Montana FWP makes seismic shift in elk permits

[mtnkid85]

A very telling moment today, was where it was clear that both Byorth and Walsh, had spoken to agency biologists, and those biologists had a different opinion of appropriate management than the dept bigwigs. This seemed to bother Tabor, but maybe for different reasons than the reasons it should bother all of us.

Just a very real microcosm of the whole situation.

5:58:00 for a good laugh. Unfortunately.

 

[Carnage2011]

So all there proposals passed, that were on the masters list. Hm.

And u can can get an unlimited archery bull tag but still hunt general elk season if unsuccessful. Wow terrible idea.

No. You are wrong on everything.

 

[Unlucky]

Carnage 11 can u explain everything

 

[sapperJ24]

Carnage 11 can u explain everything

Montana FWP makes seismic shift in elk permits

Would appreciate it too if someone could explain what the decision is. thanks!

www.hunttalk.com

I think that is fairly accurate.

 

[Edwin]

I’m fairly sure your wrong. All I got to say is hope Hank enjoyed his beating. The commission bailing him out doesn’t mean he should keep his job.

Copy. Must have been wishful thinking on my part

 

[SAJ-99]

Now if I draw a permit, I will bowhunt it for 6 weeks, making it a lot more likely I kill one. Also everyone who draws a unit will hunt every day they can hunt, guaranteeing the unit sees more hunter days each season.

Don’t agree with this logic. Maybe you pick an area close to home and can hunt it for 6 wks, but for someone else it might be a 5hr drive and they can only hunt one or two blocks of time. It prevents that other person from hunting close to home on the weekends because they couldn’t make the drive. That should limit pressure a little. Doesn’t solve the pressure problem, but it won’t make it worse. I can’t see a scenario where it results in more hunter days in aggregate. It might take some time though to determine what 900 units were getting pressured and put a quota on them that matches the demand.

Nothing solved today, but the decision was reasonable and could have been worse. That’s a victory these days.

 

[Gerald Martin]

5:58:00 for a good laugh. Unfortunately.

Commissioner Byorth’s statements to Director Worsech clarifying that he specifically asked the biologist for specific information was a great moment.

 

[Spartan_Eric]

Thanks- I was afraid it passed. Guess my many comments during the comment period and to the commission regarding these areas went unheard. I live in 575 and hunt 575,500, and 570. Making these areas general is gonna ruin elk hunting and any public opportunity in these areas.

Much of Region 5 did not fare well today for future quality elk hunting.

 

[8andcounting]

What about the mule deer ? Just keep hammering as usual ? And does the deer and elk general season go a week after thanksgiving next year ?

 

[rogerthat]

Much of Region 5 did not fare well today for future quality elk hunting.

Forgive my ignorance but we’re these units part of the 900 bundle? Looking at 500,570,575 on gohunt maps they look almost entirely private. I assume there must be some access but it sure seems the private landowners could and would control quality quantity etc

 

[golfer]

What about the mule deer ? Just keep hammering as usual ? And does the deer and elk general season go a week after thanksgiving next year ?

Yes you will be able to come and take another dink.

 

[8andcounting]

Yes you will be able to come and take another dink.

Never fired a shot last year . Had 3 tags . Montana residents take plenty of dinks believe me

 

[Spartan_Eric]

Forgive my ignorance but we’re these units part of the 900 bundle? Looking at 500,570,575 on gohunt maps they look almost entirely private. I assume there must be some access but it sure seems the private landowners could and would control quality quantity etc

Yes, they were part of the 900-20 archery elk bundle and now are going to general archery and general rifle across the board I believe. There is better access than you may think to these areas and relatively less outfitting/leasing in portions of these areas. Additionally, if I followed all the confusion correctly, Hunting District 590 will be the only remaining elk Hunting District in the state where the proposal to increase the firearm either-sex elk permits by 50 percent (and rounded up on top of that) was approved.

 

[Gerald Martin]

What about the mule deer ? Just keep hammering as usual ? And does the deer and elk general season go a week after thanksgiving next year ?

The deer master list was adopted. Three week season in parts of region 2.

General season through Thanksgiving weekend stayed the same as prior years.

 

[sacountry]

The deer master list was adopted. Three week season in parts of region 2.

General season through Thanksgiving weekend stayed the same as prior years.

Which is unfortunate. Heck a compromise would be to move deer archery to the rut, but ultimately a shorter season is in fact a better solution.....but that is just my opinion.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Which is unfortunate. Heck a compromise would be to move deer archery to the rut, but ultimately a shorter season is in fact a better solution.....but that is just my opinion.

Baby steps. This is actually going to cause more pressure on other general areas for a few years as hunters from closed areas in region 2 go to other areas after the three week season closes. But, having folks willing to look to the future instead of being determined to retain the tradition of the past will probably help facilitate more widespread changes to shorter mule deer seasons in future season settings.

But, MOGA did support the three week season in region 2. Looks like @Eric Albus and @Big Shooter came through there.

 

[Irishman]

Don’t agree with this logic. Maybe you pick an area close to home and can hunt it for 6 wks, but for someone else it might be a 5hr drive and they can only hunt one or two blocks of time. It prevents that other person from hunting close to home on the weekends because they couldn’t make the drive. That should limit pressure a little. Doesn’t solve the pressure problem, but it won’t make it worse. I can’t see a scenario where it results in more hunter days in aggregate. It might take some time though to determine what 900 units were getting pressured and put a quota on them that matches the demand.

Nothing solved today, but the decision was reasonable and could have been worse. That’s a victory these days.

Surely you understand that the pressure and hunting days must increase on the permit units. Everyone who gets a permit must hunt there, no no-shows, no hunting for a day or two, all permit holders fully committed.
So your logic must be that it relieves pressure on the general units, the whole no hunting locally on weekends logic. Possible I suppose, but pushing people to all hunt closer to home could have the opposite outcome.
My prediction is that there will be a higher success rate during archery season on the permit areas this year, and people hunting there will encounter more hunters than in the past.
There are just too many hunters anymore, and it will continue to get worse. They need to make some real changes like making people choose between archery and rifle season, if they actually want to reduce pressure.

 

[antlerradar]

I believe that @Irishman does make a valid point in that now some of the hunters will hunt the permit units more frequently and this could increase pressure. how much is yet to be seen. If this proves to be true pressure on general units should also decrease. The trade of for hunters in the limited units will be better draw odds and lets hope better management.

 

[SAJ-99]

Surely you understand that the pressure and hunting days must increase on the permit units. Everyone who gets a permit must hunt there, no no-shows, no hunting for a day or two, all permit holders fully committed.
So your logic must be that it relieves pressure on the general units, the whole no hunting locally on weekends logic. Possible I suppose, but pushing people to all hunt closer to home could have the opposite outcome.
My prediction is that there will be a higher success rate during archery season on the permit areas this year, and people hunting there will encounter more hunters than in the past.
There are just too many hunters anymore, and it will continue to get worse. They need to make some real changes like making people choose between archery and rifle season, if they actually want to reduce pressure.

Yes, I believe in aggregate hunting pressure will largely remain unchanged. How that pressure will be distributed is a complete unknown until after the draw.

Agree that there are too many tags in total. Like I said, nothing was really fixed, except landowners (and anyone that has committed to hunting specific land) can now draw an archery tag with 100% certainty in many of those regions. The compromise is that they have to commit to hunt that region only, which they were going to do anyway.

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

What is the estimated completion of the new elk management plan? Seems way overdue.

Ravalli Republic reported in their article this morning that is supposed to be done in 2023.

They didn’t quote a source for this.