Montana - Time to Shake it Up?

[SAJ-99]

Rifle season is five weeks long in Montana.

Yes. Sorry. 2.5 and 2.5.

 

[brockel]

They can hunt whitetail and elk

Or they can jump into the non resident pool because that’s what they are. We owe them nothing for being a resident at one point in their life.

 

[mtmuley]

Or they can jump into the non resident pool because that’s what they are. We owe them nothing for being a resident at one point in their life.

Exactly. When I was out of Montana I paid what any NR paid. Years ago, and none of the new options were available. Wish it would have stayed that way. mtmuley

 

[Gerald Martin]

Easy solution. Leave the nine days of legislatively mandated primitive muzzleloader season in December unchallenged and unchanged.

Change the administrative rule of general rifle season to three weeks and drop the last two weeks of deer season for mule deer and whitetail. That would give both mule deer and whitetail a month long break from hunting over their most vulnerable period.

Separate out elk and deer seasons from running concurrently. General elk season would be delayed for one week at the end of October and be allowed to continue without interruption through Thanksgiving.

Everyone gets to hunt over Thanksgiving weekend and pressure is diminished for elk and deer.

There would only be two weeks when elk/deer ran concurrently. The first two weeks of November when most areas haven’t had enough snow to push bulls down to lower country and the deer rut is just beginning.

Most hunters would concentrate their efforts and burn vacation time during those two weeks when their efforts are least aided by weather and the rut.

 

[406dn]

Or they can jump into the non resident pool because that’s what they are. We owe them nothing for being a resident at one point in their life.

Totally agree.

This has to almost certainly be the result of a couple of legislators who wanted out of state family members to catch a break.

 

[MTTW]

Easy solution. Leave the nine days of legislatively mandated primitive muzzleloader season in December unchallenged and unchanged.

Change the administrative rule of general rifle season to three weeks and drop the last two weeks of deer season for mule deer and whitetail. That would give both mule deer and whitetail a month long break from hunting over their most vulnerable period.

Separate out elk and deer seasons from running concurrently. General elk season would be delayed for one week at the end of October and be allowed to continue without interruption through Thanksgiving.

Everyone gets to hunt over Thanksgiving weekend and pressure is diminished for elk and deer.

There would only be two weeks when elk/deer ran concurrently. The first two weeks of November when most areas haven’t had enough snow to push bulls down to lower country and the deer rut is just beginning.

Most hunters would concentrate their efforts and burn vacation time during those two weeks when their efforts are least aided by weather and the rut.

This sounds good. Then get rid of doe B tags on public in region 3. I can't imagine MOGA being against that. Or maybe do the b tag thing first.

 

[Big Fin]

Totally agree.

This has to almost certainly be the result of a couple of legislators who wanted out of state family members to catch a break.

Yup. They were Gallatin Valley legislators whose kids moved out of state for better income. Idgits!

 

[Sytes]

I think some of the points mentioned here in regards to more primitive weapons the last half of, or all of November, are good ideas if we have to compromise and can’t get rid of most of the November season which I’m guessing would be incredibly hard to do.

Apparent Statute, as explained by our beloved @Ben Lamb ... would be nice to see a Bill to adjust the dates or can our legislature amend the current?
If so - I would suggest:
Remove one single week from archery. Last or first week. Make it traditional muzzleloader. One week pre rut or after rut would not cause a rush of mass purchase muzzy versus the current last two of general rifle. IMO...

edit: Google word change on phone.

 

[mtmuley]

Easy solution. Leave the nine days of legislatively mandated primitive muzzleloader season in December unchallenged and unchanged.

Change the administrative rule of general rifle season to three weeks and drop the last two weeks of deer season for mule deer and whitetail. That would give both mule deer and whitetail a month long break from hunting over their most vulnerable period.

Separate out elk and deer seasons from running concurrently. General elk season would be delayed for one week at the end of October and be allowed to continue without interruption through Thanksgiving.

Everyone gets to hunt over Thanksgiving weekend and pressure is diminished for elk and deer.

There would only be two weeks when elk/deer ran concurrently. The first two weeks of November when most areas haven’t had enough snow to push bulls down to lower country and the deer rut is just beginning.

Most hunters would concentrate their efforts and burn vacation time during those two weeks when their efforts are least aided by weather and the rut.

State wide? Excluding LE of course. mtmuley

 

[Eric Albus]

Not everyone in Montana hates whitetail.

