PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

PRESIDENT - KEN SCHULTZ 1ST VICE PRESIDENT - BRIAN KOELZER 2ND VICE PRESIDENT - STEPHEN LEPAGE SECRETARY - JERRY DAVIS TREASURER - MANDY GARNESS

Ken Schultz

President’s MessageGreetings All,

First and foremost, I want to start off thanking you for allowing me to be the President of the Montana Bowhunters Association. I am very excited and humbled to be a part of such a “Great” Organization and honored to a part of an outstanding Team of Board Members. I can say Team, because I truly believe that! We have a great group of men and women (old and young) who represent this organization. We meet several times a year and there are hours of deep conversation about the battles that we face in Montana as well as ways we can help other organizations succeed around the State. Many great ideas and thoughts are discussed. As an organization, we really do listen to our members in Montana. We send out surveys on “Survey Monkey” to solicit feedback from our members before we ever make a decision on any topics. We want “you” to have a say in what direction we take on topics and agendas. Your feedback is priceless and greatly appreciated. Thank you to those who have responded over the past several years. Keep the feedback coming!

One of the goals for this year is to build up our membership. The more voices we have, the better the decisions we can make and the more impact we can have in the forever changing policies. We have been seeing a lot of younger bowhunters joining and that’s Outstanding! You are the future of bowhunting in Montana. Many of you have young ones coming up and they will want to hunt as well. For that to happen, we have to continue to fight the battles or there will be nothing for them look forward to. Our ultimate goal is to always fight the battles, but also to make sure we “WIN THE WAR”! That’s why we need you to be actively involved in surveys and out recruiting your friends and family members to join the MBA. It’s a very inexpensive way to have a say in the future of hunting in Montana. Welcome to all our newest members!!!!

Stay connected with the FWP as much as you can. They send out updates on a regular basis. There is an email you can register for and it is montanafwp@ announcements.mt.gov. You will receive emails with great information. I encourage you to get connected with the FWP through this email. If you go to the FWP Website, you can register to receive email updates.

Drawings are now almost complete and not without lots of confusion. Hopefully everyone was successful with their tags they applied for and was able to get any issues with tags resolved. I know the FWP has been busy cleaning up some of these issues over the past couple of months. There are a few last-minute drawings to do, and the surplus tag signup has begun. Let’s hope this goes a little smother than the initial drawings. I’ll leave you with that and remember “Shoot Straight and Always be a ontanaM BOWHUNTER4 Straight Shooter!” WWW.MTBA.ORG Ken Schultz

Ken Schultz First Vice President’sReport

Summer is slipping away at an alarming rate. As I sit in the pre dawn grey light sipping coffee and poking away at this keyboard, antelope season is a scant 30 days away. Let me clarify, that is for those persons lucky enough to draw the 900 archery antelope tag. I did not. Nor did I draw my Wyoming mule deer tag for the first time ever. Grrrr…. It appears I’m going to be forced to hunt elk and whitetail this September. Someone has to draw the short straw, and unfortunately, this year it was me.

For most archers in this country being limited to hunting whitetail, mule deer, elk, black bear, and mountain lion in your home state on over the counter tags sounds like a dream come true! I’m certainly not complaining about the bowhunting opportunity we have here in Montana but with the influx of people moving out west and the numbers of new hunters we are seeing in the woods, the special tags that we once almost took for granted are going to be harder to draw.

Speaking of tags, I’m sure most of you are aware of the dizzying array of elk proposals floating around the state and the upcoming regional meetings. I will let the other board members who are much more knowledgable than me on the subject elaborate further. If possible, I encourage you all to try and attend one meeting and voice your opinion whatever that may be. The only thing that is consistent in life is change. Be it good, bad, or indifferent some folks embrace it while others are adamantly against it. Unfortunately, most sit on the sidelines and prefer to do nothing. The MBA is a membership driven organization and my hat is off to all of you willing to spend your hard-earned money to be a member and have your voice heard.

With the abundant rainfall most of the state has seen and is still seeing, it appears that the critters are all doing well and hopefully the feed will be good to get them all through the coming winter. Fawn numbers around my home and horn growth seem to be looking good as well.

Carp Safari was a ton of fun as usual, and despite mediocre weather, the turnout was great and many fish were harmed. Thank you Kevin for all your hard work organizing the event! Good luck to all of you this fall and I’m excited to start seeing pictures and hearing the stories of all your adventures! Be safe and may your arrows fly true, Brian Koelzer