Montana 2026 Elk Proposal

Gerald Martin said:
Did you actually read the amendment? This is not about opening up private access. This amendment addresses the fact that elk on public lands cannot sustain the amount of hunting pressure to justify killing more than one elk per year on public.

Antlerless harvest will still take place on public lands at whatever level area biologists determine is necessary. That public land cow harvest will be either by general tag in units that allow for either sex or antlerless/browtine harvest or by a conjunction of an antlerless elk permit and your general tag by drawing.

If you shoot an elk on public land you would have to use your general tag. A hunter could still shoot up to two more cows with B-licenses but those would have to be harvested on private.
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In a perfect world it would work that way. Unfortunately, biologists don't get to make the calls nearly as much as they should. Just look at the either sex elk proposals in R4 and R7 as evidence of that. Maybe since we're talking about cows instead of bulls, it might be a little different. Landowners are increasingly getting paid good money to shoot cows too though, so I have my doubts.
 
Rack Daniels said:
It’s okay, I know most of you big mouths have private land access. Don’t be afraid to admit it. Let’s keep it real
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Dude. Let’s keep it real. I haven’t stepped foot on private property beyond BMA’s for hunting for the past five years. The only exception to that was a single day pheasant hunt that I was invited to.

Do you really think that you or I need to be able to kill two elk per year on public land?

What about the rest of the public who bunts that same land and would love to kill a single elk there?
 
Rack Daniels said:
Great! Get a bunch of private landowners to fling their doors open! This is already the problem. 🤣 Once again, helping outfitters’ clients kill mo’ elk while the public gets the shaft.

Booooooooo
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Actually - i think the public is getting the shaft as is.

@Big Fin has rightfully pointed out for years that in MT we are killing the wrong elk. The elk that stay mostly on public are elk we generally want to live and the elk that stay on private cause the problems.

The fact that B tags and shoulder seasons have evolved into a profit seeking ploy and not population control is exactly why i support this. Think you should reconsider.
 
The right elk, the wrong elk. I'm confused by this whole thing, but am comforted that it evolved to blaming NRs. It helps me know the world is still spinning in the right direction.
1) I don't think anyone needs to kill more than one elk each year, but I am sure a few people can have good arguments for it.
2) Shouldn't the Game Damage hunts be the solution to this problem? very targeted, specific, private land only, etc...

Seems solving this, or trying to solve this through broad rules or legislation might solve the problem in one area and add to the problem in others.

The new elk plan seems to have the same problems as the old elk plan.
 
SAJ-99 said:
The right elk, the wrong elk. I'm confused by this whole thing, but am comforted that it evolved to blaming NRs. It helps me know the world is still spinning in the right direction.
1) I don't think anyone needs to kill more than one elk each year, but I am sure a few people can have good arguments for it.
2) Shouldn't the Game Damage hunts be the solution to this problem? very targeted, specific, private land only, etc...

Seems solving this, or trying to solve this through broad rules or legislation might solve the problem in one area and add to the problem in others.

The new elk plan seems to have the same problems as the old elk plan.
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To clarify - i dont blame NR. They are simply chasing opportunities that are provided.

I blame our inept management, our uninvolved r, and special interests that advocate for their advantage of a public resource. A lot of it simply comes down to conflicts of interest.
 
Forkyfinder said:
To clarify - i dont blame NR. They are simply chasing opportunities that are provided.

I blame our inept management, our uninvolved r, and special interests that advocate for their advantage of a public resource. A lot of it simply comes down to conflicts of interest.
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I think many Rs are pretty involved. They are complaining that the elk are on private. They just don't want to lose any opportunity. That is why adding a B tag that is only good on private land in units that are over objective will get approved. Every problem is solved by giving hunters more, except the real problem, of course.

Again, go back to Game Damage hunts. It pretty much eliminates NRs because hunters have to be flexible on timing and is a very targeted approach.
 
