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House committee concurs in bill giving residents 10-day head start on upland game hunts; 16-4
Summary
After debate about federal funding and private-land exceptions, the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee voted 16-4 to reconsider and concur in Senate Bill 514, a bill that would allow residents to begin upland game hunting 10 days before nonresidents with specified exceptions; Representative Jan France will carry the bill on the floor.
Representative Frantz moved to take Senate Bill 514 off the table and described the bill as setting a separate start date for resident and nonresident upland game hunting: residents would begin 10 days earlier, and nonresidents could still hunt on private land and in outfitted areas subject to exceptions.
During discussion, Representative Fielder warned that creating resident-only head starts could jeopardize federal funding streams such as Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson (Dingle-Johnson was referenced in the hearing), and asked members to consider funding implications. Other members pointed to precedent: a recently enacted shed-hunting head start and South Dakota's practice of resident-only opening weeks for certain seasons.
Committee members clarified the bill's language: the provision would allow residents to begin upland game hunting 10 days before nonresidents "except on privately owned lands that are not part of a hunting access program pursuant to" the statutory citations cited in the bill text. Representative Koehneur confirmed that private lands not enrolled in a hunting access program would be excluded from the resident-only delay.
The committee first voted to reconsider the earlier tabling of the bill; that motion passed on a roll-call vote of 16-4. The committee then voted to concur in Senate Bill 514; the concurrence vote was recorded as 16 ayes and 4 no. Representative Jan France was named to carry the bill on the House floor.
The transcript records technical questions about interactions with federal and state land management and the scope of exceptions for private land. The committee did not record an immediate departmental legal note in the hearing; members asked that FWP or staff clarify federal/state land implications if needed in subsequent committee work. The bill now moves to the House floor with a committee-concurred recommendation.
