Conventional muzzleloader hunters would have a particular nine-day season underneath a invoice from a Belgrade lawmaker.
Republican Rep. Caleb Hinkle’s Home Invoice 242 would institute a conventional muzzleloader heritage season for elk and deer to start the second Saturday after the tip of Montana’s normal firearm searching season and lasting 9 days.
Muzzleloaders can be restricted to iron sights, a minimal of .45 caliber and never have greater than two barrels. Limitations additionally embrace conventional firearms equivalent to flintlock and matchlock designs quite than trendy muzzleloaders with scopes.
“Montana is the one state that doesn’t provide a separate muzzleloader season,” Hinkle instructed the Home Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee on Tuesday. A particular season would promote the historical past and heritage of muzzleloaders and provide a difficult close-range hunt, he stated.
A proposed modification would put rulemaking for the hunt underneath the Montana Fish and Wildlife Fee, Hinkle stated.
Matt Leow with the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers testified in favor of HB 242, touting its restrictions to iron sights and conventional firearms.
“Montana possesses a wealthy historical past of hunters, trappers and explorers,” he stated. “After the bow, hunters introduced muzzle-loading rifles and we assist Home Invoice 242 as a result of it supplies and alternative for people who hunt with heritage muzzleloaders to hold on that custom throughout a time that doesn’t intervene with the opposite large recreation seasons or technique of take.”
