Get familiar with this year's upland game bird program access guide

From Fish, Wildlife and Parks

Upland bird season kicked off Sept. 1, so it’s still a good time to dig into this season’s hunting access guide.

To get started, hunters can refer to the Projects Access Guide, published annually by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ Upland Game Bird Enhancement Program. The guide includes project maps that depict boundaries of private lands enrolled in the UGBEP. Once hunters have obtained the landowner’s permission to hunt, the maps with access boundaries can be an invaluable tool for hunters to locate UGBEP project areas.

The UGBEP Projects Access Guide also contains information on habitat enhancement work done on public lands, Open Fields, habitat management leases, pheasant release sites and the method used to obtain permission in order to hunt upland game birds. 

Project maps have been created with “georeferenced capabilities,” a fancy way of saying hunters can download the maps from the FWP website to most smartphones and tablets. Once loaded on a device, georeferenced maps can allow hunters to dynamically view their position on the map relative to important features such as roads and access boundaries.

Hunters can find the guide and the maps online at http://fwp.mt.gov . Click UGBEP Projects Access Guide on the Hunting tab.

Printed access guides are available at FWP headquarters and regional offices. Hunters can also request a copy of the access guide via FWP’s website.

FWP urges Montana hunters to extend their thanks to all partners who collaborate on habitat conservation and access opportunities that benefit wildlife and hunters. FWP partners with private landowners and other individuals, groups, and organizations to improve habitat on private and public lands. With over 500 active contracts, Montana landowners and conservation organizations are conserving and enhancing almost 400,000 acres of upland game bird habitat while providing nearly 700,000 acres for public upland game bird hunting.

For more information, contact Debbie Hohler at 406-444-5674, or by e-mail to dhohler@mt.gov.