2006 Tentatives Need Sportsmen's Support

Dear Email Sentry:

The 2006 Hunting Regulation Tentatives covers several significant items this year, including season structure, Region 1 and 2 Mountain Lion quotas being converted to a permit system, raising youth opportunities to age 17, going to a "Biennial" structure for season setting, limits on individual "B" tags, and raising fines for Trophy Bull elk.

Not the least of these is if the 2006 Big Game Hunting Season Tentatives are adopted by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, Montana will return to a 5-week hunting season. This new effort is a big step to simplify hunting regulations. Montanans are optimistic that bold moves such as these will get them better access to the public's wildlife and remove the incentive to privatize and commercialize Montana's big game.

Accompanying the over-target populations of elk and deer that we have been experiencing in some areas in recent years has been a not-unexpected increase in the commercialization of our wildlife. Each year, more customized hunts are reflected in FWP regulations, many designed around commercial service providers who offer bigger and better hunts for their clients while relegating the every day hunter to the role of reducing herd
numbers and cow/doe-only hunting. Another missing piece is the consideration that population control is impossible if the public cannot get to the game. This is not saying that sportsmen believe animal numbers
are generally too high statewide. In most areas where numbers are high, usually it is due to the lack of public hunting opportunities.

In general terms, sportsman think everything is out of whack! As it is now, the every day hunter is losing his place in the scheme of things, having less and less influence on our hunting seasons, being crowded onto fewer acres, and, as a result, many have quit hunting. If we don't do something soon, only the privileged few will be able to harvest the wildlife owned by the public. The successful system that has restored wildlife and established it as a public resource should not now be driven by commercialism.

Please get your comments in to FWP by January 27, 2006 at 5PM. It is essential that sportsmen's voices are heard on this return to a more manageable season structure. The address is MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Wildlife Division (Attn: Hunting Season Comments), POB 200701, Helena, Montana 59620-0701 or by email at fwpwld@mt.gov.

Thank you for stepping up for Montana's Lands, Waters, and fair-chase hunting/angling heritage.

Montana Wildlife Federation, with nearly 7,000 members, is the largest and oldest statewide nonprofit wildlife conservation organization of hunters and anglers who work to protect Montana's lands and waters and its hunting and fishing heritage.

To learn more about MWF, go to www.montanawildlife.com.

This message is brought to you by the Montana Wildlife Federation ... Montana's largest, statewide wildlife conservation organization with over 7,000 members.