SAJ-99 said:
I think many Rs are pretty involved. They are complaining that the elk are on private. They just don't want to lose any opportunity. That is why adding a B tag that is only good on private land in units that are over objective will get approved. Every problem is solved by giving hunters more, except the real problem, of course.

Again, go back to Game Damage hunts. It pretty much eliminates NRs because hunters have to be flexible on timing and is a very targeted approach.
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Complaining isn't getting involved. R's have about a 1% involvement rate and that may still be generous.
 
I grew up hunting in the good old days in MT. We had a 3 day either sex season, then later a 1 week either sex season. This was the first week of rifle. The fact that we are debating killing multiple cows on public land tells me that FWP hasn't exactly failed at elk management in MT. I welcome this proposal and think it is long overdue.
 
bigsky2 said:
In a perfect world it would work that way. Unfortunately, biologists don't get to make the calls nearly as much as they should. Just look at the either sex elk proposals in R4 and R7 as evidence of that. Maybe since we're talking about cows instead of bulls, it might be a little different. Landowners are increasingly getting paid good money to shoot cows too though, so I have my doubts.
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I wish our biologist had total control at this point. I appreciate this will have a positive effect in some areas. But I know the breaks has a cow tag if you draw they allow you to use your general also for a cow elk. I’m sure this was put into effect from a bio fighting for it. We need to step away from managing the entire state in one broad stroke. That’s my only grievance with this. Once again what will benefit the west side could really hurt the east side.
 
cgasner1 said:
I wish our biologist had total control at this point. I appreciate this will have a positive effect in some areas. But I know the breaks has a cow tag if you draw they allow you to use your general also for a cow elk. I’m sure this was put into effect from a bio fighting for it. We need to step away from managing the entire state in one broad stroke. That’s my only grievance with this. Once again what will benefit the west side could really hurt the east side.
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How will this hurt the east side? You won’t be able to blast everything that moves?
 
Rack Daniels said:
Not about Ian. I don’t know him or his intentions. I’m talking about the consequences of the proposal. Hardly any of us can go kill cows on private as it is. Changing the tags to take away the public opportunity and make it private only is only helping people that have the access. Anyone that’s shot private land elk know they don’t BOLT BACK TO PUBLIC. They take the collateral damage to stay on the less pressured side of the fence.
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It’s easy to see why change is so hard to come by in Montana. This is not taking away public opportunity. It is not our God given right to kill multiple cow elk every year on public land when those same public land elk populations are struggling. Unlimited B tags aren’t intended for piss pounding elk on national forest land. If you want to kill a cow on public use, your general tag. You can already do that in a huge portion of the state.

And no, I’ve never killed an elk on private land. If I draw in Wyoming this year I probably will kill a bull on private, and I’ll be sure to post a trigger warning.
 
DFS said:
How will this hurt the east side? You won’t be able to blast everything that moves?
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If the state is managing both either sex and b tags in a draw I think this could cause problems. Our biologist seem to be doing a pretty good job in those units why would we wanna change how things are running in them. The east to west is just more of me saying we shouldn’t be managing the entire state with one policy.
 
MTLabrador said:
It’s easy to see why change is so hard to come by in Montana. This is not taking away public opportunity. It is not our God given right to kill multiple cow elk every year on public land when those same public land elk populations are struggling. Unlimited B tags aren’t intended for piss pounding elk on national forest land. If you want to kill a cow on public use, your general tag. You can already do that in a huge portion of the state.

And no, I’ve never killed an elk on private land. If I draw in Wyoming this year I probably will kill a bull on private, and I’ll be sure to post a trigger warning.
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Agreed, it seems the shoulder seasons and additional cow tags has really taken away the incentive to use a general tag on a cow.
 
cgasner1 said:
If the state is managing both either sex and b tags in a draw I think this could cause problems. Our biologist seem to be doing a pretty good job in those units why would we wanna change how things are running in them. The east to west is just more of me saying we shouldn’t be managing the entire state with one policy.
Click to expand...
Did you actually read the proposal? It’s at the bottom of Randy’s post
 
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