Fish and Wildlife Commission OKs Elk Hunting Access deals
BRETT FRENCH | bfrench@billingsgazette.com
The perception that hunters selected for Elk Hunting Access Agreement (EHA) properties are going to have unique entry to private lands is not always the case, frustrating some hunters and concerning two Fish and Wildlife Commission members.
Under the program this year, 31 landowners, or their designated recipients, will have access to 50 free elk tags as a reward for participating in the program and opening part of their land to hunters.
The landowners also get to select one of the three public hunters required to be provided access under the program. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks picks the two other public hunters from a roster.
Concerns about ‘stacking’
Commissioner Brian Cebull, who represents south-central Montana’s Region 5, called the program a success that incentivizes landowners to provide access.
However, he voiced concern about the overlap of landowners receiving the free elk permits — once derisively referred to as “bulls for billionaires” — with those who provide public access anyway through Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ Block Management Program.
Block Management pays landowners to provide public access. Remuneration is based on the number of hunters allowed access and the amount of acreage enrolled. Landowners can limit the number of public hunters.
“There’s a real concern here on my part that this program is not going to be successful … if the perception is bad, and if the confidence of the public in this is bad that these guys are doing Block Management,” Cebull said. “I think it potentially is a threat, or a detriment, to this, the 454 as we used to call the program.”
Cebull’s comments echoed one hunter’s comments revealed in the 2024 report on the program. The hunter said the ranch he was granted access to through the EHA program was a “zoo,” with hunters everywhere.
Despite the hunter’s lengthy complaint, the landowner was granted five resident either-sex permits and two free cow tags for this season with the department citing recurring elk damage as one of the reasons.
Commissioner Jeff Burrows, who represents Region 2 in west-central Montana, said he participated in the EHA program last year thinking, “Okay, you maybe have something special here, and you show up and it’s just the gates are wide open.
“I think the public probably should be aware of that, and that these things are stacked,” Burrows said. “They’re getting paid for Block Management. Then they’re getting tags.”
FWP responds to criticism
Jason Kool, Hunting Access Program manager, told the commissioners about half of the current applications, all 31 of which were approved by the commission, are also Block Management cooperators. Some of the landowners do provide access to different lands for EHA program participants, he added.
However, the Legislature doesn’t differentiate between the programs which allows participants to “stack” Block Management with Elk Hunting Access Agreements, Kool said.
“We do have a number of landowners who are enrolled in Block Management who are just looking for that special permit,” he said.
Block Management payments
Resident landowners participating in the Block Management Program already receive a free Sportsman’s License as a thank you from the state. The license provides fishing, as well as upland bird, deer and elk tags. Nonresident landowners receive a free Class B-10 nonresident big game combination license.
In addition, resident landowners receive a payment of $17 for each hunter that utilizes their property with a maximum payout of $25,000 allowed. Nonresident landowners are not eligible for the cash payments but may also receive other assistance such as weed control and fire protection payments as well as assistance with road and gate maintenance.
In 2023, $11.7 million was paid to cooperators who enrolled 6.88 million acres. That climbed to $12.3 million last year even as participation in Block Management has declined.
EHA program provides tag, too
By enrolling in the Elk Hunting Access program, landowners are able to request either-sex (bull) elk tags.
“What they’re really looking for is that special permit, that piece that they need to harvest that either-sex animal on their property,” Kool said.
Fourteen of those either-sex tags were approved for nonresident landowners by the commission for this year’s EHA program, 35 resident tags were approved with one landowner requesting seven free permits. The tags are only valid on the landowner’s property.
Despite the supposed allure of free hunting licenses, the number of participants in the EHA program dropped this year. Last year, 67 licenses were provided to 46 landowner cooperators. This year only 31 landowners signed up for the EHA program, 11 of which were new. FWP and the commission approved a total of 50 elk hunting permits, five of which were for cow elk, for the cooperators.
Commissioner K.C. Walsh, representing central Montana’s Region 4, said he is “highly supportive of the program.”
“I encourage you and others in the department to promote it as much as you can because there’s still a lot of landowners who are unaware of it,” Walsh told Kool.
