01/18/2025
URGENT! CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS TODAY!
What You Can Do – Bill information below.
1.The most effective way to advance or kill a bill is to contact legislators:- For residents, contact your legislator- Start emailing the House Fish and Wildlife Committee members right now.- Speak with them or write letters and let them know you are a constituent.
2. Testify: Show up or Sign up for zoom or by phone- Attend to speak in person- Call in your comment over zoom or phone - you must create an account: https://www.legmt.gov/participateSubmit a written comment - you must create an account: https://www.legmt.gov/participate- Prepare a 2-minute-max comment, practice and time it. Deadlines to provide comment remotely are generally by 5pm the day before. Then sign on as little as two hours before the meeting's start time.
3. Send your comments to the Montana Tourism Board.Helpful Guidelines for all calls, letters and testimony•Focus only on each bill's topic - important!•Identify if you are a constituent.•Follow rules of decorum.•Be respectful.•Use your own words.•Make it personal, something they can relate to.•Keep it as brief as you like.Montana residents - legislators care about getting re-elected. If you are from Montana, state which town.Nonresidents - you have a right to speak for wildlife under the public trust. Montana's economy relies on tourism. Remind the legislators why you come to Montana and why you will stop.
Be A Voice To Oppose Wolf Killing Bills
When: Tuesday, January 21, 2025 3:00pm mst Room 172The first two bills below, HB 222 & HB 176, would legalize unlimited hunting and trapping until the total state wolf numbers are below 600 and 450 respectively, essentially wolf extermination bills.
Oppose Elimination of Wolf Quotas HB 176: Require unlimited wolf hunting quota when population is at or above 450 wolves. Sponsor: Shannon Maness (R) HD70. Dillon, MT. Hearing: Tuesday 1/21/25 3:00pm mst Room 172 According to the Department’s 20242025 Wolf Furbearer Trapping and Hunting Regulations a Montana resident can either shoot ten wolves for $136, or trap ten wolves for $38, or shoot ten wolves and trap ten wolves for $156. Meaning this Commission, the Department and the state of Montana prefers to earn $7.80 per dead wolf over a $820,000 live Yellowstone wolf and 82 million dollars annually for its constituents by properly maintaining quotas, decreasing bag limits and reducing seasons.Prior to the 2024-2025 hunting and trapping season, FWP reported ~1100 wolves in the state of Montana (Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 2023, p. 26). HB 176 would permit unlimited trapping, snaring, and shooting of 60% or more of the wolves, including just outside Yellowstone National Park until a 450 wolf estimate is declared. But Montana's iPOM overestimates by a factor of 2.5, meaning there are likely only 440 wolves in the state.
Oppose Open Year-Round Unlimited Quota Wolf Hunting Season HB 222: Creating open wolf hunting season until the population is 600 or fewer. Sponsor: Lukas Schubert (R) HD8. Kalispell, MT. Hearing: Tuesday 1/21/25 3:00pm mst Room 172 Line 9, page 3. "The commission shall authorize a wolf hunting season with an unlimited quota that must continue until the wolf population in the state is at or below 600 wolves.
Support: Prohibit the use of motion-tracking devices while hunting animals, such as wolves. SB63: Revise law related to the use of motion-tracking devices while hunting. Sponsor: Pat Flowers (D) SD32. Belgrade, MT Hearing: Thursday, 1/16/25 3:00pm MST Room 422.Support: Reclassify Wolves as Furbearers HB101: Reclassify wolves as furbearers and align existing wolf tagging and furbearer hunting restrictions. Sponsor: Jamie Isaly (D) HD58. Livingston, MT. Hearing: Tuesday 1/21/25 3:00pm mst Room 172This would help prosecute poaching and regulation infractions, and help game wardens enforce wolf cases which now have no means to prosecute because since delisting, wolves in Montana have been classified as a nongame "species in need of management". This vague lack of definition helps the powers that be do as they please. For over a decade, the FW Commission were required to reclassify wolves, but have not.Note: In a previous legislative session Rep. Fielder had a placeholder to reclassify wolves as predators, meaning unreported year-round killing by any means possible would be legal.
Oppose: Recruit 10-year olds to trap, snare, shoot and kill all furbearer classified species, wolves, and shoot "game species" like mountain lions, bears, elk, deer, etc. HB 96: Create a trapper apprentice program. Sponsor: Paul Fielder (R) HD13, Thompson Falls, MT. Hearing: Tuesday 1/14/25. 3:00pm MST Room 172. Executive Action: Thursday 1/16/25 - withdrawn. Bill will return for the Committee's voting with amendments. Children ages 6-11 can only trap mink and muskrat with a youth trapping license, and must be 12-years old to trap or shoot wolves. HB 96 would change the age requirement to 10 years old. A longtime trapper, Rep. Fielder clarified that the motive of the bill is on trapping, and by default snaring. Some think wolves are the main target.How To Track Montana Bills- Montana legislature bills lookup page - either enter the bill number, select the name of the legislator, or select the subject. Hit FIND to view results. On the left is the bill or draft number. On the right is the bill language, you can select links to read the details. From there view the status of the bill and the date/time of the hearing, if it is scheduled, and the voting records.Other Ways To Participate•Phone Messages- Call (406) 444-4800 to reach the Information desk to send a message to a committee or legislator.•Attend Legislative Meetings - The public is encouraged to attend meetings in person at the
Capitol.•Watch/Listen/Speak•All legislative meetings are streamed online on the Legislative Branch’s website. You can watch meetings both live or any time after the meeting.Thank you for taking the time to fight for wildlife
