HELENA — This week Montana lawmakers heard a proposal to increase hunting fees for out-of-state hunters to help fund block management programs.
House Bill 145, as it is currently written, would increase the nonresident base hunting license fee from $15 to $100. Resident hunters are charged $10 for their base hunting licenses.
Sponsored by Rep. Gary Parry, R-Colstrip, the bill would also require 90% of those nonresident base hunting fees to fund bock management programs.
“So these dollars are going to be set aside to improve the dollars available for block management,” Parry testified before the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee on Thursday. “And hopefully we can compete with some the folks that are coming in and buying the land up. So regular hunters in Montana are not being able to hunt very well for an affordable price.”
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Block Management program provides payments to landowners who open their land to public hunters. Landowners can receive up to $50,000 in compensation depending on their property.
Nonresident hunters make up around one-seventh of the total number of hunting licenses sold yearly. In 2023, they represented around 80% of the revenue from deer and elk licenses sold.
Proponents of HB 145 said they hope the additional funds from nonresident hunters will encourage more landowners to participate in block management.
Opponents of HB 145 that spoke said their concern was the large jump in price with some saying they’d be more willing to support an increase to $50 for nonresident base hunting licenses compared to the proposed $100.
Parry said at the the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee he was open to hearing potential amendments to the final price increase. However, he pointed out the price increase is small compared to how much a nonresident pays in total to hunt in the state.
“I think we need to look out for the people in Montana and I think this bill pushes that forward. And hopefully gets us more access for the people in this state,” added Parry.
