Bill would reduce hunting, fishing license costs for some nonresidents

Senate Bill 350 would allow nonresidents who were born in Montana and who are the child, sibling or parent of a current resident to received reduced cost licenses. The person who is a current resident would not have to have been born in Montana.

The reduced fees would also apply to a spouse, child or grandchild of a nonresident meeting the above-mentioned requirements, regardless of where they were born.

Sen. Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, sponsored the legislation, apologizing to members of the committee for the confusing language. Rewriting the original bill’s language was an attempt to make it clearer.

Billings resident Tom Hauptman spoke in favor of the legislation, noting many Montana youth have to leave the state for employment. Returning to hunt brings families together, he said, adding the amount of people who would take advantage of the bill would be “a very light footprint.”

A representative of the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association also supported the bill, saying the organization thinks family traditions are important.

Montana already has a Nonresident Native License for those born in the state, who have an immediate family member who is a resident, but they now live elsewhere. The state also has the Come Home to Hunt License for nonresidents who parents, siblings or other close family members are still residents. There is no quota for the Nonresident Native License but a cap on the Come Home to Hunt Licenses. The license fees under both of these programs are half of what nonresidents pay.

Colin Cooney, Montana field coordinator for Trout Unlimited, said his group opposed the legislation on principle because it picked certain people to qualify for the reduced licenses. He noted the 2015 Legislature had tried to clean up the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ many reduced-cost licenses to help the agency’s finances.

“This starts cutting away at that,” he said.

Marcus Strange, of the Montana Wildlife Federation, also opposed the bill.

“We are currently oversubscribed in our nonresident hunting opportunities which is having a very poor effect on resident hunters,” he said. “Currently, we are 3,330 reduced price licenses over the 17,000 and 4,600 caps. The nonresident relative is unlimited and as such could have the potential to double this number in a very short amount of time.”

The Senate Fish and Game Committee had earlier in the day agreed to advance a bill heard on Tuesday that would reduce nonresident deer doe tags in the state to lessen hunting pressure and help declining mule deer populations, especially in Eastern Montana.

“We know that it’s an ongoing problem, and a theme this session, that there’s a growing frustration with the number of nonresident hunters in Montana,” said Katajana Stutzer, representing the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. “It’s increasingly difficult to sustain quality hunting opportunities for residents. There’s already several bills introduced to address this concern and more to come. And at this time we just don’t see the solution as making it easier for nonresidents to hunt in Montana.”

In closing, McGillvray said the bill would not chip away at FWP’s revenues.

“What this bill is about is family,” he said. “When you bring your grandkids back to Montana to hunt, that’s a good thing.”