Montana General Season Structure Proposal

[Hunt West]

I think the battle with FWP will be their “hunter satisfaction surveys” that are used as a crutch. IIRC roughly 60% of resident hunters were satisfied with their deer hunts and around 70% said that rut hunting and the opportunity to hunt mule deer bucks on thanksgiving were important to them. To the respondents credit though I don’t remember antlerless hunting being heavily supported. In addition to the above, the new scorched earth management of killing bucks in the name of CWD will likely factor into the decision also. @antlerradar - when is the first meeting for the fwp MD committee?

 

[cgasner1]

Who cares? They applied for it and are now stuck in that unit hunting only. Only thing I see coming from those whining they didn’t get the tag which ruined an opportunity they didn’t have to begin with?

I really don’t you can take your tag into the bathroom and wipe with it for all I care. I’d be willing to bet most people that break camp and move into an entire new region to hunt deer are nr. I know some residents do bounce around. To some degree stopping that can also have a positive effect on hunting pressure

 

[Ought Six]

If we can just stop mule deer does from being killed on public land that would be a huge step forward

 

[mmarshall173]

Who cares? They applied for it and are now stuck in that unit hunting only. Only thing I see coming from those whining they didn’t get the tag which ruined an opportunity they didn’t have to begin with?

That's a bad stat to go off of for this proposal though. The risk is way too high. This proposal has an opportunity to completely decimate an entire region. What happens if a ton of people end up choosing region 7? Then we're going to be worse off than where we started.

Who cares? They applied for it and are now stuck in that unit hunting only. Only thing I see coming from those whining they didn’t get the tag which ruined an opportunity they didn’t have to begin with?

That is true but I’ve also read that 10% of people that draw a le tag anywhere never step foot into the unit and hunt it. So by this switch it could also get some people to stay home and help with pressure

That's a bad stat to go off of for this proposal though. The risk is way too high. This proposal has an opportunity to completely decimate an entire region. What happens if a ton of people end up choosing region 7? Then we're going to be worse off than where we started.

 

[8andcounting]

FWP will label this group as trophy hunters and say they just want opportunities. I think this group and their proposal needs serious consideration I think we (all people who hunt and love Montana) can still have plenty of opportunities with the proposed seasons/structure

 

[rmyoung1]

If there's no cap on the regions, then those units will just get even more pressure. I hunt 3-4 regions every season looking for a deer I like. If I'm picking my region, then 100% of my time (i.e. pressure) will be dedicated to that region instead of it being distributed over multiple areas.

You’ll have to explain this to help me understand. Yes, 100% of your time will be devoted to your chosen region, but 0% of your time will be spent in the 2-3 other regions that you said you typically also hunt. Doesn’t that reduce pressure in those areas? I don’t get what you mean. Unless you’re assuming that you and everyone else will focus on the same region and “overload” it while leaving the others alone. I’m not sure that would happen, practically, however.

 

[brockel]

If we can just stop mule deer does from being killed on public land that would be a huge step forward

That’s already passed for region 6 and 7

 

[mmarshall173]

I really don’t you can take your tag into the bathroom and wipe with it for all I care. I’d be willing to bet most people that break camp and move into an entire new region to hunt deer are nr. I know some residents do bounce around. To some degree stopping that can also have a positive effect on hunting pressure

Wrong on that one. I'm a resident and do this every year. Along with a lot of my hunting friends, who are also residents.

 

[cgasner1]

That's a bad stat to go off of for this proposal though. The risk is way too high. This proposal has an opportunity to completely decimate an entire region. What happens if a ton of people end up choosing region 7? Then we're going to be worse off than where we started.



That's a bad stat to go off of for this proposal though. The risk is way too high. This proposal has an opportunity to completely decimate an entire region. What happens if a ton of people end up choosing region 7? Then we're going to be worse off than where we started.

Personally I think it’s gonna take pressure off of 6-7. The current set up lets people just hammer deer wherever they want that’s why we weren’t worried about caps yet. Anyone with a tag can currently hunt those units as much as they want how would this be any different. Like I said earlier a shooters gonna shoot if you think any plan put together is gonna fix that good luck

 

[rogerthat]

That's a bad stat to go off of for this proposal though. The risk is way too high. This proposal has an opportunity to completely decimate an entire region. What happens if a ton of people end up choosing region 7? Then we're going to be worse off than where we started.



