After almost a year of watching political decisions degrade some of Montana’s wildlife management, hunters have come together to see if public involvement still has the power to sway policy.

Over the weekend, hunters from various groups including the Montana Wildlife Federation and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers met to devise a statewide strategy to lobby the Gianforte administration to return to sound elk management and to preserve opportunity for resident, do-it-yourself hunters, instead of rich out-of-state hunters.

The most recent motivation for this effort, dubbed the Elk Management Coalition, is Tuesday’s Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting where commissioners will consider a FWP proposal to cut the number of public-land elk bull permits by half in order to allow the hunting of an unlimited number of bull elk on private land.

Read more from the Missoula Current here...