Ok then everyone can hunt pheasants and geese over thanksgiving

 

[bigsky2]

Easy solution. Leave the nine days of legislatively mandated primitive muzzleloader season in December unchallenged and unchanged.

Change the administrative rule of general rifle season to three weeks and drop the last two weeks of deer season for mule deer and whitetail. That would give both mule deer and whitetail a month long break from hunting over their most vulnerable period.

Separate out elk and deer seasons from running concurrently. General elk season would be delayed for one week at the end of October and be allowed to continue without interruption through Thanksgiving.

Everyone gets to hunt over Thanksgiving weekend and pressure is diminished for elk and deer.

There would only be two weeks when elk/deer ran concurrently. The first two weeks of November when most areas haven’t had enough snow to push bulls down to lower country and the deer rut is just beginning.

Most hunters would concentrate their efforts and burn vacation time during those two weeks when their efforts are least aided by weather and the rut.

This is one of the best ideas I’ve seen. It would be even better if deer season was moved up a week so it ended after the first week of November instead of going into mid November.

 

[DFS]

Habitat restoration in western Montana needs to be a piece of this puzzle. What that looks like I don’t know but we can’t give up on one side of the state and put all the weight on the other. Maybe it is too late with all the development over there. Reduction in pressure or hunting deer at the right time will fix the good side of the state. And stop shooting does when populations are struggling.

 

[rogerthat]

Habitat restoration in western Montana needs to be a piece of this puzzle. What that looks like I don’t know but we can’t give up on one side of the state and put all the weight on the other. Maybe it is too late with all the development over there. Reduction in pressure or hunting deer at the right time will fix the good side of the state. And stop shooting does when populations are struggling.

Yup, habitat restoration = one way airplane tickets and a bunch of bull dozer work

 

[Nameless Range]

Habitat across the state is important, but frankly, I don’t think it is the priority at this juncture.

A lot of habitat work is being done, or trying to be done, and FWP should support those projects and engage in them where they should - but truly, there are millions of acres of fantastic habitat void of mule deer in Western Montana because they’ve been killed or pressured off the landscape - that’s the crux.

 

[DFS]

Habitat across the state is important, but frankly, I don’t think it is the priority at this juncture.

A lot of habitat work is being done, or trying to be done, and FWP should support those projects and engage in them where they should - but truly, there are millions of acres of fantastic habitat void of mule deer in Western Montana because they’ve been killed or pressured off the landscape - that’s the crux.

Would moving mule deer season to October help? Seems pretty straight forward to me. You could keep a lot of hunters in the field. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel surrounding states are already doing it.

 

[Nameless Range]

Would moving mule deer season to October help? Seems pretty straight forward to me. You could keep a lot of hunters in the field. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel surrounding states are already doing it.

I think it would be a change for the good - particularly for the age class of bucks.

Though, I do wonder if certain places that had good deer populations 20 years ago, that today have little to no mule deer, are as much the result of incessant pressure as anything.

 

[DFS]

I think it would be a change for the good - particularly for the age class of bucks.

Though, I do wonder if certain places that had good deer populations 20 years ago, that today have little to no mule deer, are as much the result of incessant pressure as anything.

Pick a region to hunt for residents and nonresident regional caps. It would not be hard to get this ship headed in the right direction. Frustrating the department has never tried.

 

[MTTW]

The main issues in the sw are predators and elk on traditional winter range. I don't believe that we are going to do anything about either of these in the foreseeable future. I hunt areas that get very little hunter pressure, and the deer are gone. They have been decreasing steadily on a year-to-year basis. Subdivisions are not the culprit they are sadly the last place where there are decent mule deer numbers, other than in town. The problem is shockingly simple, but we have no will to acknowledge the solution.

 

[brockel]

Pick a region to hunt for residents and nonresident regional caps. It would not be hard to get this ship headed in the right direction. Frustrating the department has never tried.

No reason to try when they see nothing wrong with how things are

 

[DFS]

The main issues in the sw are predators and elk on traditional winter range. I don't believe that we are going to do anything about either of these in the foreseeable future. I hunt areas that get very little hunter pressure, and the deer are gone. They have been decreasing steadily on a year-to-year basis. Subdivisions are not the culprit they are sadly the last place where there are decent mule deer numbers, other than in town. The problem is shockingly simple, but we have no will to acknowledge the solution.

Predators?