BigGameHoundsmen.com

I was wondering if all who are attending could meet at the walmart parking lot in Helena at 1 PM so we can introduce ourselves and make sure the ones planning to testify will show up.

This bill will be before the FWP Committee on 1/22/13 at 3 PM. We need as many houndsmen and houndswomen there as possible to show support. Different people have talked with 3 of the 5 FWP commissioners and those 3 all spoke favorably.

Following are members of the committee everyone should send them an e-mail asking them to support the bill.

Name : JEFFREY WELBORN (R) HD 72 jeffwelborn@hotmail.com
Name : DOUG KARY (R) HD 48 dougkary.hd48@gmail.com
Name : FRANKE WILMER (D) HD 63 franke.wilmer@gmail.com
Name : CYDNIE ( CARLIE ) BOLAND (D) HD 23 ccboland35@gmail.com
Name : PAT CONNELL (R) HD 87 connell4HD87@yahoo.com
Name : VIRGINIA COURT (D) HD 52 vjchd52@yahoo.com
Name : ALAN DOANE (R) HD 38 alandoane@midrivers.com
Name : KELLY FLYNN (R) HD 68 hideaway1987@centurylink.net
Name : EDWARD GREEF (R) HD 90 edgreef@hotmail.com

Name : BRIAN HOVEN (R) HD 24 brian@hovenequipment.com
Name : TOM JACOBSON (D) HD 25 Rep.TJacobson@legmt.gov
Name : ED LIESER (D) HD 4 Rep.ELieser@legmt.gov
Name : JP POMNICHOWSKI (D) HD 66 pomnicho@montanadsl.net
Name : JEAN PRICE (D) HD 21 jl_price@bresnan.net
Name : RAY SHAW (R) HD 71 shaw@3rivers.net
Name : BRIDGET SMITH (D) HD 31 bridgetsmith777@yahoo.com
Name : GORDON VANCE (R) HD 67 vancehd67@gmail.com
Name : KIRK WAGONER (R) HD 77 kirk@kirkbwagoner.org
Name : WENDY WARBURTON (R) HD 34 wendywarburton@gmail.com
Name : TED WASHBURN (R) HD 69 tedwashburn007@gmail.com
Name : KERRY WHITE (R) HD 70 winwithwhite@gmail.com

We'll see you at walmart, see you around 1:00 pm.

I will be there. Thanks for putting this together.

We will find out on Monday if we get the support of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Montana Outfitters Association. The current position of the FWP is to oppose the bill however they are open to changing there position at there Mon. 10 AM meeting and requested that I send them some information on our position which I e-mailed to them. I will followup with a phone call on Monday at 9 AM to try to further make our case.

I talked with Bill Harris this evening and he wants as many proponents there as possible, the more the better. At the hearing he will introduce the bill then they will open it up to supporters and usually they allow 15 minutes of testimony from the supporters. After Bill introduces the bill he will let us supporters decide who goes up and testifys first etc.

Some more ammunition:
According to testimony on HB33 by Ken McDonald the, Wildlife Division Administrator, in 2012 FWP & Wildlife Services responded to
113 wolf incidents
195 lion incidents
661 Black Bear Incidents
138 Grizzly Bear incidents

Duane, thank you for all the hard work.

I'm out of state now and can't attend but i did email everyone on your list asking for their support. Hopefully this will pass.

On what grounds is FWP objecting to this Bill?

Matt

Matt, I don't know my correspondence with them has been trading voicemails and e-mails. His voicemail said that they were going to oppose it but if I send them some of our information they might change there position. I sent them info etc. Depending on how my conversation goes on Monday I will ask him. I have found in initial negiotations its always better stay on the positive side of the argument rather than right off the bat trying to force the opposing side to change there mind by forcing them into a corner. My guess is also that they automatically oppose any new ideas until they can be convinced otherwise.

I live up the nine mile outside of Missoula and had been on FWP about our crashing deer and elk herd for years. If you bring up the subject of wolves lowering the population. The first thing out of their mouth is the impact that black bear have on the calf and fawn population. I would think they would be in favor of any means of regulating the black bear population.

Matt

I've picking up as many studies as i can tomarrow from a friend and I will present all that black bear on elk calves and fawn population. I'm have the Lolo black bear deperation on elk calves study printed too.

The FWP needs to have it explained to them this bill does not force them to implement a bear hunt state wide but allows them to control bear population using hound hunts and allows them to implement hound hunts where they are needed. They should also know that hunting with hounds already occurs under their authorization, but it is limited to a reactionary approach with a few select houndsmen dealing with individual and problem bears in overpopulated areas. But it doesn't make sense to simply deal with individual problems when the overall population needs to be controlled in certain areas and lowering the population would result in less problems. The costs racked up by FWP paying for employees to respond to incidents, hiring government trappers, buying supplies, and using government houndsmen could be lowered in exchange for an additional source of revenue.

Ron Aasheim with FWP didn't answer his phone when I called him, so I sent him another lengthy e-mail. He just called me and said they had there meeting and are still in opposition and Ken McDonald will be there to testify in opposition.They don't need or want the tool as they are reaching there harvest objectives. They don't disagree with anything that I had e-mailed them but they just don't think they need the tool. He also said when they did there Black Bear Management Plan the public was against the use of hounds and baiting but he didn't remember when the public comment period was for that. He also said they extended the spring season which helped increase the harvest.

Apparently they want to keep spending a lot of money on hiring select houndsman to run there problem bears.

Regardless of FWP opinion tomorrow, this should pass through the house as long as houndsman show up in unanimous support. We will then need to spend our energy having well thought out talks with the members of the FWP committee and get outside support for this bill to talk with them as well. They (the FWP committee) will be our next big hurdle. They need non houndsman to say they support us gaining new recreation opportunities as well, not just hear from us. It was also suggested to me that we not push as hard on this being a bear management tool, as another recreational opportunity in this state.

dhostetler wrote:

Some more ammunition:
According to testimony on HB33 by Ken McDonald the, Wildlife Division Administrator, in 2012 FWP & Wildlife Services responded to
113 wolf incidents
195 lion incidents
661 Black Bear Incidents
138 Grizzly Bear incidents

I'd say that's pretty good ammo.