Lion hunt changes approved

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission has approved regulations for the 2005 season, including a new permit drawing system for mountain-lion hunting in Northwest Montana.

The commission also rejected an unlimited drawing for whitetail does.

Vic Workman, the commissioner representing Northwest Montana, summarized the highlights of Tuesday's commission meeting in Helena.

He said the commission expanded the state's youth hunt from ages 12-14 to 12-15, consolidated a five-week season by eliminating late-season hunts in some hunting districts, and established a limited cow elk permit drawing for districts in the South Fork Flathead, the North Fork Flathead and the Swan Valley.

The controversial mountain lion regulation changes were discussed for more than five hours, concluding with a 3-2 vote approving them.

Workman, who sided with the majority, said the vote establishes a limited-entry drawing for lion hunting in most Northwest Montana districts, but he noted the commission approved several safeguards to ensure continued lion-hunting opportunities for Montanans.

Most houndsmen who testified at a hearing in Kalispell last month were adamantly opposed to the change from the current quota system, in which a certain number of cats can be killed in particular districts (and once the quota is met, the season for the district closes).

Workman said the permit drawing will vastly improve the quality of a hunt that has basically become a one-week race in many districts. With permits, hunters will have three months to harvest a lion.

Many hunters who opposed the shift to a permit drawing expressed concerns that a person could put in for drawings without getting a permit for years, presenting a major problem for houndsmen who put time and money into their hunting dogs.

But Workman said he believes the new regulations actually will improve opportunities for Montana hunters. Under the current quota system, Montana Fish, Wildlife Parks estimates that 40 to 50 percent of the mountain lions harvested in 2005 were killed by out-of-state hunters.

Under the new regulations, he said, only 10 percent of the permits can be issued to out-of-state hunters. Also, a hunter can only put in for a permit in one particular district, so Workman predicts that will spread lion hunters out across the region.

He said there was opposition from outfitters concerned about losing money, but he predicts that they will see more business from Montanans who now have an opportunity to put in for a lion permit with a three-month opportunity to harvest one.

"I think the emphasis is going to shift from out-of-state to in-state hunters," he said. "I think the outfitter will end up working over a three-month period rather than a week or 10 days."

But Workman said the outfitters' concerns were secondary for him.

"Our decisions should not be dictated by whether someone is making money or not off our public resource," he said.

There are several districts in Northwest Montana's Region One - Districts 132, 140, 141, 150, 151 and 170 - where a quota system for lions will stay in place.

In other action, the commission considered a proposal to offer unlimited over-the-counter "B" tags for whitetail does in Region One. But many hunters raised concerns that doing so would put unsustainable pressure on the region's deer populations.

Workman said that input influenced the commission to reject the proposal and maintain the whitetail regulations that were in place in 2005.

There was a proposal to expand the state's youth hunting program, changing the current age eligibility from 12-14 to 12-17. The commission decided on ages 12 to 15 for the program, which allows youths to harvest cow elk in most hunting districts.

"There was a fear that way too many cows would be harvested with 16- and 17-year-olds involved because a lot of them are driving and out by themselves," he said.

There also was concern about proposals to allow drawings for 15 cow elk permits in a South Fork hunting district, 15 in a Swan Valley district and 25 in a North Fork district.

"There was public concern that those herds are really not that strong yet," he said.

Acting on that advice, the commission approved a proposal from Workman to have a drawing for just five permits in each of the hunting districts.

The commission also decided that regulation revisions would be conducted every two years instead of annually. But Workman noted that the commission can still amend regulations annually to address any unforeseen problems.