OPINION: Don't change hunting rules in Sowerwine area

The Owen Sowerwine property south of the Flathead Bridge is being proposed to be changed to “archery only” along with a portion of District 170 in the coming year. This would allow only archers to harvest deer near Kalispell on this beautiful piece of land. A few residents who live near the property want it changed to restrict the use of shotguns, handguns and muzzle loaders to harvest game.

Now, for me and my family who live down on the river 100 yards from the property, I disagree with the proposal. I am not one who moved in down there in the last few years... I was born there. My father built his home over 40 years ago. I took my first deer there. I had to purchase a muzzle loader and a slug gun to continue to hunt on my stomping grounds.

Just for the public, in the past 32 years I have helped several hunters retrieve their game through our property. I have helped several lost hunters find theit way home. I have taken many friends and family there to harvest their first deer. We have never had a stray bullet hit our house. As a hunter on the Flathead River I could be blindfolded spun around and still tell you every house in every direction and tell you who owns the houses.

This is not a safety concern; this is a issue of greed. To allow hunting in Montana one must pass a hunter education course where you are taught gun safety, how to hunt ethically, and the rules and laws. If you pass the class, you should be held responsible to hunt in an area such as this.

To those bow hunters who don’t want the rest (majority) of the public out there molesting their hunt, this is just being selfish. I am not bad-mouthing bow hunters; I enjoy the sport just as much as the rest. I hunt elk with a compound, deer with a recurve and enjoy making bows and my own equipment. But I feel this is an issue that cannot be passed. This is not a place where one can just drive to take a deer; it must be earned. It will include either a canoe or a mile walk. To bow hunt this property it takes a lot more homework than just walking aimlessly through the woods hopefully to jump a deer to take home.

Most people aren’t retired or can’t afford to take that much time off to hunt on the river right with a bow. What this is doing is taking the people who work 40 hours a week off the island to hunt. To a considerable portion of people in town this would greatly increase the cost of harvesting game. They would be forced to use a whole tank of gas just to get to a hunting area.

Also to impose this archery only area would greatly affect my friends and family, So after owning property on the river bottom for 40-plus years, now my mother and father would have to take the bow hunter’s education, purchase bows and only then could they hunt their own property. After retiring from work, my father is now 65 years old... how many more years can my father pull back a bow to hunt? It’s not the sport for him anymore; it’s meat in the freezer. He had his time getting wet and sitting in the bone-chilling cold for his horns. This is not fair to him or to the people who have called the river bottom home most of their lives.

As for me, yes, living down there my whole life and then having the rules changed, or having more accesses opened up, has forced me to change how I hunt down there. After sitting all morning in the shivering cold motionless near a deer trail only to get up and see that a person has set up 50 yards from me smoking a cigarette and talking loudly — this is irritating... but I get over it, and hunt on.

It’s not my island, though i have spent more time on it than probably any biologist. This rule is coming about from people who haven’t spent 30-plus years on the river. We are seeing more rules and regulations to fit the squeaky wheels’ needs or wants — not what the majority wants. There is no population issue of deer on the Flathead. I am not against extending the season for bow hunters to Dec. 15, but I can’t imagine limiting the ability for the general hunter to only use a bow to take game.

Gun hunters take the vast majority of the game out of the Flathead. Lmiting gun use would not enable us to correctly manage our game. Do we want overcrowding for a bad winter kill, disease, and unhealthy deer? My father owns a nice strip of the island... one of the only pieces of private property on the Owen Sowerwine, but do you notice anything? No you don’t, because it’s not posted. That is how much worry we have about stray bullets near our long-term home.

On Thursday, Feb. 11, there is a hearing at Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Kalispell at 8:30 in the morning, allowing us to voice our opinions about this. I hope to see my fellow residents there. Hunt safely, my fellow hunters.

Hafer is a resident of Kalispell.