LAURA LUNDQUIST, Chronicle Staff Writer
With archery and upland bird seasons already underway and less than four weeks until rifle season, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks reminds hunters to review this year’s regulations before they hunt.
Every two years, FWP managers consider changes to the hunting regulations to keep game populations healthy. So hunters need to review the regulations every year to learn if the rules have changed for their area.
Few changes were made this year in Region 3, but hunters should be aware of updates related to deer, elk, antelope and wolves before they get out in the field.
This year, wolf hunters have different time limits for reporting kills. Also, FWP eliminated antlerless or doe tags in many areas to allow the population to recover from a few years of parasite infestation.
In particular, hunters must comply with the sunrise-sunset times that are published in the regulations. Don’t rely on the Internet or word-of-mouth, FWP spokeswoman Andrea Jones said.
“Sometimes people who have been hunting for years in a certain area stop checking the regs and then they end up with an illegal kill,” Jones said. “People have to follow the rules. They can’t get a pass just because they didn’t read the regulations.”
FWP biologist Adam Grove now manages the Townsend office but worked for several years in White Sulphur Springs. He’s seen seasoned hunters end up in trouble.
“It usually happens when we go from tags allowing the take of either sex to tags for only antlered bucks. Even two or three years later, some people will still think they can take a doe with a general license,” Grove said. “It can go the other way, too. We’ll make a season more liberal and people won’t take advantage of it.”
The regulation books are available at region headquarters or they can be downloaded from the FWP website, fwp.mt.gov/hunting/regulations/.