult to do this. If they chose a different accounting method they may have more flexibility.

 

[antlerradar]

Know someone looking to get out of ranching altogether. Couldn’t find a buyer for the whole herd and selling causes a realization of capital gains. If hers was fully depreciated, then the tax hit makes it difficult to do this. If they chose a different accounting method they may have more flexibility.

I saw the calves on the market last week. There might be some tax relief because of the disaster.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

A friend of mine who I have come to view as a mentor, is close friends with the owner of the Block Management area above that is almost entirely burned up. 90% of their pasture and all their hay - gone. Generous people who have been in block management since its inception, and allowed public access before that.

It would be interesting if the conservation machines in place could do some sort of emergency fundraiser. I don't know. Here is something I thought of. Curious if it is a dumb idea:

When you buy a hunting license, you have an option to give to "Hunters against Hunger".What if, when you purchased a hunting/fishing license, there was a voluntary option to donate 10 or 20 dollars to the "Landowner Relief Fund", dedicated to the alleviation of damages to the livelihoods of working private landscapes due to grass depredation by wildlife or wildfire? Jesus, Montana had sold 45 million licenses by April 1st of this year. Imagine if 10% of those, a conservative estimate, donated $20 bucks to this fund. That right there would proivde 9 million dollars to aid landowners, voluntarily paid for by the sportsmen and women of Montana and those visiting. I feel like such an example, particularly if it came from our community as an idea, would be a powerful example for the hunters and fishermen of Montana to point to to say that in fact, yes, we do care about the landowners of Montana and acknowledge that little of this happens without them.

I think such a thing may take a legislative act, and I am sure there are some reasons against it - namely, the legislature seems to ruin everything.

This and the stamp idea make good sense to me. The monies should only be going to landowners enrolled in BM program. Downside is my gut feels a lawyer will cry foul over landowner discrimination or something and the funds going to any landowner.

 

[golfer]

One step that should be taken to help the type 2 is that you can't make a reservation unless when calling you have a tag for the species in which you hunt.

 

[BenInMT]

Moral of the story, they need to do away with the type 2 and get sign in boxes and turn everything to type 1.

I feel like type 2 is heavily abused and there are some bad apples who tell FWP they allowed x number of hunters when they really just allowed the same people they alway do and no one else, but they found a way to game it and get paid.

 

[MThuntingnative]

My simple portion beyond the heavy hitters of a quality background to cover the detailed improvements:

Have a Block Management stamp in order to use BM's. $$$ to aid fair value to somewhat counter outfitter lease, etc.

This is the best answer for BM, My kids and I hunt a lot of BM and would happily pay a $5 stamp fee for the access. I think half of the fee should go to payments and half to habitat projects.