Independently reported news stories of Montana's people, land, water and wildlife.
As Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks tries to plan the next two years of elk hunting, the biggest problem appears to be antiquated population goals that were carved out 14 years ago.
That was what the FWP commission struggled with on Thursday as it tried to figure out whether proposed hunting quotas were adequate and if shoulder seasons were long enough.
Read MoreThe recent release of a map supposedly representing outfitted lands in Montana has created yet another sore spot between Montana hunters and outfitters.
A few weeks ago, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry released a map generated by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks showing that the amount of land potentially used by outfitters has almost tripled since a similar map was released four years ago.
Read MoreIn many parts of the state, elk season will now last as long as six months.
On Thursday, the Fish, Wildlife & Parks commission sat through more than two hours of discussion and comments before approving, with a few modifications, the next round of elk shoulder seasons. For the next two years, rifle season will extend mostly from Aug. 15 until Feb. 15 in about 40 hunting districts. But outside the general season, hunters can harvest only cows.
Read MorePilot projects to test the new elk shoulder seasons are barely a week underway, but Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is already planning more than 10 times as many shoulder seasons next year.
At Thursday’s FWP commission meeting, Big Game Chief John Vore ran through an extensive list of elk hunting districts where shoulder seasons would be opened as early as August 2016 and run through the following March. The shoulder seasons would be effective for the next four years, although Vore said the commission could terminate a season at any time.
Read MoreThe new elk shoulder seasons will be tested in a handful of pilot projects this winter, but the seasons are getting pushback from the very people they were supposed to help: landowners.
On Thursday, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks commissioners approved five hunting districts for a late elk season this year but rejected FWP’s recent inclusion of a sixth district partly because of opposition from landowners in the district.
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