I've been thinking about the common complaints MT hunters have lately. We've got this ridiculously long season and tag holders can hunt all of it with all weapons. I think this will definitely change in the near future as hunter crowding is getting out of hand. I always thought our long season gave a working man a chance to feed his family because not everyone can be afield for a great length of time with work and all…. I think the generous season is being abused by one very certain parasitic type of hunter. These are the non-resident DIY who spend most or even ALL the of the season pressuring our game while we are at work. These are retirees, staying in their campers, hunting the front country old man style, basically driving all the game into private or deep in the hills. I think it would go a long long way to creating better opportunities for all hunters if we limited non residents to an 8 day window which they would need to apply for when they put in for a license.
Can we go back to the OP?
Am I understanding that many Montana hunters are seeing NR hunters on the regular spending 30+ days in the field to kill an animal? Is it also fair that many Montana hunters are seeing DIY NR's road hunting?
I ask because I hunted MT as an R hunter during the 80's and 90's quite a bit and rarely saw an NR plate.
I am a NR hunter in Montana now. The state sells me a NR deer tag OTC through their Come to Hunt program. I hunt with 3 other R hunters. Some of them hunt pretty close to the road due to age. A couple of us walk a ways to get away from the road and it's traffic. We are hunting BMA we have hunted for 15 yrs.
In their experience, they have never seen this semi-permanent road hunter. That said, our free campground was freaking packed this year for the first time. I only saw in state plates. We were guessing rent/housing inflation had pushed a lot of people into campers. These people weren't the drug addicted vagrants you see in the cities "camping". They were just people living in so-so trailers getting up after hunters and returning later than us. I assumed most were workers.
So, I guess i'm confused, what is the problem? The complaints I hear face-to-face are NR hunters pay a "stupid amount" for tags (I'm not sure I agree) and that Montana private & public lands are being tied up by outfitters, out of staters buying scenery to live on or just to own (but they just never consider BMA or hunting at all). I've only seen 1 big ranch sell. It went to a rich out-of-stater who probably never even had a thought about hunting. This plus corner crossing issues and other access issues are why I think access is the main issue.
Last, I find there are mature bucks around if you know Buck habitat. If you drive the roads, I think you are expecting the impossible as big bucks are not known to be out in the fields by the road. I find they live in the rugged country and move rarely except with a lot of hunting pressure.
What does managing for maturity over age look like? What is that policy? What state does it well?
. I think choose your weapon is a good place to start and I would like to see a special muzzle loader season added as well. 
I'll look closer. Perhaps a more pronounced muzzle loading season is what I'm looking for. For example, CO has a draw only muzzle loader season during the elk rut. That seems like a cool hunt to me.
