I'm forwarding this on behalf of a devoted duck hunter. It could influence Public Access in the Future.

Subject: Montana public access

http://www.petitiononline.com/MTAccess/petition.html

Hi guys, sorry for the mass-mailing, but there is an issue that needs some attention by hunters and fisherman in our state. Mitchell Slough, a little stream in the Bitterroot, has been the center of a large legal battle over the past decade. Landowners, attempting to prevent public access were attempting to label the slough as an irrigation ditch. If there slough were labeled a 'ditch' then all public access would be illegal. Last year, the MT Supreme Court ruled that the slough was a stream and as such was subject to the same stream access laws as all streams and rivers in MT.

Well, the landowners (led by Charles Schwab and Huey Lewis) didn't like the ruling and so now are attempting to take the law into their own hands in order to prevent public access. They have petitioned the state to eliminate public access for hunting along the slough in order that they will retain their own private hunting preserves. They have begun 'baiting' portions of the slough accessible to the public, with corn feeders and knowing that it is illegal to hunt over baited waterfowl, they have essentially shut down hunting for the public (a back-door means to eliminate access and 'get their way'). They have even been so brazen as to put up signs along all road crossings saying that the slough is baited and that hunting it is illegal.

Last week they formally filed a petition with MTFWP to shut down public hunting on the slough. MTFWP is on the public's side, but we need to show the state that we do not support privitization of public resources.

This is just a little slough and doesn't directly affect most of us, but the reprocussions and future implications of this will be far reaching. What is to stop any landowner, on any river, from filing the exact same request? For almost a decade now, Mitchell Slough has been the battleground for Montana's Public Access precedents and the fight isn't over yet.

Please sign my petition and pass it on to everyone you know who may feel the same way about public access.

Thanks folks,Ben

I'm embarrassed to admit these jackoffs are my neighbors and they've been sending checks to anyone who'll listen for years.

One of their "conservation" arguments is that hunters are presently forbidden to trespass on their land to retrieve game and the slough is too narrow at points to ensure that every duck falls into the (public) water, thus resulting in wasted birds.

I've only lived here a bit more'n a decade but I do my best to act like a native. These "vacation season" Montanans are an invasive species.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by redial:



I've only lived here a bit more'n a decade but I do my best to act like a native. These "vacation season" Montanans are an invasive species.

Mark

Western Mt has been infested with this scourge for a while now. They have invaded and we will be hard pressed to get rid of the bastards. I could rant on about this infection forever but it won't do much good. Don't Californicate MT!!

Everyone that loves hunting, fishing, camping and the outdoors should sign this. "We the People" made millionaires out of Schwab and Lewis. Now this is how they repay us?
LDK

I forgot to update this...I managed to update the one I posted on the Big Game forum.

MT FWP has chosen to keep it open with overwhelming public response to keep it open. They are working with the surrounding landowners for an option of access for birds that do fall on private land.

With the publicity of the slough, I'm sure it will be inundated with hunters this fall.