FW commission floats amendments with minimal notice
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) After Montanans complained about no-notice amendments last year, the Fish and Wildlife Commission has started publicizing amendments ahead of time - but not by much.
The FW Commission will meet on Thursday to discuss hunting regulations for the 2026-2027 season, but the meeting will differ quite a bit from the original agenda. A news release published on Friday listed seven more regulation amendments that were proposed by commissioners, in addition to the amendments announced on Nov. 21. None of the amendments have been proposed by the department.
Six of the seven commissioners have proposed a total of nine amendments relating to bighorn sheep, deer, elk and black bear hunting regulations. The news release cautioned that commissioners may submit more amendments before Thursday so sportsmen should keep checking the FW Commission webpage.
While the news releases are an improvement over the illegal no-notice amendments that commissioners passed last year, some sportsmen are concerned that resident hunters might not be aware of some of these last-minute proposals. That’s particularly the case when the last news release was sent out on the Friday following Thanksgiving and sportsmen were given until Monday - three days - to provide written comment on the amendments.
"Coming over the Thanksgiving weekend and the last weekend of the hunting season, I doubt most hunters will see these. There are some major changes proposed, and the public is generally not aware of these. Public input is being shorted,” said Jim Vashro, Montana Wildlife Federation board member and former FWP Region 1 fisheries manager.
Citizens can still comment on the amendments during Thursday’s commission meeting, but they have to register on Zoom a day ahead of time if they cannot attend in-person. Vashro and others, particularly members of non-consumptive user groups, have pointed out that the opportunity to comment during commission meetings is much more limited, because the comments are often limited to 2 minutes or less, depending on the amount of interest.
Elk regulations always stir a lot of interest, and a few of the amendments will likely prompt several hunter comments. One of Commissioner Ian Wargo’s three amendments would limit hunters to one elk per year on public land and mostly limit hunters with elk B licenses to private land. The amendment was sent to the commission on Oct. 22 but wasn't made public until Friday. His stated rationale is to limit pressure on public land, but the department's response said the amendment would be difficult to enforce.
Commissioner KC Walsh’s amendment, pushed by the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, would allow archery hunters with either-sex elk permits to hunt in four districts south of the Missouri River in Region 4 - 411, 412, 417 and 426 - instead of being required to have a permit for each district.
The rationale provided for the change is partly to create more opportunity to hunt district 417, which is on the western edge of the Missouri Breaks and can produce “a few good bulls,” according to the GoHunt website. In the past, modifications of archery permits within the Missouri Breaks have been contentious, because large landowners have lobbied to limit or eliminate the special archery permits there. The department’s response to Walsh’s amendment said it wouldn’t affect the elk population in those districts but would “allow successful applicants to distribute themselves according to their own perceptions of elk abundance.”
Even Commissioner Susan Brooke's amendment to eliminate compound bow let-off tension has ramifications for some. Let-off is the reduction in the amount of pull tension an archer holds at full draw. Right now, the FWP limit is 80% let-off, meaning the archer must hold only 20% of the tension. The amendment would allow the use of compound bows that remove all the tension. The rationale given is that manufacturers no longer make 80% let-off bows.
“Technology-creep is moving compound bows dangerously close to crossbows, which, of course, have no let-off. The consequence of this is a major move, as there have been several legislative bills to try to allow crossbows into archery seasons,” said Greg Munther, a Montana Bowhunter Association member. “Last-minute amendments violate due process.”
Vashro said sportsmen are just learning about the amendments, so he anticipates the commission meeting could be a long one.
“The commission meeting on Thursday could be a mess,” Vashro said. “This is not a good way to manage a public trust resource.”
A year ago, FW Commissioners were criticized for proposing amendments during the commission meeting with no advance notice. During the December 2024 commission meeting, Region 2 commissioner Jeff Burrows proposed an amendment to rescind the quota that would stop the spring black bear hunt in Region 1. Because the amendment was proposed during the meeting, the public was not informed in time to comment.
Even back then, some sportsmen were troubled by the increasing number of amendments that commissioners proposed and passed on the fly.
“I want to express concern over how this is being brought forward,” Mike Mershon of the Montana Wildlife Federation said during the December 2024 meeting. “These agenda amendments make it difficult to get the word out to the public and shortens the window to respond, research and develop comments.”
A few weeks later, more than two-dozen citizens - some associated with various conservation groups - sent a letter to the FW Commission stating the commission had violated Montana’s constitutional right to public participation and the right-to-know when it voted to eliminate spring hunting quotas in northwest Montana during the Dec. 19 commission meeting with no prior notice.
The FW Commission now appears to be giving prior notice, but some say it’s not always enough.
Contact Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.