traveling to hunting grounds by water. I don't feel you have to 

 worry about the elk in 7 00 the ranchers manage them for you, 

 unles you are a rich out of stater. 



Just the comment on land owners who restrict hunters but receive 

 compensation for damages because of too many animals. 



I think we need more access to public land and private. If the 

 land owener doesn't allow genral hunting then their should be no 

 aid from fish and game when elk and deer are a menace. 



Generally speaking, access is a prime concern for all big game 

 hunting. The final result can only be to create a hunting 

 climate available to the most affluent. The bottom line is 

 focusing on the "bucks" generated. Not far down the road, 

 hunting will be reserved to these affluent people and will 

 disappear for the average person. The affluent will pay any 

 price. So, fees continue to climb. While access is less of a 

 problem for the archer, the dollar signs are taking over here 

 too. 



The problem isn't with the game or the hunters. We need to work 

 on landowner/hunter relations. We have special archer hunts we 

 can't use because of landowners are closing their lands to use, 

 so public land is over populated with hunters. 



I am not an expert on game mgmt- but i have hunted in Montana for 

 the past 10 yrs-I do know I see fewer animals now and even fewer 

 bucks-I also knwo that gaming access is becoming more difficult- 

 We hunt for a place to hunt and very often have to pay-some 

 landowners whine about too many deer and then make you pay for 

 the privilege to hunt them. 



Private access seems predicated on personal greed! Politely 

 asking and being granted access has little interrelationship. I 

 can count on one hand the number of times I have been allowed 

 access through or on private land which locks up state/federal 

 lands . I think the time is long over-due to point out the farm 

 subs idy connect ion versus hunting and leases of public land to 

 farmers . 



the one thing I don't enjoy, about hunting, is that most of the 

 good hunting is on private land, and most people charge 20-50 

 dollars a day just to walk on their land, and even more if you 

 get something. It's becoming a rich mans sport. 



OPEN MORE PUBLIC ACCESS ! ! 



There are lands that aren't accessable to hunters witch should be 

 open to hunting. We need access to these ares to reduce pressure 

 on the areas we can now hunt. Private land owners are stopping 

 people from getting to Forest Service or BLM land we need this 



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