Jan. 05–Hunters lined up in Kalispell on Saturday to sound off on big game regulations proposed for the next two years.
Most of the hunters called for more restrictive regulations for elk and mule deer, and the majority also favored changes that would allow whitetail does to be harvested on private property in certain hunting districts.
About 70 people attended the biannual meeting for Northwest Montana, sponsored by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The meetings were started about 20 years ago by former Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commissioner Charlie Decker as a way for hunters to hear differing concerns from different corners of the region.
Regional Supervisor Jim Satterfield remarked that the turnout was relatively light, partly because the proposed changes were relatively minor compared to those that have been proposed in past years.
But hunters still had plenty to say.
One of the proposed regulation changes involves allowing antlerless whitetail to be harvested on private lands, excluding Plum Creek and Stoltze Land Lumber Co. property, in hunting districts 101, 109, 102, 110 and 120.
“I think it’s very wise to put your attention toward private property and allow does to be harvested there,” said Kalispell resident Mike Baker. Like several other people, Baker noted that whitetails seem abundant on private land but scarce on public forested lands.
“I’m 100 percent in favor of that,” another man said of the proposed change. “Being a private property owner, we have been overrun by does and fawns.”
Baker also commented on regulations that allow an individual to harvest two elk in some hunting districts if they are successful in getting an anterless “B-tag” through a drawing. A proposed change would restrict those hunters to harvesting just one elk in the district where their B-tag is designated.
“I think it’s utterly ridiculous to be able to kill two elk in this state,” Baker said. “As soon as you’re successful with one tag, you should be done.”
Several other people said one elk should be adequate for any individual hunter.
Lakeside resident Neil Jacobson expressed frustration with overall game management.
“My comment isn’t about what you’re doing, it’s about what you’re not doing,” he told Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials at the head table.
Jacobson noted that 3,445 hunters went through the Swan Valley check station during the last season and only one of them had an elk. There were zero elk checked in the North Fork, with 1,050 hunters stopping.
And across Region One, the check station elk count has declined for the last four years, from 158 in 2010, to 121 in 2011, 78 in 2012 and just 56 in 2013.
If things are that bad, Jacobson said, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks should close elk hunting entirely in the Swan Valley, the North Fork or other areas where their numbers have severely diminished.
Some people expressed deep concern about mule deer populations, particularly above the South Fork Flathead drainage and on the Whitefish Range.
Bob Stewart, who has property in the Marion area, said he has seen significant declines in mule deer as well as elk. He suggested that for some areas, the state should adopt a trophy drawing for mule deer, possibly requiring they at least be three-point deer, or even closing some areas entirely.
There was praise for an experimental mule deer regulation that was adopted for District 109 at the northern end of the Whitefish Range. The change required hunters to draw a permit to hunt mule deer bucks in the district during the last two weeks of the season, and only 10 permits were issued.
Eureka area wildlife biologist Tim Thier said the intent was to provide some additional protection for bucks during the rut, and only 11 bucks have been harvested in the district over the last two years.
One man suggested that a similar regulation be adopted for the entire Whitefish Range.
Thier, an early advocate for the regulation in District 109, said he appreciates the support, but he said a similar proposal for the entire range would have attracted a different crowd to the meeting.
“Oh yeah, we would have heard about it today,” he said. “There are those who wouldn’t like it because it restricts opportunity.”
As usual, there were plenty of comments about the impacts of wolves and other predators. Some said they believe that whitetail deer are crowding on private property, closer to humans, as a way to avoid predators in more remote areas.
“If we don’t address the problems with wolves, this meeting has no purpose at all,” said Don Sullivan of Columbia Falls. He added that game populations are being adversely impacted by wolves and other predators regardless of the types of regulations that are adopted.