February 2013

PLWA Membership & Supporters,

The 2013 Montana Legislature has many of the same characteristics of the last one (20011) in that it features a sustained attack on public land and wildlife. As usual, our defense against this onslaught rests with the Montana Wildlife Federation with help from groups such as the Montana Sportsmen Alliance and clubs like Russell Country Sportsmen and Skyline Sportsmen.

Some of the bad bills have been tabled but other have passed one house and headed for the other. It is not known at this time how the new Governor will react to legislation that detracts from the public trust nature of land, water and wildlife.

Here are some bad bills that have been tabled or killed:

SB 151 Unlimited Elk Permits in the Missouri Breaks.
HB 161 Increase number of available nonresident hunting licenses
HB 29 Allow trapping of Mountain Lions.
HB 198 Authorize late season deer and elk hunting.

There are also some bad bills that are still alive include several than want to manipulate sportsmen dollars.

HB404 would take money from Habitat Montana to fund Block Management .
HB375 Reimburse landowners for damage from deer and elk.
HB27 Authorize use of silencers.

It’s still too early in the session to find the final action on many other bills.

John Gibson,

President