State wildlife managers will not move forward with a controversial proposal in eight hunting districts to eliminate limited-entry hunting permits for bull elk on private land in favor of general licenses while maintaining permits on public land.
Staff with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks met with the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission for a work session Monday afternoon ahead of Tuesday’s commission meeting. On Tuesday the commission is set to take up hunting season proposals from the department, which include more than 200 changes as part of a simplification initiative from Director Hank Worsech.
Last week Worsech announced significant proposals for 14 central and eastern Montana hunting districts currently under limited-entry permits for hunting bull elk but also well over legally required population objectives. A proposal for eight of those districts, 411, 417, 426, 535 (newly proposed for 2022), 590, 702, 704 and 705, has drawn backlash from many hunters because it would create different regulations for public and private lands. On private lands, hunting for bull elk would move to a general license while public land hunters would remain under a permitted system.
Read more from the Helena Independent Record here....
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