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Bull elk
A last-minute addition to a Montana fish and wildlife bill signed into law on Friday reinvigorated a long-running debate over the role of money in hunting in Montana
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House Bill 637 is sprawling; it affects game wardens, block management, hunting with dogs and taking turkeys, along with other fish and wildlife management issues in the state. But during the last day of the legislative session, it was amended to include language that boosts the odds of nonresidents with outfitters getting deer and elk permits in Montana.
Nonresidents who want to hunt in Montana enter a lottery system. Under the old model, everybody has the same odds of drawing a permit, whether or not they’re hunting with an outfitter. Mac Minard, executive director of the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, explains the process.
Montana has made killing wolves easier. Some hunters are pushing back.
The state has long been championed as a leader in conservation, but many hunters say a raft of new laws push ethical boundaries.
Two gray wolves stand on a snowy landscape in Yellowstone National Park, in Montana. Wolves in the contiguous United States were nearly wiped out by the turn of the 20th century, and Montana s population was listed The state s population was listed as endangered until 2011. Now, new laws in the state make it easier for hunters and trappers to kill them.Photograph by Robbie George, Nat Geo Image Collection
As the dust settles after the 67th Montana Legislature, one thing is for certain: the debate over nonresident hunting licenses and the role of outfitting is far from over.
Montanaâs system for allocating nonresident big game hunting licenses needed major changes, outfitters and advocates contended as the session got underway. An uptick in applications for the lottery system created a great deal of uncertainty for their businesses when it came to how many clients will draw licenses in a given year, they said.
Suggested changes drew the ire of a number of hunter advocacy groups. Proposals like guaranteed licenses for outfitted hunters would disadvantage do-it-yourself nonresident hunters, but more importantly privatize a public resource for those that could afford to pay, they argued.