Officer's Reports
January 2010
President's Report
Jim Gappa
Hello to everyone. The Convention Committee has been busy planning this year’s 2010 Annual MBA Convention on March 5th, 6th and 7th in Billings for some time now. It should be a good one, with lots of great seminars starting Friday night and ending Sunday morning. Look inside this Convention issue to see what seminars, speakers, raffle items and door prizes will be available for you to win. It should be fun . . . I’m certainly looking forward to it.
I will be stepping down as President after the 2010 Convention. I joined the MBA Board five years ago when the Convention was in Billings; it is a little ironic that I would be leaving the Board at this same Convention location. It has been a good five years serving on the Board and serving you as President these last two years. During my time on the MBA Board, I have met some wonderful fellow bowhunters. I was fortunate enough to serve on the Board under the leadership of Charlie Johnson and Gary Carvajal and serve with some very dedicated past and current Board members. These fellow Board members volunteer their time and energy to make this organization great. If you reflect back, and look how and where this Organization started from, and where and what it has become today, those guys that started this Organization had an idea and they made it happen. We certainly cannot forget where it is we came from and the ideas that started this organization. Times have changed since the inception of the MBA and the MBA has done a good job adapting to the challenges and the demands placed upon bowhunting in Montana. The membership of the MBA amazes me, too. This membership body is some of the most passionate and a skillful group that emits true determination in promoting and preserving what they so strongly believe in.
Five years ago, the reason I decided to become more involved in this organization was I felt there were issues that are or were going to affect bowhunting negatively. Fact is, I wanted to be a part of the process that shaped bowhunting as I knew it. I always had it in my mind that I was trying to improve things for the greater good and for future bowhunters. I still strongly believe that the number one threat to hunting in Montana is the commercial aspect. Those commercial interests have led to many problems facing the average Montana bowhunter. One issue is the leasing of land by Outfitters, non-residents and now residents. The leasing of land by residents was pretty much unheard of 5 -10 years ago. This is a result of residents feeling that it is necessary to compete with the other leases. Another issue is the “antler obsession” that is a result of the “bigger-better-stronger-faster” mentality. This mindset is and continues to be a detriment to the sport of hunting. But during my 5 years on the Board, what concerns me more today is the apathy amongst hunters. Not just bowhunter, but all hunters. There are currently things in motion and on the horizon that can and will negatively affect your hunting opportunities and experiences. What is that ol’ saying? The world is run by those who show up. Too many fellow bowhunters just sit back and do nothing, until it affects them negatively. By then it is too late. Fellow hunters need to get off their butts and get involved. So, I am appealing to you . . . get involved and stay involved. If you were once involved, reinvest yourself. The MBA also needs for you to get some of your bowhunting friends that are not members to join the MBA. The MBA can always use more members. Go to the MBA’s website at: http://www.mtba.org and click on Join/Renew to join or renew. Also there is a great letter to the editor by Stan Meyer, retired FWP Commissioner, as to why you should be a member.
One reason for my leaving the Board is that it is better to leave early than to overstay ones welcome. It has been a lot of work, but is has been worth it. I take comfort in the fact that those folks on the Board will continue to carry on the mission statement of the MBA. With that being said, I look forward to spending more time with my family. Some of my fondest memories as a kid growing up in Montana were the times I spent hunting with my family. This coming hunting season my oldest son will be able to hunt, and I looking forward to seeing the anticipation and excitement of the hunt in his eyes and hearing over and over, again and again about the hunt. In the next couple of years, my youngest son will be hunting. They have been hunting with me for quite some time now, but now they, themselves, will be hunting. I look forward to passing on that hunting tradition that I so dearly want to protect. I wish to thank all the members for entrusting in me the duties of President.
Thank you and I hope to see you at the MBA Convention in Billings, March 5th, 6th, and 7th.
Jim M. Gappa
First Vice President's Report
by Joelle Selk
A new ballot initiative could threaten the management ability of MT Fish, Wildlife, and Parks by leveling multiple lawsuits against the agency, charging it with “taking” or damaging property. I-162, the “Private Property Rights Preservation Act,” has been submitted to the Secretary of State by the United Property Owners of Montana (UPOM). This is one of multiple attacks we’ve seen against the state since the passage of I-143, the Game Farm Reform Act. During the past nine years, I-143 has been upheld in state and federal district courts, the 9th Circuit of Appeals and the Montana Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court also recently declined to hear arguments involving the game farm initiative (October 2009), effectively ending all constitutional challenges to the case. Unfortunately, UPOM will not let this issue die, and has brought forth I-162 as the latest attempt to hold state, county, and local governments financially responsible for individual business endeavors.
