There Aren't As Many Hunters

Even in Montana where we like to think of hunting as part of our heritage, there aren’t nearly as many hunters as there once were.

That doesn’t bode well.

Hunting license sales account for about two-thirds of the funding for Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Montana is third in the nation in percentage of hunters at 21.1 percent behind South Dakota at 24.1 and Wyoming at 22.7.

Montana, however, does top the nation in firearm ownership. According to a 2020 report by the Rand Corporation, 66.3 percent of Montana households own firearms.

That’s good news even if three times more people in Montana own guns than hunt. Through the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife restoration Act of 1937, revenue from a federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition is allocated to states for wildlife management.

Consequently, that neighbor who doesn’t hunt, but packs a Glock in fear of an imminent social uprising is helping to fund wildlife management in Montana as much as a dyed-in-the-wool elk hunter.

Apparently there are a lot more Montanans who expect to shoot intruders than shoot ducks.

Congressman Matt Rosendale (R-Montana) wants to change all that. He is supporting legislation to cancel the federal excise tax on firearms and repeal Pittman-Robertson.

A Maryland land developer who, like most moneyed newcomers to Montana now fashions himself as something of a cowboy, Rosendale is proof that a clueless dweeb who cares little for this state or its people can win a seat in Washington simply by running on the right ticket. We don’t care how lame he is or where he comes from as long as he’s not a Democrat.

Hopefully clearer heads will prevail and Rosendale’s legislation will never see the light of day. Defunding the department that oversees Montana’s outdoor legacy would be catastrophic.

Despite a decrease in the number of hunters -- both residents and non-residents -- Montana still provides arguably the best hunting in the lower 48. But as those numbers continue to fall the folks who pay attention to such things also declines.

I fear we’re fast approaching the point where hunters will no longer matter. In an increasingly crowded world there certainly aren’t as many of us as there once were. Clueless dweebs, on the other hand, are thriving.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]