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Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is encouraging elk hunters and the rest of the public to weigh in on a new draft elk management plan.

The plan, crafted after expansive public outreach last summer and fall, is the result of nearly 50 FWP staff meetings with the public, landowners, hunters and others around the state.

“We’re anxious for public input on this new draft plan, particularly on the hunting district objectives and the suite of management tools we have laid out,” said FWP Director Dustin Temple.

With the new draft elk plan, FWP aims to balance habitat capacity, landowner tolerance and elk hunter feedback on their desired hunting experience in crafting population goals for each hunting district. Elk goals look at population numbers, as well as bull-to-cow ratios as a way of meeting this balance.

In the past, population sizes have dominated Montana’s elk conversations. This draft plan includes changes to population goals, including proposed increases and focuses on population ranges and other aspects of herd dynamics, like bull-to-cow ratios.

The plan also lays out a suite of management tools for FWP and the circumstances under which they’d be used depending on population. The idea would be to match elk population status and herd make-up (bull-to-cow ratios) with the prescribed tools to reach goals. For example, hunting districts that have low bull-to-cow ratios, but with populations in objective, might see a leveling out of elk B licenses, but a decrease in either-sex opportunity to increase bull numbers.

“This plan will serve as our guiding document for elk management, so it’s critical that we hear from hunters, outfitters, landowners and others during this public commenting timeframe,” Temple said.

A draft environmental assessment (EA) for the draft elk plan will be released for public comment this month. With the draft EA, the public should look to comment on the environmental impacts of the draft plan.

Now is the time for stakeholders to let FWP know what they think of this and other details of the elk management draft plan. The plan, including hunting district specific objectives, can be found on the group’s website, fwp.mt.gov. Deadline for public feedback is July 31.