MSA ALERT: Today on House floor HB 568 STRONGLY OPPOSE

NOTE:  This is our original statement.  The Missouri Breaks Elk Archery issue has been amended out for now.  This is another Moga bill trying to take licenses away from residents.  Please oppose.
Montana Sportsmen Alliance

HB 568 Comment:  Please Oppose


The Montana Sportsmen Alliance was founded to protect our prized Montana traditions like hunting, angling, trapping and conservation of such.  We founded to help protect the Montana resident hunters and anglers from the overreach of the Legislature when bills to privatize and/or commercialize those prized traditions are brought forth.

In 2007, Montana FWP held numerous public meetings throughout the state to deal with the Missouri Breaks Elk Archery issue. At issue were that resident hunters were being outnumbered by outfitted non-resident hunters.  The allocation of unlimited tags was wreaking havoc on our elk and the quality of the hunt for sportsmen/women.

At those public hearings, where everyone was given the opportunity to comment, Montana hunters spoke loudly & clearly; they wanted those Breaks tags to be put on a drawing basis so the scales would again allow the residents to participate more equitably in a quality hunt.

HB -568, unfortunately turns back the clock on that democratically decided issue by Montana hunters.  It is just one more of many Moga,  self-serving entitlement bills.  It is a waste of legislative time and slap in the face to the resident hunters who participated in 2007 and have continued to oppose these kind of commercial interest bills.

The mandatory 10% allocation for Non-residents is another attempt to bypass the public.  The current “up to 10%” is plenty.  What is broke??   Why aren’t we considering eliminating Non-Resident permits where the drawing odds for residents is horribly low??

This bill is another attempt to  legislate game management over FWP Commission Authority.    These attempts leave the public out of the process (the goal).   It is with these reasons the Montana Sportsmen Alliance strongly opposes HB 568. 

Please include our comment into the official record.  Thanks a bunch for your time. 

Respectfully submitted,

MSA Leadership Team

Joe Perry, Conrad
John Borgreen, Great Falls
Robert Wood, Hamilton
Sam Milodragovich, Butte
Steve Schindler, Glasgow
Jeff Herbert, Helena
JW Westman, Park City