Hunting meeting includes archery-only areas in Flathead

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission will meet in Helena on Thursday, Feb. 11 to consider and adopt hunting regulations for the 2016-2017 seasons.  The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. and will feature a live video feed to all seven FWP Regions.  Hunters are encouraged to attend the Kalispell video conference at the FWP headquarters on North Meridian Road.

Two changes have been proposed for Region One that were not sent out as tentative regulations last month.  These changes were in response to comments received at the Region One public meeting on Jan. 9 and the written comments received.  To comment on these two proposed regulations, hunters must attend the Thursday Commission meeting in Helena or the video conference meeting in Kalispell.  The two proposed regulations are:

• Owen Sowerwine Archery Only Proposal: This would establish the Owen Sowerwine Natural Area as archery only for big game (white-tailed deer).  This proposal does not affect existing waterfowl hunting regulations.  This area is located along the Flathead River south of Kalispell;

• Extend antlerless white-tailed deer hunting for holders of HD 170 antlerless white-tailed deer B licenses from the end of general season to Dece. 15, excluding Kuhn’s WMA. This extension would only be valid for archery equipment 

According to FWP Wildlife Manager Neil Anderson, both proposals are in addition to the proposals discussed at the season setting meeting in January and based on comment received there and from people sending in comments. Hunters need to be present at the Region One office during the Commission meeting on February 11 if they want to comment via video conference.