Montana application deadlines are right around the corner. Many of you have probably already applied, but if you’re like me, you’ll be sweating at the deadline, hoping the internet connection stays strong. It is this second group of applicants I’d like to appeal to.
When applying here in my home state, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks provides an option to donate your application fees to the Block Management Program (BMP). The BMP provides around 7 million acres of public hunting access to private ground. A mix of pasture, agriculture, and sometimes grazing land owned by the state of Montana falls behind the sign-in boxes of Block Management. Those acres provide feed and habitat for all of Montana’s game species, from migratory birds to bighorn sheep.
For more information on the BMP, check out this special episode of Cal’s Week in Review.
Recently the state of Montana has chosen, and appropriately so, to up the available compensation landowners enrolled in the BMP could be entitled to. It’s an effort to keep landowners engaged and willing to provide this incredible opportunity. As such, hunter dollars need to keep up as well.
We all know that Montana is a common playground for non-resident hunters. If you're a resident and want to spread hunting pressure around, click the box and donate your fees to the BMP.
If you are a non-resident hunter applying for the first, second, or third year in a row just to get that general elk/deer combo license, click the box and make sure your fees go to expanding access. Why? It not only benefits you with additional opportunities as you conveniently check onX, but it ensures that others aren’t getting crowded onto that piece of BLM or USFS ground you like to call “your spot.”
Applying with an outfitter on private ground? Check the damn box and make sure that more opportunities exist. Or else one day, that outfitter is going to call and say, you know I’d love to help ya, but I lost that lease.
And again, if you are an applicant like myself, who never really draws anything, check the box. Karma has to kick in sometime. (And don't delay! The deer and elk application deadline is April 1.)
Feature image via Montana FWP.
