Montana season structure proposal 2.0

[cgasner1]

Awhile back a group of us got together and drafted an entire new management plan we would like to see fwp implement. It was met with mixed reviews people either loved or hated. A lot has changed since that original plan was released. We have done pod casts and met with many conversation groups to try and help gain support to push this plan farther. We have even added a new member to the group @sclancy27 . If you don’t know him he is a ok bow hunter but makes up for that with the fact he is a whizz with numbers and charts. Between the feedback we have received from a lot of sources and the numbers that we have studied the group decided to draft a 2.0 we have heard the grumblings and with the numbers that are available we made some tweaks. The biggest tweak you will notice is that we pulled the pick your region. The numbers we have show that mule deer and whitetail are fairly split in the harvest numbers. So with that it seemed like just splitting the species and moving mule deer out of the rut would be a great start. Here is a link to and enjoy

Blog I highly recommend

Montana Season Setting Proposal

Opportunity for All

mtseasonproposal.blog

Eastmans podcast

Mule Deer Conservation and Hunting Adventures with Rod Paschke of Sizzlin' S Outfitters

Podcast Episode · Eastmans' Journal Podcast Edition · 08/27/2024 · 1h 16m

podcasts.apple.com

Meat eater with cal

Ep. 287: Mule Deer and Montana Hunting Seasons with Ben Lamb and Chris Gasner | MeatEater Podcasts

On this week's interview, Cal chats with two Montana hunters about a controversial proposal to shorten Montana's mule deer and elk seasons. Connect with Cal and MeatEater Cal on Instagram and Twitter MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Shop Cal's Week in Review Merch

www.themeateater.com

Hunt talk with @Big Fin

Joining Forces for Montana's Mule Deer

Podcast Episode · Hunt Talk Radio · 10/21/2024 · 1h 56m

podcasts.apple.com

 

[Forkyfinder]

One question - does the late season (non muzzy) elk in december include antlered elk?

 

[cgasner1]

One question - does the late season (non muzzy) elk in december include antlered elk?

The law on the muzzy currently reads any tag that was valid when rifle ends. So if it’s a unit you where able to kill a bull in during rifle season then yes it is valid

 

[bigsky2]

One question - does the late season (non muzzy) elk in december include antlered elk?

No

 

[Gerald Martin]

One question - does the late season (non muzzy) elk in december include antlered elk?

The proposed late season elk hunt ( non- muzzy) will be antlerless only and is not statewide. It would be unit specific based on herd numbers and whether the unit is within objective or not.

 

[Gerald Martin]

The law on the muzzy currently reads any tag that was valid when rifle ends. So if it’s a unit you where able to kill a bull in during rifle season then yes it is valid

Muzzleloader season allows for bull harvest. The late season in our proposal is antlerless only.

 

[cgasner1]

Muzzleloader season allows for bull harvest. The late season in our proposal is antlerless only.

I missed his “non muzzy” part I was referring to the muzzy season thanks for pointing that out. Sorry i misunderstood @Forkyfinder

 

[Forkyfinder]

The proposed late season elk hunt ( non- muzzy) will be antlerless only and is not statewide. It would be unit specific based on herd numbers and whether the unit is within objective or not.

I missed his “non muzzy” part I was referring to the muzzy season thanks for pointing that out. Sorry i misunderstood @Forkyfinder

No

All good and i assumed and thought as much from the conversations.

It does, however, denote the october elk season is antlerless only (why i attached the snip) so it might be worth clarifying that late season is too and is for over objective units only.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Fixed

 

[Forkyfinder]

Fixed

View attachment 345670

Damn it! There goes the christmas bull hunt i had planned to replace thanksgiving forky season with. Kidding of course.... christmas is for coyotes.

The website looks good @Ben Lamb, someone should thank you too lots of bootwork on your end im certain.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Damn it! There goes the christmas bull hunt i had planned to replace thanksgiving forky season with. Kidding of course.... christmas is for coyotes.

The website looks good @Ben Lamb, someone should thank you too lots of bootwork on your end im certain.

Na. These guys are taking the arrows & suffering the wounds while doing the heavy lifting.

I'm just drinking their shitty beer.

 

[cgasner1]

Na. These guys are taking the arrows & suffering the wounds while doing the heavy lifting.

I'm just drinking their shitty beer.

No your not we offered you turned us down looked like the vp sipping on a miller

 

[Gerald Martin]

I can’t believe @Ben Lamb dissin’ on Busch Latte.

 

[Ben Lamb]

No your not we offered you turned us down looked like the vp sipping on a miller

 

[Shed God]

Why did u pull pick your region in the proposal.

 

[cgasner1]

Why did u pull pick your region in the proposal.

The numbers of mule deer to whitetail being harvested is about a 60/40 split so between those numbers and moving the season out of the rut it should help tremendously. The goal is to get this implemented and we thought it would help to get that goal accomplished

 

[Shed God]

Love the idea of picking your region because that is the gateway to LE. Your still not capping the amount of mule deer hunters. It's split yes whitey and muley but, I don't think that is enough. And moving the season structure to october benefits the mule deer but still, there will be a ton of pressure on public land.

 

[bigsky2]

Why did u pull pick your region in the proposal.

We were worried about unintended consequences of pick your region. Regions 6 and 7 are already getting pounded, and pick your region could have compounded this issue by not allowing hunters to go anywhere else. We could have ended up with more hunter days in those regions than we already have. We're trying to help hunting pressure across the state, rather than help one part of the state at the expense of a different part. Pick your region would work with capping the number of hunters in each region, without it you could make things worse in some areas. We don't feel we are in a position to be trying to set the number of hunters per region without having some solid data first.

 

[Shed God]

That would be the next step after picking your region is capping it. So the proposal would be working in the right direction

 

[bigsky2]

That would be the next step after picking your region is capping it. So the proposal would be working in the right direction

Getting the data first, which is also part of our proposal, is working in the right direction too.

I don't think it is safe to assume we would be successful in getting caps put in place a few years down the road. Hell, even attempts to limit NR bird hunting pressure have came up unsuccessful lately.