Montana Legislature Passes Increase For Nonresident Hunters
More than 85,000 out-ofstate hunters descend on the Treasure State each year for the chance to take a shot at a Montana elk, antelope, bear or bird.
To pay for that opportunity, they fork over $15 as a base license fee, in addition to buying a tag — ranging from $5.50 for a college student migratory bird license to $1,250 for a moose or bighorn sheep.
But the Montana Legislature has approved a bill that will increase the base license fee for nonresidents to $100 — a 566 percent increase.
The change is expected to bring in an additional $7.2 million in revenue according to the bill’s fiscal note, of which $6.8 million will be allocated to the state’s block management program.
“The idea of identifying these dollars to go to block management is a concerted effort to try to open up more lands for the public in Montana,” sponsor and Rep. Gary Parry, R-Colstrip, told the House Fish Wildlife and Parks Committee earlier this session.
The state’s block management program was developed 40 years ago as a way to increase access to private land and isolated parcels of public land through voluntary contracts with private landowners. It provides financial incentives for landowners to allow hunters on their property.
Between 2001 and 2011, land owners enrolled more than 8 million acres in the program, earning up to $12,000 from enrollment fees and compensation based on hunter-day counts. Since 2011, the number of acres enrolled has steadily declined, despite efforts by the state to bolster the program by increasing the compensation cap for landowners to $25,000 in 2021 and $50,000 in 2023.
In 2024, 1,314 landowners enrolled fewer than 7 million acres costing Montana FWP more than $12 million.
Boosting payments could be a way for the department to offer more incentives for landowners to participate in the program, according to Quentin Kujala, FWP chief of conservation policy.
Kujala told lawmakers at a House committee hearing that the staff who work on block management say the biggest reason for loss of access in the program is land sales, and while there are many motivations for selling land, money is certainly a factor.
Opposition to Parry’s bill came from the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, where one lobbyist, Scott Boulanger, said the increase was “drastic.” Representatives of the outfitters association told lawmakers that they would support a more modest increase to $50.
But Frank Szollosi, with the Montana Wildlife Federation, told Senate lawmakers that surrounding states already charge much higher rates for nonresident hunters.
In Idaho, nonresident hunting licenses cost $185; in Utah they cost $144, and in Oregon, $160.
“We’ve got better hunting than they do,” Szollosi said.
Wyoming is similar to Montana, charging nonresident hunters a base application fee of $15, and a bill introduced to the legislature earlier this year seeking to increase that to $75 did not advance.
Parry said that $100 fee is “lint in the pocket” for many out-of-state hunters, who come specifically for the state’s big game and often are hiring outfitters and guides, as well as spending money on their travels to the state to begin with.
“These folks do come here to hunt in our places. If it’s too much, they can stay in their own states. We need to look out for the people of Montana, and this bill pushes that forward.”
The bill is headed to Gov. Greg Gianforte’s desk.
