MT Elk Regulations Should Change!

LRNut said:

We are all hunters - when Joe the Plumber from Ohio concludes elk hunting in MT, CO, or WY is just too expensive or difficult, we all lose.

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Troutslayer2 said:

I disagree. There will always be some new NR to replace him. The more of him we have, the less quality experience our residents have. Our elected officials make the rules so if residents just decide it's not worth it to buy a license you can bet their legislators are going to keep pushing the pay to play model with free tags for their landowner buddies screw everyone else. I'd rather the tags go to people invested in the future of hunting in the state they live in.

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Troutslayer2 said:

I disagree. There will always be some new NR to replace him. The more of him we have, the less quality experience our residents have. Our elected officials make the rules so if residents just decide it's not worth it to buy a license you can bet their legislators are going to keep pushing the pay to play model with free tags for their landowner buddies screw everyone else. I'd rather the tags go to people invested in the future of hunting in the state they live in.

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Troutslayer2 said:

Ok. Where do we sign?

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Troutslayer2 said:

8. Gate more roads and end the buggy plague!

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Prairie Sasquatch said:

I hunted archery in Montana in a general unit for 6 days in September and can honestly say it was one of the worst hunts I've ever been on. The hunting pressure was intense to say the least. I walked over 60 miles and spike camped several nights way back in. There was sign in all the places it should have been but the elk just weren't there.

The reality was that the vast majority of the elk had been pushed off public in to the private. I saw over 300 elk within a half mile of the public and called a bull to the private public fence line but he wouldn't cross.

I talked to a lot of guys. Everyone was super friendly but only one guy had killed a bull. He said "I've hunted all over the west and besides general Colorado this is the most hunting pressure I've seen."

The animals just weren't accessible. Not much to be done about it. If I lived in MT I think I could probably get it done at some point with more scouting and time but as a nonresident with little time and no local knowledge to point me in the right direction it's a pretty low value tag in my opinion.

The reality is that demand for elk is high and there's lots of people hunting.

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BSPPC said:

What can organizations like RMEF and SCI do to help improve the MT elk issues ?

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Troutslayer2 said:

Work towards limiting public land cattle grazing so that the NF has better habitat. Thin forests so that they are more park like.

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Troutslayer2 said:

Work towards limiting public land cattle grazing so that the NF has better habitat. Thin forests so that they are more park like.

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Grizzly60 said:

Dude, you got issues. Maybe you should quit hunting and all your stress will go away. Public land, federal land. Which collects taxes from taxpayers in all US states. They should have the same right to hunting as you. And it shouldn't cost so much to hunt land they Pay taxes on.

Yeah that's it. I think I'll form a nonprofit and lobby that nonresident should only be require a regular hunting license on federal lands.

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LRNut said:

I often see the issue of paying taxes as the prima facie test of hunting rights; if that is true, then those who pay the most in federal taxes should get first dibs. Why should someone who pays less than 10K in fed taxes get the same access as someone whose quarterly tax payments are 100K?

Game is owned by the state; it doesn't matter whether that game is on state, federal, or private land - they own it, and they make the rules.

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Horse1 said:

Because that person also pays state income tax. State sales taxes on fuel for sure and except for MT, everything else that they buy. And they pay property taxes.

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Horse1 said:

Because that person also pays state income tax. State sales taxes on fuel for sure and except for MT, everything else that they buy. And they pay property taxes.

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LRNut said:

I was being sarcastic - but I would argue that state taxes don't justify resident licenses either - I pay property taxes on three properties I own in CO and pay income tax as well, but neither entitles me to a resident license.

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