Irrelevant
Well-known member
Nor non-residents
Montana area 210 - recommendations for hunting Elk/Mule deer
- Thread starter Padan
- Start date
MTelkHuntress
Well-known member
It really shouldn't be considering you can download the regulations right onto your phone so no matter where you go, you can read them. But I'm quite sure people dont pay attention either way.
AvidIndoorsman
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I would argue for some aspects of regulations residents are worse. I have found that often residents are less informed because they read the regs 20 years ago but hadn’t kept up as things have changed. Numerous CO residents I have interacted with still think we have point requirements for deer in all units.
I have found most Montana residents have no idea how the NR side of there system works. I have been told by numerous residents that a NR doesn’t need to draw a tag and can just go buy one whenever.
BuckeyeRifleman
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Devil’s advocate here...
Western regs aren’t exactly easy to decipher for the first timer who is used to hunting out east. Do you need to be a rocket surgeon? No, but when I first looked into hunting out west I felt more than a little overwhelmed trying to figure things out. That said I made damn sure I was legal before I did my first trip, to include calling and talking to the warden before I left.
Coming from TX guy probably got his combo tag in the mail, read the basics at the front of the book and figured he was good. Is that right? No, but I can see where it happens, probably a lot more than any of us would like to admit. Go read the Ohio hunting regs... 2 pages and 10 minutes and you will have a pretty good understanding of what’s legal and what’s not, and a basic map explaining how many deer you can kill in each county.
Compare that to MT with hundreds of pages of regs, special permits, licenses, WMA’s, weapon restriction zones, hundreds of different zones each with special regulations, dates, restricted areas within the zone, etc etc, its easy to see where first timers get a bit lost in the sauce and make these sort of mistakes. Some folks here don’t get that because they grew up out west or have been doing it for decades and it’s old hat, but to the newbie it’s quite overwhelming. It took me more than a minute trying to decipher the difference between a permit and a license the first time I opened Montana’s regulations.
That said it’s the hunters obligation to make sure they are legal before hitting the field.
Western regs aren’t exactly easy to decipher for the first timer who is used to hunting out east. Do you need to be a rocket surgeon? No, but when I first looked into hunting out west I felt more than a little overwhelmed trying to figure things out. That said I made damn sure I was legal before I did my first trip, to include calling and talking to the warden before I left.
Coming from TX guy probably got his combo tag in the mail, read the basics at the front of the book and figured he was good. Is that right? No, but I can see where it happens, probably a lot more than any of us would like to admit. Go read the Ohio hunting regs... 2 pages and 10 minutes and you will have a pretty good understanding of what’s legal and what’s not, and a basic map explaining how many deer you can kill in each county.
Compare that to MT with hundreds of pages of regs, special permits, licenses, WMA’s, weapon restriction zones, hundreds of different zones each with special regulations, dates, restricted areas within the zone, etc etc, its easy to see where first timers get a bit lost in the sauce and make these sort of mistakes. Some folks here don’t get that because they grew up out west or have been doing it for decades and it’s old hat, but to the newbie it’s quite overwhelming. It took me more than a minute trying to decipher the difference between a permit and a license the first time I opened Montana’s regulations.
That said it’s the hunters obligation to make sure they are legal before hitting the field.
Last edited:
D
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How hard is it to open a damned hunt app, click on the unit you want to hunt, and then read the seasons?
Hem
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It's called playing dumb JLS.
BuckeyeRifleman
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Probably glossed over the top part and read the bottom part where it says “antlered buck mule deer. General Season” and figured “I’ve got a General Tag, must be GTG.”
Not saying it’s right, but I can see it happening. It seems obvious to those of us who have been doing it more than a few years because we’re used to how the regs are worded.
That said the hunt planner is an excellent tool that really dumbs things down, had he used the hunt planner it should’ve been obvious.
PaulRevere
Well-known member
Without trying to be insensitive, I think if you are able to read you should be able to decipher the regulations. I think it's a laziness thing.
The reason for my first reply was that I have a permit for 210 this year. I ran in to the game warden and he told me he has caught 2 people this season that harvested mule deer bucks without having the tag. Not sure if it was intentional or ignorance but either way I can only imagine how much it happens and goes unnoticed. I have spent most of rifle season in the area and have seen the game warden that one time. Resident or out of state it’s not that difficult to understand the regulations.
rustneversleeps
Well-known member
Boggles my mind how many confiscated animals/heads/antlers I always see when going thorough game check stations
Hem
Well-known member
I know of a ranch in the Snowies where two guys from Florida got permission to hunt and ended up killing two bulls without the special permit. The game warden caught them with a spike bull, ...but pretty certain never connected the dots on the gutted 6 point up in the woods. They played dumb.
