Montana has to decide what kind of state it’s going to be.
HB 907, which repeals last session’s HB 635 (AKA Bulls for Non-resident Billionaires), recently passed third reading in the House 74-24 in a remarkable show of bipartisan support. HB 635 awards a combination deer and elk tag to non-residents for every 2,500 acres they own, up to five combos (10 licenses) for those who have 12,500 acres or more. It’s a handout to those who can afford 4-20 sections in another state for a recreational property and a stick in the eye of the North American Model of Wildlife Management, which maintains access to hunting should not be restricted to the wealthy. HB 635 has accelerated land sales to the richest out-of-staters; trophy ranch brokers call it a “game-changer” and use it widely as a marketing tool, pricing local ranchers trying to build their land base (so their kids can stay in ranching) right out of the market. Yes, those are the community ranchers who have been our neighbors and generous with access for generations. Further, 635 discourages enrollment in Block Management (why deal with the unwashed masses when you are virtually promised a combo tag)? And it utterly failed to reduce non-resident pressure on public land. Only 131 licenses were awarded last year – immaterial in a state that sells ~70,000 non-resident hunting licenses. Those 131 licenses were damned important to those 131 non-residents, though; that’s why they hired a team of high-priced lobbyists to get the rules changed with 635. Not every non-resident wealthy person is like this – some are great neighbors – but there’s a well-known group who keeps your legislators under their thumbs with lobbyists and donations.
Here is what 907 does:
• It repeals 635.
• It expands incentives for Block Management.
• It adds more than $200K a year to FWP’s budget through a $5 increase in the non-resident bonus point fee (and yes, that’s correct – nonresidents buy about 45,000).
• It discourages current hypervaluation of ranch land created by non-resident billionaire buyers and gives our own ranchers a shot to keep their family in ranching.
It’s a good, simple bill that aids resident ranchers, benefits resident hunters, supports Block Management, and cancels 635’s damage to the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.
Lobbyists circulated a document to legislators last week full of laughable lies, entitled: HB 907: Liberalizing Nonresident Hunting Opportunities. This is a hoot, since it is precisely what 635 did. Not one resident sportsmen/sportswomen group supports 635 at this point. The only people fighting 907 are the lobbyists hired by the wealthiest non-residents and those they employ.
Montanans of all stripes, and particularly resident hunters, are tired of non-residents coming here and changing the rules to their benefit through lobbyists hammering on our legislators. Please consider contacting the Senate Fish and Game Committee before the hearing April 15 at 3 p.m. (members can be found at https://committees.legmt.gov/#/standingCommittees/29) and then contact your senator to tell them to support Montana residents, not the wealthiest out-of-staters. We don’t need to use the public’s elk to get in good with the wealthiest.
We are watching rural Montana become one big Bozeman. This bill does something about it.
Jock Conyngham is a board member of the Montana Sportsmen Alliance and lives in Evaro.