Montana 2025 Legislative Session

[Nameless Range]

My survey conversation with FWP this year….

FWP - Did you hunt deer this year?

Me - Yes

FWP - How many days?

Me - I would say about 5.

FWP - Were you successful?

Me - No

FWP - Thank you

Me - My son got a deer.

FWP - We aren’t calling about him. Thank you.

Me -

Called me before deer hunting was over.

 

[cgasner1]

Called me before deer hunting was over.

View attachment 362436

You where probably a disappointment they figured you had harvested already

 

[bigsky2]

To me it was unbelievable the opposition to mandatory reporting. I heard “I don’t want anyone to know where I hunt” to “there’s to much govt in my life, I don’t want more “.

My response was, “how can we
Manage wildlife without data?”, fell on deaf ears.

Even when I said, “let’s amend”. My thought was to amend bill so that info gathered would reflect only the region hunted, and FWP would have to keep district by district info private.

So, a massive education to some legislators is in dire need. FWP wants to think their phone survey is great, we all know it’s not. So in the next year we need to show the need for mandatory harvest requirements.
Cheers.

Pretty frustrating that there was unanimous support for Marler's reporting bill and it was still tabled. It seems like the legislators put more value in Facebook comments than they did the comments of the individuals that showed up to testify.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Dont forget to talk to your legislator regarding SB307.... When the citizens of this state passed it on a ballot initiative - funding was allocated to wildlife. Now - some folks in the legislature want to move the goal posts and take that money and use it on law enforcment and drug treatment.

Not only does this suck for wildlife, but many of the hippies i know wouldnt have actually voted for it when it was a ballot intiative if the money went to additional law enforcement. I wouldnt have voted yes myself - personally.

Its disingenuous smoke (no pun intended) and mirrors to a lot of the politically uninformed to play games with the money after its already allocated with a democratic process.

 

[Rack Daniels]

Thought I already did?! We gotta tell him every single year!? that the money has to go where he said it was gonna go!?

Ironic they wanna use MJ funds to pay COPS anyway. Of all the things you could spend money on!? That’s like selling folks lemonade to pay for your own insulin…

 

[Ben Lamb]

HB568, one of 2 study bills looking at resident & nonresident licensing & access programs has passed second reading 97-2.

 

[Carnage2011]

HB568, one of 2 study bills looking at resident & nonresident licensing & access programs has passed second reading 97-2.

Out of curiosity, who were the 2?

 

[Ben Lamb]

Out of curiosity, who were the 2?

Generally, if the vote is that one sided, it's not worth worrying about. Some people vote no just so it's not unanimous, some vote no just because.

Take the win.

 

[Ben Lamb]

SB 441, the Landowner Enforcement Network has passed the Senate 49-1 and has been transmitted to the House

HB 673 has passed second reading 88-11. Should pass third reading tomorrow.

 

[Ben Lamb]

SB 514 - 10 day Resident priority for prairie grouse and pheasant on public land, block management and open fields passes the senate 40-9.

 

[cgasner1]

SB 514 - 10 day Resident priority for prairie grouse and pheasant on public land, block management and open fields passes the senate 40-9.

I’m not an upland hunter and have never shot a pheasant till this fall. If someone hasn’t looked into this bill they probably should.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I’m not an upland hunter and have never shot a pheasant till this fall. If someone hasn’t looked into this bill they probably should.

The bill was amended to remove private land which removed opposition from outfitters. There was a bit of a rodeo on the amendment in senate fish. It inadvertently left out open fields, but we & FWP were able to work with Chairman Loge and Senator Flowers get that added in on a conceptual amendment which added another 145,000 acres of resident priority access.

This bill, along with HB 450, should help end the land rush that happens in R6 with NR dog handlers and their negative impacts on the resource, while giving residents some actual priority dates over the crush of NR's that come in the first week or so.

 

[cgasner1]

The bill was amended to remove private land which removed opposition from outfitters. There was a bit of a rodeo on the amendment in senate fish. It inadvertently left out open fields, but we & FWP were able to work with Chairman Loge and Senator Flowers get that added in on a conceptual amendment which added another 145,000 acres of resident priority access.

This bill, along with HB 450, should help end the land rush that happens in R6 with NR dog handlers and their negative impacts on the resource, while giving residents some actual priority dates over the crush of NR's that come in the first week or so.

I didn’t realize what was happening with that in region 6 with all this. Hope the bill goes for the people that enjoy the upland hunting

 

[Southern Elk]

This one needs to get a lot more attention. They are trying to sell off state lands. Contact your senators!

Montana House Bill 676 - This could sell off 1.25M acres of State Trust Lands - that's almost 25%!!! This is not the Homesteading Bill

This one seems to be floating under the radar! The main intent of the bill is water rights - but there's a catch. There's a section in this bill that FORCES the sale of school trust lands where the lessee requests it - if they have water rights on the lands and the lands are "isolated". This...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[Gulf of America]

This one needs to get a lot more attention. They are trying to sell off state lands. Contact your senators!

Montana House Bill 676 - This could sell off 1.25M acres of State Trust Lands - that's almost 25%!!! This is not the Homesteading Bill

This one seems to be floating under the radar! The main intent of the bill is water rights - but there's a catch. There's a section in this bill that FORCES the sale of school trust lands where the lessee requests it - if they have water rights on the lands and the lands are "isolated". This...

www.hunttalk.com

Sent a text to my senator. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[INMT]

I didn’t realize what was happening with that in region 6 with all this. Hope the bill goes for the people that enjoy the upland hunting

Antelope opener should be a little quieter to because of this.