Randy, here are some of my thoughts on hunting in MT, Region 7 specifically. I would love to hear what others think of it.
1. Block Management in Region 7 differs from every other District in the state. You get a map with the general location listed on a map and how much land they have enrolled in the program. The hunter then has to call and get the landowner's name and contact info (phone number). Some of the ranches are 100,000+ acres and the person on the phone at FWP says you have to contact them in person, but they don't give out directions to where the rancher lives. You can get contact info on only 5 BMA's per day.
2. Almost all the BMA's we went to were the type (Type II I believe) where you had to personally talk with the rancher personally to get permission. Yet 90% of the places we stopped at had a mailbox with BMA written on the side where you just signed in yourself (which is what a Type I is) and didn't have to talk to anyone.
3. You can get a map of any BMA in the state from FWP at their District HQ's, of course with the exception of Region 7, where you have to get the map directly from the BMA operator or the mailbox in the yard of the rancher. The program manager for the Block Management program happens to have a ranch in Region 7 and he claims that the people in Region 7 are different from the people in Region's 1-6. I personally stopped in at the HQ in Helena and spoke with him about the issues I had with the program, all he did was talk about how great the program was in Region's 1-6 and pulled out some comment cards and noted how no one else has complained about the issues that I brought up. Tough to write much on a postcard I guess, also not many hunters want to ruffle feathers with some issues when it is better
than having nothing, which I totally agree with, but the program could be significantly improved in Region 7.
4. The corner jumping issue makes my blood boil, it is such a bunch of BS I pay no attention to it for the most part but in ND there is no such law restricting the public's access to land they are entitled to enjoy. You can simply follow a section line (on foot) down until you access the public land, and then "have at it". So there is no way in ND for people to lock up thousands of
acres of public land (which is what is done in MT), the way it should be. If someone in the political arena had some balls they would introduce legislation that took care of the good of the greater public instead of catering to the wants of a few.
