Hunting regulations often are the subject of debate, curiosity or even consternation with hunters around Montana. Hunters who want to see changes in regulations or have ideas to improve the regulations will have a great opportunity to make a difference in the coming weeks.

On odd years, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks does a complete run through of hunting regulations to consider both large and small changes. This process is called “season setting” and starts off with scoping meetings around the state to gather ideas from hunters and to answer questions about suggested changes that FWP staff are considering. These scoping meetings are being held right now across the state.

FWP hosted meetings in Eureka and Kalispell earlier this week and have one remaining meeting in northwest Montana:

• June 26: Libby – Ponderosa Room City Hall Building, 6 pm

FWP staff are looking to hunters to provide broad input on regulation changes they’d like to see. Staff are also looking for feedback on a few specific proposals.

These scoping meetings are not the same as public comment meetings. FWP staff will listen at the scoping meetings and capture the general themes. Staff will use this information to develop draft regulations, which will be released for public comment as proposals for the Fish and Wildlife Commission in October. FWP will hold additional public meetings in early November to answer questions about the draft regulation proposals. Comment on the draft regulation proposals will be collected through the FWP website during the fall public commenting period. The final decision on regulations will come at the December Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting.

We know hunting regulation changes are important for hunters, and we need your input early in the process to make sure any changes are made with careful consideration of what hunters think and what they want.