More Discounted Non-residents licenses for Montana

[Wheatgrass]

I think MT offers discountEd come home to hunt or native licenses because there are a significant number of residents that really want to have close family come back and hunt without making them bend over and grab ankles.

 

[mtmuley]

I think MT offers discountEd come home to hunt or native licenses because there are a significant number of residents that really want to have close family come back and hunt without making them bend over and grab ankles.

Time to bend over. mtmuley

 

[Nameless Range]

It's around 86K individual NR hunters, by looking at the NR Base Hunting License. That includes all NR hunting including birds & other critters.

Am I understanding?

175,000ish Montana Resident Hunters
86,000ish Non-Resident Hunters

175+86 = 261,000

86K is 32.9% of 261K.

Nearly one-third of the hunters on Montana's landscape last season were non-residents?

Honestly, it would jive with some things I saw in SW Montana while chasing antelope this season.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I think MT offers discountEd come home to hunt or native licenses because there are a significant number of residents that really want to have close family come back and hunt without making them bend over and grab ankles.

MT has three similar programs for this, 2 of which are not capped. It's better to combine them into one program and simply add a cap based on sustainable use, rather than someone's desire to shoot an antlered animal "back home."
$75 for a NR antlerless tag, or $275 or so for an elk B tag isn't hurting anyone who wants to go forth and shoot something.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Am I understanding?

175,000ish Montana Resident Hunters
86,000ish Non-Resident Hunters

175+86 = 261,000

86K is 32.9% of 261K.

Nearly one-third of the hunters on Montana's landscape last season were non-residents?

Honestly, it would jive with some things I saw in SW Montana while chasing antelope this season.

Pretty much.

If we want to alter that, then we have to be prepared to raise rates enough to capture another $25-30 million in revenue or so. That would be a significant price hike.

 

[BuzzH]

Does a NR applying for sheep, moose, goat need a base license? If so I doubt 86k NRs are hunting Montana each year.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Does a NR applying for sheep, moose, goat need a base license? If so I doubt 86k NRs are hunting Montana each year.

That's a good point. Those are around 14K in 2021, but then we'd need to suss out how many of those unsuccessful then were able to secure another hunting license in MT, even if it's upland/small game, waterfowl, or D,E,A., etc.

 

[Elktrack]

For me, it does and it doesn't. When it comes to that which most Montanans, myself included, bellyache most about - crowding - it isn't clear to me that the fact that most of these tags are antlerless diminishes that. When it comes to the effect on the resource, it doesn't seem to either.

Even if not necessarily 66k individuals, it for sure is increasing hunter-days on the landscape, and bigly, which truly is the best proxy for measuring crowding.

Ultimately, nearly 50 years ago Montanans determined that too many NR were on the landscape. Politicians, injecting the sausage with botulism, have generated a myriad of ways to shove more down our throats.

I understand and agree with what you’re saying completely. Once the numbers are broken down into all the categories and we can see how they’ve finagled around the 17,000 and it’s no longer a purely NR tag issue in the original sense of capping NR tags.

I think a lot of folks tend to think of us rotten NR folks that are part of the legit 17000 as the problem. We weren’t a problem until these other NR categories to bypass the 17,000 number was devised. I know you and I are saying the same thing. Doesn’t matter, it’s too much.

Pretty disgusting that the very legislature’s and officials tasked with adhering to the law are the very ones that created the loopholes and screwed the people of Montana and us NR too with the mismanagement.

 

[Elktrack]

That's a good point. Those are around 14K in 2021, but then we'd need to suss out how many of those unsuccessful then were able to secure another hunting license in MT, even if it's upland/small game, waterfowl, or D,E,A., etc.

Exactly.
The 86k wasn’t all Big game Hunters.
Knowing the breakdown would be interesting. Also what’s been the increase of residents over the years?

 

[DFS]

Pretty much.

If we want to alter that, then we have to be prepared to raise rates enough to capture another $25-30 million in revenue or so. That would be a significant price hike.

I would pay a lot of money to not have TP and shit on every approach from Washington hunters.

 

[Nameless Range]

Exactly.
The 86k wasn’t all Big game Hunters.
Knowing the breakdown would be interesting. Also what’s been the increase of residents over the years?

From the article;

Added together, the total nonresident elk and deer licenses sold in 2021 amounted to more than 66,600, or about 17% of what resident deer and elk hunters purchased. Yet this is a 40% increase from 1974, just before nonresident licenses were supposedly capped. In contrast, resident elk and deer license sales have increased only about 5% since 1974.

 

[Hem]

I would pay a lot of money to not have TP and shit on every approach from Washington hunters.

Yeah, how many gated roads have I walked up and someone took a shit in the middle of the road and walked away.

 

[Elktrack]

You wouldn’t believe the amount of people here with Montana exemption plates that are residents of Idaho. The system is totally abused. Even though it would make it even harder for me to draw, I’d like to see all the various loopholes cancelled and go back to a hard fast capped number.

 

[The Hedgehog]

But our elk numbers are over objective. Ranchers are getting beat down with too many elk.

 

[Elktrack]

I would pay a lot of money to not have TP and shit on every approach from Washington hunters.

This isn’t unique to Montana!
Those bastards do it here too. Don’t even step off into the brush to do it. Let alone bury it or cover it up.

 

[DFS]

Yeah, how many gated roads have I walked up and someone took a shit in the middle of the road and walked away.

Go east of miles city mid November. Hunters have literally shit on my parents drive way. #advocates

 

[Hem]

Go east of miles city mid November. Hunters have literally shit on my parents drive way. #advocates

I go there a couple times a year, I believe it.

 

[The Hedgehog]

I would pay a lot of money to not have TP and shit on every approach from Washington hunters.

That’s not nonresidents - that was ME!

 

[Hem]

That’s not nonresidents - that was ME!

I did see some custom tp...had a picture of Barry on it.

 

[DFS]

But our elk numbers are over objective. Ranchers are getting beat down with too many elk.

Some places maybe. Others fwp is too lazy to update objectives and they will admit that.