Hunters get chance to sound off Saturday

An elk shoulder season, either-sex deer hunting and an expanded turkey hunt will be up for discussion Saturday during Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ public meeting on proposed hunting regulations for 2016 and 2017.

The meeting will be held at the Arts and Technology Building in the Flathead Valley Community College’s Kalispell campus. It begins at 9 a.m. with an open-house format, followed by public comments and presentations from agency officials at 10 a.m.

Elk

State wildlife managers are proposing the elk shoulder season to address problems caused by a herd of elk in Hunting Districts 101 and 109 near Eureka.

Tim Thier, a Trego-based biologist for Fish Wildlife and Parks, said the 200-head herd has become a nuisance for alfalfa farmers and he has recommended a shoulder season starting Aug. 15 and ending Oct. 16.

The agency would issue up to 50 B licenses for antlerless elk. The hunt would apply to private land only, excluding Plum Creek, Stimpson and Stoltze Land & Lumber Co. lands.

The hunt would be early, Thier said, because many of the elk present during the winter have migrated south from Canada and return to summer range north of the border when the damage occurs. The goal is to pressure the Tobacco Valley-based herd off private property and into the surrounding public lands.

He added that the other alternative, game damage hunts, would be less effective given the relatively small parcels of land in the area. Elk respond well to hunting pressure, and would likely just move to adjacent properties, requiring officials to secure access from each individual landowner.

Deer

Under the proposed regulation changes, the first week of the general rifle season would allow either-sex white-tailed deer hunting with a general B license regionwide, and the last week would allow either-sex deer hunting on private lands other than those owned by Plum Creek, Stoltze and Stimpson. The change would apply to all Northwest Montana hunting districts except 140, 141, 150, 151 and 170.

The rest of the general season would be restricted to antlered bucks.

Jesse Coltrane, a Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologist, said the recruitment and overall population numbers have been good for white-tailed deer throughout most of Region One for several years.

“Our deer numbers have been increasing and high since about 2012, so this would allow people that are primarily looking for meat to be able to harvest a doe early on in the season,” Coltrane said Monday. “It would also take off the pressure for some of the bucks to allow for maturation of that portion of the population.”

Also excluding districts 140, 141, 150, 151 and 170, the rest of the region would allow antlerless harvest from a vehicle for handicapped hunters throughout the entire season.

The Kuhns Wildlife Management Area north of Kalispell is currently a bucks-only public hunting ground.

The agency is proposing to allow antlerless harvest as well.

The agency also is proposing to increase the deer quota in Northwest Montana from 500 to 800.

Turkeys

Region One wildlife officials said they have been getting a lot of complaints about turkeys.

As a result, they’re proposing new tools to allow hunters to take home more turkeys each year.

“It’s to provide some additional opportunities to address some game damage issues we’ve had with turkeys in areas around Kalispell, Eureka and Libby,” according to Lee Anderson, the regional game warden captain. “In the last 15 years, they’ve really just increased dramatically.”

Regions One, Two, Five and Seven would each be able to issue new regional turkey licenses. Hunters could then harvest a turkey from each of those regions.

On top of that, beardless turkey-only licenses would be available in Region One, with wildlife managers able to increase or decrease the number available to each hunter in response to turkey population numbers.

“Hopefully you would be able to harvest some of these hens, but you’re not taking out all the gobblers,” Anderson said.

Within Region Two, Missoula and Ravalli counties are also proposing a beardless turkey license for the fall season.

Under the proposal, a hunter could then hold up to nine turkey tags per year: one general hunting area license, one regional area license for each of the four participating regions, beardless turkey-only licenses in regions one and two and one each of the spring and fall special drawing-only licenses.

The agency would also combine the spring and fall turkey regulations into a single brochure to simplify the rules.

Statewide

Proposed statewide changes include:

•  Require archers to have a bow-and-arrow license before applying for an archery-only deer, elk or antelope license or permit.
•  Require hunters to have a deer license before applying for a deer permit.
•  Issue no unlimited elk permits after the March 15 deadline.
•  No longer require mandatory reporting and inspection for mountain goats.
•  Increase the reporting deadline for presenting a black bear from five days to 10 days to match reporting requirements for other species.

Details on all proposed hunting regulations are available at fwp.mt.gov/hunting. Click “2016-17 Hunting Season Changes - Proposed” to comment online and find additional information on the proposals.

Comments can also be mailed to Wildlife Bureau, Attn: Public Comment, P.O. Box 200701, Helena, MT 59620-0701.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks will accept comments until Jan. 22 at 5 p.m.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission will vote on final regulations during its Feb. 11 meeting in Helena. Call the agency’s regional office in Kalispell at (406) 752-5501 for answers to any additional questions.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.