Commission adopts new elk hunting regs, with amendments

Hunters will have new regulations for taking elk in the 2022-23 seasons, but the changes won’t be as dramatic as earlier proposed with an amended and unanimously approved update Friday by the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Earlier, the proposed regulations had elicited outrage by many hunters, and Friday, many members of the public on all sides of the aisle said the process had created so much confusion, they wanted the update tossed out and a return to the 2020-2021 regs. Instead, commissioners amended the plan.

“From my perspective, what we are doing with these amendments is slowing things down,” said Commissioner KC Walsh.

Plus, Commissioner Patrick Tabor said the regulations create opportunities for cow elk, and he wanted to preserve some of the good work that went into the update. He also said the Commission could make adjustments after seeing how the changes worked.

“I think with these modifications and the fact that it isn’t a life sentence, it’s two years, we’re going to school, it’s going to inform us as we work towards the plan,” he said of an updated elk management plan, a separate effort. “That’s why I’m going to vote for this.”

The Commission updates hunting regulations every other year, and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said the objective for the coming season was to address the problem of too many elk on private land and not enough elk on public land. However, many hunters and sportspeople said the solutions proposed didn’t address the stated problem, and instead, they bolstered opportunities for nonresidents to take trophy bulls.

During public comment, at least one person said if the problem really was one of overpopulation, the target should be cow elk. But several people said the proposals did something else entirely, and trust in the department had grown shaky.

“We have repeatedly heard that something needs to be done differently when it comes to over-objective elk numbers,” said Raymond Gross, with the Montana Sportsmen Alliance. “We agree. However, when that something further privatizes and commercializes bull elk harvest at the expense of actually addressing the problem of reducing antlerless elk numbers, it calls into question the motives behind it.”

The commissioners heard more than an hour of public comment, mostly from people who were displeased with the proposal on the table and the way iterations unfolded. Advocacy groups on various sides of the aisle found themselves in agreement that the process was confusing and didn’t leave time for the public to digest changes, and spokespeople who appeared to be strange bedfellows found themselves demanding the same thing, a reversion to the 2020-21 regs.

John Sullivan, with the Montana Chapter of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, said he found himself surprised that his organization, the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association and Montana Wildlife Federation all were in agreement to scrap the proposal for 2022-23.

“I urge you to throw this in the garbage. Adopt the 2021 plans,” Sullivan said. “Let’s do it right.”

Mac Minard, with the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, said the surplus of elk means $20 million lost to small, rural communities, but the proposal would reduce opportunities for nonresidents. He too urged the Commission to stick with the 2020-21 regulations.

“This takes us backwards,” Minard said. “This doesn’t solve the problem. This actually creates more of a problem.”

The Fish and Wildlife Commission has seven members appointed by the governor to represent seven regions in Montana, and one member of the public compared the sitting body to a football team at the Superbowl with six out of seven players being rookies and the stands filled to capacity.

At the meeting, however, the Commission largely acted with one voice on amendments, and it unanimously approved the revised regulations. In a reversal from an earlier proposal, commissioners set quotas for either-sex archery permits in certain hunting districts instead of doing away with limits. They also made it so that hunters don’t get to play the odds when choosing where they want to hunt and have to stick with one choice, their “first and only,” in some sought after areas.

Commissioner Pat Byorth pointed out that landowners still have late season antlerless options statewide, and he said the decisions the body made roughly return to the initial regulations, albeit with a little bit of play. So the approved result wasn’t as much wholesale change as many hunters feared.

“It’s not actually a drastic change at all,” Byorth said.

Commissioner Brian Cebull said it’s time for the pendulum to swing in favor of creating more opportunities for hunters, and big changes are necessary. However, he said he doesn’t want to see that happen at the expense of a quality hunting experience and a crowded field.

He also said the Commission can make adjustments in the interim if necessary, before it takes up the regulations for future hunting seasons.

“We’re not going to be perfect,” Cebull said.