Voting in the primaries

[ingomar]

Montana primary voting takes place next Tuesday June 5th for those who have not voted by absentee ballot. Depending on the outcome of the election, the next legislative session could be worse for the sportsmen of Montana than the last.

Here are some of the bills rumored to be brought forward in the next session:
Revive the Dirty Ditch Bill HB309 that would have gutted our stream access laws;
Repeal I-161 that was passed by the voters of Montana;
Bring forth a "Ranching for Wildlife" bill, possibly similar to Colorado's;
Setting new guidelines for big horn sheep transplants to make them more difficult:

These are just what we have heard about, no telling what else they have in the works.

MAKE NO MISTAKE-THE FACE OF HUNTING IN MONTANA IS AT A TIPPING POINT AND THIS ELECTION AND THE NEXT SESSION WILL DETERMINE OUR HUNTING FUTURE FOR MANY YEARS TO COME!!

If you are concerned, be sure to get out there and VOTE! Try to learn where your candidates stand on hunting/fishing and access issues. Some of these primary races are critical for sportsmen. I strongly urge you to support Kurt Bushnell in SD 34 over Scott Sales; Pat Connell in HD 87 over Scott Boulanger; and Gary MacLaren in SD 45 over Fred Thomas.

Go to www.montanasportsmenalliance.com under MSA-PAC and look at our list of endorsed candidates. We have had teams from MSA meeting with and interviewing as many candidates as we can and all of our endorsed candidates have been thoroughly vetted prior to our endorsement. Tell all your hunting/fishing friends to vote as well. Remember, there are elements out there claiming to represent the average Montana sportsmen but who are in reality representing their own pocketbooks.

 

[shoots-straight]

SFW is backing many legislators running for office. Champ Edmunds from Missoula, is on the BOD for SFW Montana. It's crazy that in one of Montana's most liberal counties they can't find someone to run against him.

He was, and will continue to be, a open sore where wildlife, and hunting issues are concerned.

SFW also endorsed Scott Boulanger who blames wolves for ALL of the decline of elk in the Root. He's an outfitter, that moved here from Connecticut. He was the outfitter presence on the Bitterroot Elk Working group that approved the 6 years of liberal either sex seasons that led to over harvest of our elk. You don't see him taking any credit for that. He was pretty happy with they way things were going during the mash em up years. Then of course the elk herd crashed.

Fred Thomas is running against Gary Maclaren. Fred was the guy that lead the charge to deregulate the power industry in Montana. We all know how many people lost their savings due to Montana Power Company failing. He is no friend of the resident sportsman. Not sure about the non resident.

Gary and Pat, were very approachable legislators. Without them, the wolf bill, would have became a reality, and most likely would have resulted in us sitting on the sidelines like Wyoming.

Sportsman need to vote on Tuesday. Get your family members out too. Our hunting heritage, as we know it today,will be decided at the poles. We need good people to fight for us in the battle that we will call the 63rd legislative session.

Make no mistake, this session will be a blood bath. Worse than last.

 

[Pierre]

Unfortunately, sportsmen have been woefully uninformed on our own issues. The 62nd legislature brought a much higher level of shock and awareness. Many of us are active, fully aware, and informed, but not near enough. We need your help. Please vote sportsmen. We are at a point in time and politics where we stand to lose many of the things we have taken for granted all our lives. "The people" own our wildlife but there are many entities out there readying legislation to take that right from us. We will need to fight. The first thing you can do is look over candidates, find out who is sportsmen friendly, and vote for them. The MSA website is a good tool. If you don't know your candidates, email MSA and see what information they can give you. And get involved. It is much easier to prevent loses to our heritage than to recoup them after they are lost.

 

[PublicLandHunter]

This is really a party thing

Probably most hunters consider themselves Republicans. As such they just cant get the fact that their party tried to screw them royally in the last legislature and is is out to screw them again.. When told so , or when they see how the party voted as a block on the wrong side of rsident sporrtsmen's issues they get all defensive but are almost literally tounge tied trying to defend the pafty, If you want to vote for sportsmens interests, just vote a straight democratic ticket ! Some R's may give lip service to sportsmen but when time comes to push the button, they cave to the party bosses. Sad but true .

(By the way,nobody is going to take away your guns . The Republicans usually fall back to that nonsensical NRA blather talking point. And sportsmen dont want to chuck spears or have silencers as some Republican reps proposed. )

 

[howler]

I am sure the next legislative session is going to be tough on the oyo-diy hunter so be smart and vote for people who are going to fight for you,, but I am sure I'm singing to the choir

 

[shoots-straight]

Probably most hunters consider themselves Republicans. As such they just cant get the fact that their party tried to screw them royally in the last legislature and is is out to screw them again.. When told so , or when they see how the party voted as a block on the wrong side of rsident sporrtsmen's issues they get all defensive but are almost literally tounge tied trying to defend the pafty, If you want to vote for sportsmens interests, just vote a straight democratic ticket ! Some R's may give lip service to sportsmen but when time comes to push the button, they cave to the party bosses. Sad but true .

(By the way,nobody is going to take away your guns . The Republicans usually fall back to that nonsensical NRA blather talking point. And sportsmen dont want to chuck spears or have silencers as some Republican reps proposed. )

Not true. Many races will be won by Republicans only. We need the right Republicans. John Brenden up in Scobey is one of the worst when it comes to attacks on sport hunting, and sportsman. This race will be won by a Republican, that's just the nature of the beast. We can win by voting for his challenger Julie French. There's other good Republicans too. In the Root we have a couple that fit the billing.

 

[PublicLandHunter]

"Other good republicans" OK name one !

Not true. Many races will be won by Republicans only. We need the right Republicans. John Brenden up in Scobey is one of the worst when it comes to attacks on sport hunting, and sportsman. This race will be won by a Republican, that's just the nature of the beast. We can win by voting for his challenger Julie French. There's other good Republicans too. In the Root we have a couple that fit the billing.

Julie French is a Democrat ,my friend. Please name one Republican who is a champion of sportsmen. There was one, Al Bishop from Billings about 10 -15 years ago , but they all have been purged by the party. Name the ones in the Root and i will check theri records on the Montana Sportmen Alliance scorecard. But at least name one from anyplace in the state. We woiuld be happy to crown him with a garland of sagebrush.