NEWS

Concerns raised over outfitter hunting map

The Associated Press

BILLINGS (AP) — Hunters and state officials are debating a map that shows hunting outfitters are using more than 18 million acres in Montana, more than twice as much land as previously reported.

Montana Board of Outfitters executive officer Steve Gallus said he provided the information to the state wildlife agency to create the map, and the information wasn’t perfect.

“The map was produced with the caveat that we think these numbers are inflated, and the numbers reported next winter will be more accurate,” Gallus said.

Publication of the map has prompted concern from other sportsmen who say it will have a major impact on land access issues and some of the more than 280 hunting outfitters in the state, The Billings Gazette reported.

Gallus has held his position on the board since April 2014. He said that in his first meeting with state Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials, they requested an updated copy of the map.

But the wildlife agency’s Alan Charles told The Gazette that Gallus came to him asking the agency to produce the document. “We were reluctant to do it initially,” Charles said.

He said director Jeff Hagener agreed to let his staff produce the map, but the agency is billing the Department of Labor and Industry, which houses the Board of Outfitters, for its time.

In 2005, the map showed licensed hunting outfitters were using about 6 million acres. In 2011, that jumped to about 8 million acres of private lands that might have been used by licensed outfitters.

Mac Minard, executive director of the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, said the map has angered its members, and the information on it is unreliable, causing angst among sportsmen.

“There are elements of the sportsmen community who are going to grab this and say things are out of control,” Minard said. “It will cause an unwarranted and unnecessary response to the landowner community.”

Gallus blamed problems with the Department of Labor and Industry’s new computer software for the unreliable information. He said a more accurate map could be produced by February once those issues are resolved.