Montana FWP commission meeting 12/14/21
Elk
Montana FWP commission will meet Dec. 14 at the State Capitol in room 152, 8:30 am the meeting starts, please attend.
Terry, what are they meeting about? It's a drive for most of us to Helena, would need some more information before I head over....... although it will probably ruin my day once I know what those crooks are up to.
They are going to redo all of the hunting regs.
Not really good for archery hunters. Losing archery only district 284, losing chances for extra buck in 260 & 290. In general, "simplified" regs by eliminating many districts, especially in Region 2. There has also been a lot of harping about either sex elk tags in districts like 410, 417, but hard to decipher their plans there.
Return of over the counter doe/fawn whitetail tags in Region 2, whitetails are going to get hit hard in the next couple of seasons. I mostly paid attention to the changes in Region 2 and already submitted my comments so they can ignore them and do whatever the hell they want. To be honest I do not like current FWP leadership, and the commission is stacked with MOGA supporters, so I am not anticipating good changes. The elimination of archery opportunity is just a part of my disdain.
You can attend via zoom if you don't want to travel, if you want to comment on zoom you have to register by the 13th. I am jaded and won't waste my time until the next election rolls around
Got it. Received some emails and texts saying the same. This commission is crooked. I may actually see if I can drive over and give .02 cents. Not that it will do any good, decisions are already made.
Public land hunting in the MT is on the decline.
I can't make it, but may try to watch part of it on zoom. My biggest concerns are loss of archery opportunity and what is going to happen to the whitetail population. District 284 will become a "Weapons Restriction Area", so shotguns with slugs will be the norm. They tried the same thing in that district 20 years ago and we found lots of unrecovered elk carcasses. Anything to get the population down to someone's perceived ideal population level. However I have not seen anything proposed to address harboring of elk ( I am not sure there is a solution), and most of what I see is making fewer hunting districts with blanket management. Apparently they think it is too hard to read the regs.
My past interactions with the commission have been fruitless. So I submit my comments online and try to call it good, else the blood pressure increases! But I still encourage others to comment or attend. Maybe someone will make the right comment, or maybe just numbers will help. If you don't attend, at least read the proposed changes and let them know what you think.
Matt, please try to attend, this is one of the most important commission meetings in a long time. Terry
https://ravallirepublic.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/fwp-proposes-major-changes-to-some-limited-elk-permits/article_21c26400-a8f2-5702-b2cc-3e472b047c1a.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Ravalli_Republic&fbclid=IwAR2tqLOYXz2r4CDOKDDrJV6FH1aLCVK6pYHtAuMRfV4Fzm619hkWCi2vljI
Everyone needs to ask the directors office why this has not gone through as of yet, this was passed by the last FWP commission and the Shodair Children's Hospital property was added. This is a huge piece of the puzzle around central Montana and does not fit into the Wilks brothers narrative. https://fwp.mt.gov/.../v2_big-snowy-mtns-wma-proposal.pdf
