OUTDOORS: Montana Hunt Roster sign-up dates have been announced

Montana FWP

The Hunt Roster is one of the ways FWP selects public hunters to participate in hunts where animals are causing damage to stored agricultural crops or private property.

FWP may also utilize other means of hunter selection in lieu of the roster including first-come, first-served advertised opportunities, unsuccessful special license or permit applicant lists, or lists of names supplied by landowners. In some cases the use of other hunter selection methods may result in a hunting district not being available on the Hunt Roster.

How to sign up

The sign up period for the Hunt Roster is June 15–July 15 each year. Sign up for the Hunt Roster on MyFWP.

The Hunt Roster, and hunters from this roster, may be used for four types of hunts.

Depending upon their randomized order on the list, hunters registered on the Hunt Roster may be contacted by FWP regional offices if a hunt emerges for the species and hunting district they've identified. Such hunts often come forward quickly and cannot be predicted.

The Hunt Roster is traditionally used by FWP regional offices to select some or all of the hunters for hunts to prevent or reduce damage caused by deer, elk and antelope on private land. In addition, FWP may request a list of hunter names from a landowner to use in conjunction with hunters selected from the Hunt Roster, if the Department feels that may help better achieve the objectives of a particular hunt. No more than 25 percent of the total hunters authorized to participate in a game damage hunt or management hunt may be selected from a landowner's list, and if any antlered animals are authorized for harvest during a hunt, no names may be selected from a landowner's list. By statute, a landowner may designate 75 percent of the hunters eligible to receive supplemental licenses if the hunt occurs in a hunting district with limited permits, and up to 100 percent of the hunters eligible to receive supplemental licenses if the hunt occurs in an unlimited permit district. Landowners may be eligible for various types of game damage assistance if they allow public hunting during established hunting seasons. Assistance may include hazing, repellents, temporary or permanent stack-yard fencing, kill permits, game damage hunts, management hunts or supplemental game damage license hunts. Hunters from the roster may also be used to disperse elk in some areas of southwestern Montana where there is risk of brucellosis transmission between elk and livestock.

Game Damage Hunts

Typically these hunts are small in geographic scale and occur only on one landowner's land, with a relatively small number of hunters recruited from the Hunt Roster and, if requested by FWP, a list of names submitted by the landowner - no more than 25 percent of the total hunters may be selected from the landowner's list. The primary intent of a damage hunt is to reduce crop and property damage by re-distributing game animals with only minimal harvest.

Management Hunts

A management hunt is a proactive measure to prevent or reduce potential damage caused by large concentrations of game animals resulting from seasonal migrations, extreme weather conditions, restrictive public hunting access on adjacent or nearby properties, or other factors. Management hunts typically occur on a larger scale than game damage hunts and may take place across multiple ownerships. There may be relatively large numbers of hunters recruited from the Hunt Roster for a longer period of time with the potential for a significant harvest. Some hunters - no more than 25 percent of the total - may also be selected from a list of names submitted by the landowner or landowners, if requested by FWP.

Supplemental Game Damage License Hunts

A supplemental game damage license hunt is a very small-scale measure trying to harvest no more than 12 animals to prevent or reduce crop or property damage in situations where larger-scale game damage hunts or management hunts are not applicable. By law (MCA 87-2-520), the department may issue a specific type of license called supplemental game damage license, valid only for antlerless or doe/fawn elk, deer, or antelope, and valid only for a specific property, specific time period, and this specific type of hunt. Also by the same law, depending upon whether the hunting district regulations offer limited permits or not, landowners may designate some or all of the hunters who may receive supplemental game damage licenses.

Elk Management Removals

An elk management removal is a management response to the risk of brucellosis transmission between elk and livestock. These small scale removals reduce commingling events between elk and livestock using a very limited number of hunters and harvest to adjust elk distribution in a localized area. These removals may take place throughout the winter and early spring and are applied only in those areas near Yellowstone National Park with brucellosis prevalence. Elk management removals are not used to control elk population size. Before the management removal option can be used, it needs to be adopted by the Fish and Wildlife Commission in a 2018 annual work plan.