That's a bad stat to go off of for this proposal though. The risk is way too high. This proposal has an opportunity to completely decimate an entire region. What happens if a ton of people end up choosing region 7? Then we're going to be worse off than where we started.

A ton of people are already choosing region 7. With a statewide gen season fwp doesn’t have any hard stat hunter days per region. Maybe some soft estimates. The way I see it you would have a hard stat that could be evaluated for caps. Way better than the current free for all.

 

[mmarshall173]

You’ll have to explain this to help me understand. Yes, 100% of your time will be devoted to your chosen region, but 0% of your time will be spent in the 2-3 other regions that you said you typically also hunt. Doesn’t that reduce pressure in those areas? I don’t get what you mean. Unless you’re assuming that you and everyone else will focus on the same region and “overload” it while leaving the others alone. I’m not sure that would happen, practically, however.

The latter is what I'm referring to. You are correct, in that the other units now wouldn't be pressured by me, but I usually start in pressured regions and then move into less pressured regions later. My concern would be overloading a single region. For instance, regions 6 and 7 are highly pressured already. I think this proposal will put even more pressure on those regions. I'm not against the proposal, but I do have concerns. This is based off of what the creaters of it "think" will happen. That's a bad way to go about business. Atleast do a survey of some sort first to figure out what hunters would intend to do to make sure that we don't make things worse. If a region or 2 gets overloaded unexpectedly, then things will get way worse real fast.

 

[Ought Six]

That’s already passed for region 6 and 7

I missed that thanks for pointing that out

 

[mmarshall173]

Personally I think it’s gonna take pressure off of 6-7. The current set up lets people just hammer deer wherever they want that’s why we weren’t worried about caps yet. Anyone with a tag can currently hunt those units as much as they want how would this be any different. Like I said earlier a shooters gonna shoot if you think any plan put together is gonna fix that good luck

I know a lot of resident hunters that hunt these 2 regions at the start of the season, and if they don't find a deer they like then they move on to other regions.

 

[cgasner1]

I know a lot of resident hunters that hunt these 2 regions at the start of the season, and if they don't find a deer they like then they move on to other regions.

So once they realize someone else has already pounded the piss out of an area the move into another to do the same? That seems to help the resources. It all has a cause and effect you guys may end up shooting bucks you wouldn’t have out of 6 because it’s the only place you can hunt. Or hear me out you let one walk. Another though on it is deer are more of a challenge to hunt in October also due to weather they aren’t up eating all day due to blue sky days.

 

[antlerradar]

Capping mule deer doe tags didn’t come from it. I was on the elk CAC. When FWP started talking about doing a mule deer one I had a conversation with a guy towards the top at FWP that wanted feedback from the elk CAC. I told him that FWP wasted our time and used none of our recommendations. I also told him that FWP doesn’t have the backbone to actually implement meaningful change. I hope I’m wrong…

Thanks for injecting a cold dose of reality into my optimism.

 

[antlerradar]

I’ve told ya before i don’t hunt mule deer typically, have never shot one and have passed on many. The reason for the rut is to find the big ones when they’re being dumb, rather than them being in their sanctuaries far into the mountain. If anyone’s gonna find a mature deer, it’s likely gonna be during mating season.

I have had far better luck finding big deer early in the season than during the rut.

 

[antlerradar]

UPOM makes up a very small percentage of the landowners within the state. I know quite a few landowners that would love to see an end to the mule deer road hunting in November.

I can not think of one landowner that is for the November road hunt.

 

[antlerradar]

Another thing I might add. It might create a unintentional FOMO effect. With no overlap in mule deer and elk. It makes it pretty easy for a guy to hunt deer on vacation for a week or 2 out east.. and the same guy have another week or 2 for backdoor elk. I usually have around 120 hrs every hunting season. And I don't even have one of the bomb ass jobs some of you guys have...

If you are married, Don't do something stupid and leave you wife. You are not going to find a better one.

 

[Flatbrimmer]

I have had far better luck finding big deer early in the season than during the rut.

You know deer better than 99 percent of us art.

 

[Visiting Hunter]

If you are married, Don't do something stupid and leave you wife. You are not going to find a better one.

Never planned on it, but if regrettably it happened, I'd be single. Married 13 years. At 32 now, we're happy and healthy. Thanks for your concern.