haha! keep telling yourself that.....
People compete in this world for a profit. To make more money than their competitors in the given sector. If that profit is tied to a limited resource, there will be competition for the resource for those people who make money from it. They will always fight for an advantage over others when it comes to the resource. Its simple man.
Don't turn it all on the MT public land hunter. I would also be very directly asking: what are the Outfitters willing to sacrifice? What are the Randy Newbergs, Stone Glacier D-Bags, and other Bozmanites that are circle jerking all year long at their hunting summits willing to sacrifice? What are Landowners who are from Texas who feel that they have a right to decide what happens to "their" elk willing to sacrifice? You're nuckin futs if you think this thread has anything to do with the MT public land hunter. They are the only ones who don't have their hands out asking for special treatment or money.
Some folks on this thread are forgetting that the CURRENT issue is that a certain segment of shareholders (UPOM affiliates) are suing to demand legal preference at the expense of all other public trust shareholders and the resource.
The fact that some shareholders have a for profit interest in wildlife (outfitters, influencers, hotels, restaurants, sporting goods retailers, etc.) is not the primary cause for contention. It could even be argued that resident meat hunters are profit driven because they prefer wild game as opposed to spending their money on beef, pork, or chicken.
IMO, the primary responsibility lies with FWP leadership to craft responsible regulation to protect the resource and fairly allocate tags in harmony with the North American Model of Wildlife.
This is the responsibility they are legally mandated to provide and for which all license fees are collected to provide funding for carrying out their responsibilities. Additionally, they are the experts on the biological requirements of public trust resources.
The fact that FWP leadership refuses to do their job and will not responsibly protect the public trust resources entrusted to their care because they are more interested in political appeasement is a dereliction of duty. Holding them accountable to do their jobs is something that every hunter of Montana wildlife should be interested and united in.
I don’t care that current regulations are entrenched in tradition and indulgent expectations of the average hunter. If the resource is being harmed, regulations and hunter behavior must change.
The efficiency of technology, increased numbers of hunters, concentration of pressure on perceived hot spots and many other factors has been in constant change towards increased exploitation of the resource for many years. Yet, in many ways FWP has refused to adapt to those changes and continues to show preference for political considerations over biological considerations at the expense of our resources.
Being mad at hunters for hunting within the legal parameters of management policies and harvesting an animal that FWP has seen fit to issue a certain number of tags for isn’t reasonable. It is certainly within anyone’s right to have a negative opinion about any of that, but those who refuse to hold FWP leadership accountable and don’t advocate for change while being mad at other hunters are part of the problem.
How is a N.R hunter who is thrilled at the opportunity to come shoot four mule deer does on the Custer National Forest on his first western trip supposed to know that is over exploitive and should be avoided? FWP gave out the tags and made it possible.
Tongue in cheek, but still…
