Resident hunters back bill to study dissatisfaction with nonresidents

Laura Lundquist

(Missoula Current) Over the years, resident hunters have tried, with little success, to push back against the rising numbers of nonresident hunters surging into Montana. Now, they’re hoping a study bill will document just how frustrated residents are and what they’re willing to do to change the situation.

On Tuesday, the Senate Fish and Game committee will hear Senate Joint Resolution 17, a bill to study resident dissatisfaction with the number of nonresident hunters that are increasingly limiting Montanans’ ability to hunt in their own state, said Butte Skyline Sportsmen member Marty Petritz, one of the hunters who crafted the bill.

“The reason why we are going down this road is last session, there was a pile of bills to try to address nonresident hunting pressure. What we saw during that process was the fiscal notes were shutting this down, and it will continue to shut every bill down that tries to decrease nonresident license types. No one bill will ever address this issue,” Petritz said. “So our group - Skyline Sportsmen - decided to put a study together through this bill, and the study group has to survey the residents of Montana and figure out where the frustrations lie and whether they’d be willing to accept an increase in resident license fees for a decrease in the number of nonresident licenses.”

Many resident hunters - and anglers - have noticed more people crowding their favorite spots, and it’s not just their imagination. Petritz dug up the numbers to prove it. He’s made a number of information requests to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks over the past four years. Annoyed with the struggle, Petritz helped pass a bill in 2023 that requires FWP to make that information public.

Everyone who buys a hunting, fishing or boating license also has to buy a conservation license. In 2019, FWP sold 191,000 conservation licenses. By 2023, that had jumped to 275,000, according to FWP data. So it’s clear that the pandemic has brought more people into Montana to take advantage of its waters, fish and wildlife.

To narrow it down to hunting, Petritz looked at the number of nonresident base hunting licenses, which is a low annual fee required of all hunters. In 2019, FWP sold almost 59,000 nonresident base hunting licenses. In 2023, it was more than 85,000. Of those, almost 61,000 were related to deer and elk licenses.

Chris Marchion of the Montana Wildlife Federation said that represents about five times the number of nonresident licenses than resident sportsmen agreed to about 30 years ago.

Up until the 1980s, relatively few out-of-staters came to Montana to hunt. Montana was still hard to get to with few airports and long stretches of two-lane highway. Those who made the trek came mostly for the experience of hunting in wilderness areas, Marchion said. So FWP sold far fewer nonresident licenses. But in the early 1980s, as accessibility improved, more nonresidents started showing up and leased more land for hunting.

“The residents felt the pressure of competition. And at that time, we had a lot of deer but not a lot of elk. So we were protective of our elk. So we said ‘We have too many (nonresidents),’ but outfitters pushed back. So they settled on 17,600 nonresident licenses. At the time, that was more than was being issued,” Marchion said. “The resident hunter was adamant that we’re drawing a line in the sand and this is it. We’re not doing this again.”

Famous last words.

That 17,600 was supposed to be the total number of nonresident hunters, including big game and birds. But over time, legislators started passing bills that authorized more nonresident tags for various reasons.

“All of this came in, kind of like what’s happening now, where some legislator needs to satisfy some need. They want 5000 permits for this or that in eastern Montana, and we (hunters) don’t fight hard enough to kill it. So all this has come in piecemeal,” Marchion said. “A lot of these programs that were instituted might have made sense 20 years ago. But you put it in law, instead of having it be something the commission does, and there’s no way to pull it back. This wasn’t devious work by the department - it’s all this one-off legislation that ignores the big picture.”

In the 2023 Legislative session, resident hunters tried to pass bills to limit nonresident bird licenses and bird-dog training on public land, restrict use of nonresident licenses to 14 days and reduce the type and number of nonresident youth licenses. All died in committee. Meanwhile, they unsuccessfully opposed a bill, backed by the Montana Wildlife Federation, that set aside three nonresident licenses for every out-of-state landowner with more than 2,500 contiguous acres in Montana. In 2021, they successfully killed a bill that would have allowed large landowners to give away 10 nonresident tags each.

Clearly, resident hunters aren’t happy. Petritz knows a hunter survey will show that. The existing FWP data seems to show that too: Resident license sales have decreased by 10% since 2019 even though Montana’s population has increased.

“It’s my belief that they quit hunting because of the pressure we’ve seen in this state. They’re saying I’m done, I’m outa here. So that’s resident hunters that aren’t going out every weekend buying gas, going to a restaurant or going across the state and buying a hotel room,” Petritz said. “Part of the study bill looks at how much money communities are losing out on when nonresidents are compared to the residents that have stopped hunting. It’s residents that are buying most of their hunting gear, rifles and ammunition right here. Nonresidents, yes, they are spending money, but they’re not buying rifles and ammo. They’re bringing their own gear. I think that’s a valid argument, but it’s one I can’t make without data like from this survey.”

SJ 17 has attracted bipartisan sponsors - Rep. Sarah Novak, D-Anaconda, is the lead sponsor - and support. Marchion said SJ 17 is worthy, but the outcome - bills to be considered during the 2027 Legislature - will depend on how the study is carried out. The bill says the Legislature will create an interim committee to oversee the study or it can be assigned to staff overseen by the Environmental Quality Council. Either way, the public must be involved.

“You’ve gotta have some constructive people on (the committee) in order to have something that’s legitimate that we can all embrace. If they make the right appointments and create the right atmosphere, this is an opportunity to get us to a better spot. Because otherwise, everything else that will happen will be ugly - we’ll be fighting over turf,” Marchion said. “Marty has thought this out - he’s talked to a lot of people. He’s talked to legislators and the department. This is a smart proposal. I’d say this as a challenge: if we do this, then the resident hunters have to speak up for their opportunity. Here’s your chance to change this. Don’t just sit home and wait for someone else to do this. Come and testify for this bill.”

Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.