The limit on the Missouri River Breaks elk archery permits had nothing to do with equity between rifle and archery hunters. The true reason was as stated by FWP employees were to stop outfitter leasing and force landowners to allow access.
Eric this statement in itself is not entirely accurate. This "equation" had many varibles. One major part of the equation that got the process started was the number of non-resident hunters hunting in those "breaks" hunting districts and the number of days they were "camped out" chasing elk. This was "painfully obvious", the situation got so bad, residents were willing to limit themselves. And only way to limit the non-residents in Montana is to place limits on the residents. Compounding the problem was the Private Land Outfitters leasing up ranches and additional ranches try to secure themselves opportunities that purposely excluded the resident hunter. They don't care about the average resident hunter, they were in it for themselves ($$). This action started a chain reaction with other "Outfitters" and the leasing of land by Outfitters, non-residents and even residents. It was like tossing a stone in a pond, it rippled out and negatively affected other fellow hunters (Outfitted/Guided hunters, DIY Resident and DIY Non-resident).
The proposition of limited elk archery permits in the breaks was the only way (at the time) to "level the playing field".
It had and still has nothing to do with FORCING landowners to allow access. This is impossible, so the statement is just a plain stupid statement. Unfortunately, it was at the expense of non-residents now being limited to 10%. The archery hunter numbers/quotas are a moving target; in that it is the intent that 100% of resident applicants will draw a permit if they put in. The quotas are based on last years applicants, so the actual draw statistics are more like 99% - 97%. This "land grab" that got started by some of the Private Land Outfitters is what kicked off this whole process.
The "Rifle vs Archery Hunter" inequity got started when FWP's own Commssioner (I forget his name, but he was from Great Falls) made the comment that he has and/or many of his "buddies" have not drawn a rifle permit and the archery hunters are harvesting a lot of big bull elk every year. This is where the perception of inequity was first made public at a FWP meeting. There was and is no reason a "rifle" hunter cannot pick up a bow and go archery elk hunting. No one is stopping them. If it was that easy to harvest a "big" bull, just go do it.
Its thanks to organizations like MWF, MSA, MBA, PLWAA, and others that MT residents are able to have what they have. Many of the organizations spend a lot of time and resources "defending" the average MT residents hunter. This in unfortunate, because could you image if folks just went out and enjoyed the recreational activities and not tried to make it their "own" experience at the expense of others?