I’ve included the text of the initiative for your information. The ballot initiative language must be reviewed by the Legislative Services Division, and the Attorney General must complete a review process to approve or reject it. If it passes the legal sufficiency review, the sponsor must collect 24,337 signatures from registered Montana voters in order for the initiative to be placed on the November 2010 ballot. We will be watching the progress of this initiative throughout the year. In the meantime, if a petitioner approaches you with this initiative, refuse to sign it. Inform everyone you know about the intent of I-162, and that it will effectively redirect sportsman’s dollars to fighting lawsuits rather than managing wildlife. Full text can be viewed at: http://sos.mt.gov/Elections/archives/2010s/2010/initiatives/I-162.asp.
BALLOT LANGUAGE
INITIATIVE NO. 162
A LAW PROPOSED BY INITIATIVE PETITION
The Montana Constitution allows state and local governments to take or damage private property for public use if compensation is paid. I-162 provides a new definition of taking or damaging that includes government actions that affect the use of property and reduce its value by 25% or more. It applies to all forms of property, including land, physical objects, obligations, statutory rights, businesses, licenses, and water rights. It allows the owner to sue to invalidate the government action or recover compensation. I-162 exempts some government actions, including actions strictly necessary to respond to public health, safety, and welfare threats.
I-162 costs state and local governments an estimated $600 million over six years to respond to new claims of taking or damaging private property, based on the actual and estimated costs resulting from similar proposals in other states. Those costs include compensation, legal defense expenses, attorneys’ fees, and court costs.
[ ] FOR allowing invalidation of, or compensation for, government actions that affect the use of property and reduce its value by 25% or more.
[ ] AGAINST allowing invalidation of, or compensation for, government actions that affect the use of property and reduce its value by 25% or more.
Second Vice President's Report
By Jason Tounsley
It seems to me that starting sometime in late August and going through to the end of the year, every time I stop to talk to someone the conversation at some point turns to hunting, and whether it be discussing upcoming plans for a hunt, how scouting has been, or how the season actually turned out, at some point a comment is made about how the regulations should be different. It rarely fails. For example some of the things I hear most commonly are "They shouldn't be selling anymore doe tags in that unit, there are no deer left." "If they would just end the buck hunting before the rut we would have some decent deer running around." "They should extend the season in that unit; we need to get some cows killed." I am as guilty of this as the next guy and I by no means am trying to cast a negative light on this, it is just the way it is and maybe how it should be. After all we, as hunters, are the ones who see the end results of the game management plans, population objectives and regulations first hand.
Where the rubber meets the road, or in this case where the Vibram sole meets the trailhead, is the hunter and while the biologists can come up with their estimations of game populations, and survey takers can tally numbers of last seasons harvest and statisticians can extrapolate numbers, we are the ones most intimately familiar with the areas we hunt and most in tune with the effects of regulation changes, fawn/calf recruitment, game populations, hunter densities.. The list goes on and on.
So who are "They" and how do we give them our input? "They" are the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the Fish Wildlife and Parks Commission. This summer the FWP held meetings throughout the state to let the public comment on what they thought some of the tentative regulation changes should be when brought to the commission this winter. I don't know the turnout at all the meetings across the state but I did attend the one in Billings, and the showing of sportsmen was less than impressive. I would guess 20 people showed for the meeting, six of those being MBA board members. Likewise at the Commission meeting in Helena in December, one of the few times you are allowed to give your comments directly to those who make the final decision on which tentative are passed, of the few sportsmen who showed up, again probably less than 20, four of those were from the MBA tentative committee.
So the next time you are sitting around hunting camp with your buddies talking about how the regulations should read, take some time to jot those ideas down, and at the least let your MBA rep know about them so we can start the discussion. Better yet, show up at your MBA meeting and bounce those ideas off other members.
Jason Tounsley
Treasurer's Report
by Sue Miller
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are off to a great new year!!
We are striving to increase our MBA membership in 2010, and hopefully renew old members that have forgotten about us. Renewal cards went out in December; please don’t forget to send in your dues for 2010 and beyond.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me on email at susieinmt@msn.com or mtba@mtba.org or call me at (406) 777-0214.
I am still in the learning process for our organization and welcome any thoughts or comments on things we might do better or to improve on. I am looking forward to our big annual convention in Billings this year. I hope to meet each and every one of you; it’s nice to be able to put a face with all the names I see. See you in Billings for a great time!!!
Sue Miller
