MT EQC to determine corner crossing as "illegal"

[DFS]

GG has been good on access, mule deer doe tags are limited and we have seen a cut in NR hunters. Something that I haven’t seen in my life so there definitely were some good things, I wish he hadn’t waded into the corner crossing issue. @WanderWoman

 

[WanderWoman]

GG has been good on access, mule deer doe tags are limited and we have seen a cut in NR hunters. Something that I haven’t seen in my life so there definitely were some good things, I wish he hadn’t waded into the corner crossing issue. @WanderWoman

When I look at all the accomplishments of Habitat Montana prior to 2021 compared to the last 5 years, or talk with FWP staff about the access/lands projects that might have been, or think of state employee morale, recruitment, and retention (across a ton of agencies), I disagree. The B licenses doesn’t cut it imo and in five years the effects of that will be forgotten or we’ll have even more areas with high CWD prevalence. Not to mention on the opposite end of the spectrum we’re dealing with continued high quotas (archery elk, archery antelope) that greatly affect hunter crowding and public lands hunting… And how there’s this corner crossing fiasco. Can’t say I’m surprised by any of it, unfortunately.

 

[Rack Daniels]

That ^^^ gives a whole range of emotions….

 

[BuzzH]

I don't live in Montana anymore, but what I was most shocked at when talking with FWP staff is how little support they get from the top. I'm sure that's a big reason for the lack of morale, lack of retaining employees, and retention of the good people they have working there.

Giving an agency direction, not a problem. Being a heavy handed top down manager/a-hole that favors their donors over their own staff, sportsmen, Montana citizens, and wildlife...big giant problem.

I don't believe for one second that Clarks response to corner crossing is anything other than the direction she is getting from GG. What I don't understand is why anyone would continue in a position like that without the autonomy to make decisions. Being a puppet/unmanned drone in a position where you are allegedly hired to make decisions has to be maddening. The very definition of being micro-managed.

I couldn't do it, I wouldn't do it.

 

[DFS]

Not to mention on the opposite end of the spectrum we’re dealing with continued high quotas (archery elk, archery antelope) that greatly affect hunter crowding and public lands hunting

I been waiting since the Schweitzer administration for high quotas to be addressed. That seems consistent throughout all of them.

 

[antlerradar]

The B licenses doesn’t cut it imo and in five years the effects of that will be forgotten or we’ll have even more areas with high CWD prevalence.

I think that restricting doe hunting to private land could be a good thing when it comes to CWD.
In general the deer herd on public land is lower numbers and low dencity where the on private the herd numbers are much higher and more concentrated. A single fifty acre alfafa field can concentrate deer from miles around. Sure the public land deer can and will likely get CWD, it is just that the risk is low when compaired to a private land hay field where the risk of spread and high prevalence is going to be much higher. When we have doe tags that are good region wide on both public and private land we are harvesting a lot of low CWD risk public land does and not nearly enough does from high risk private land. I understand that it can be difficult to gain access to private land even for doe hunting. I also under stand that it is not worth it for many hunters to put in the time and effort to build a relationship with landowners just to shoot some does. Makes for a difficult task. Given the risk of CWD though, we have to try to get more does killed in the highest risk deer populations. Hunters will simply not try to gain access to private land if the public option is availavle. Given the value of does to many landowners, many are simply not going to go through the effort to find doe hunters until it is too late. Going back to region wide doe tags will be not trying in regards to CWD.
I have always been told that the real risk of spreading CWD is older age class bucks and to slow the spread we need to keep the number of older bucks at a minimum. I may not like this, but if it is what is needed for CWD, so be it. We need at a least a fair population of does on public land to keep the bucks where the orange army can shoot them. If hunters shoot too many doe on public or hunting pressure moves them to private it is going to be more difficulte to get older age bucks harvested. With out a good population of does on public, the bucks are going to move to private for the majority of the season. On private the buck with the better antlers will likely get shot, but the bucks with poor antlers will live to old age. I am not sure we are realy trying to get older bucks shot if we are shooting does on public.
If deer numbers on public ever get to the point where additional deer are too many for the habitat, we can go back to public land doe tags. Given todays predator numbers and the frequent droughts and hard winters, I am not sure we will ever need to shoot does on public land again.