The answer is dealing with season structures...not playing tag distribution games.
And you are not alone, @Big Fin saw it the same way. Others like @Andrew Posewitz are unwilling to sacrifice the public trust for so little in return. I respect all these views. But I don't think you can dispute that it did in fact draw significant attention, largely based upon the values each of us holds. Not everyone sees it as just a small thing.
It drew so much attention because it involved "rich landowners"
In my wildest dreams I can’t see this legislation pulling anywhere close to 2550 (15% of the 17k) tags from the NR pool, ever. The real number will be an actual drop in the bucket.
Not true, it drew attention because its giving away a public trust asset.
Yea that to.
The public trust asset isn’t worth much with our current wildlife management. Nonresident tags need to be cut, this is at least a step towards that direction. I agree it’s not going to be a notable change.
Is SB533 the 14 day cap on hunting for nonresidents?
Yep. For deer, antelope, and elk.
Would this concentrate the crowding to the last two weeks of September for bowhunters, the first two weeks of rifle season for antelope hunters and generalists, and the last two weeks of general rifle season for mule deer hunters? I know NRs wouldn't have to do the 14 days contiguous, but it seems like this could significantly increase pressure during specific times.
About 10 years back or so in the units I hunted I noticed nonresidents not leaving but staying and hunting most of the season. I don’t think it will concentrate anything any worse than it always did. Peak rut already sucks pretty bad from a hunter concentration standpoint
I would imagine it would depend on how it is implemented. The bill doesn’t specify and leaves it up to FWP to decide from what I gather.
Yeah seems similar to the camping limit rule. That works great!!
14-day maximum is the stupidest idea. FWP can barely run a draw, much less keep track of what days NR hunters are in the state hunting. Also, you have a deer/elk combo. So a NR has to split the days between the two? Those are separate tags? What a shitshow. Why don't they just split the season into 14 day segments and divide the NR tags accordingly. Give it a try and see how it works.
It should be fun to watch how it pans out.
Couldn’t be much worse than how things are going now. At least it’s on the radar. Nobody needs to hunt as long as Montana seasons are now.
Except a lot of Montanans, apparently.
