House Fish and Wildlife and Parks Committee advances bill to let hunters donate for adaptive archery equipment

Senate Bill 238, as heard Dec. 5 before the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee in Helena, would authorize a voluntary donation on hunting licenses to create a "bowhunters with disabilities" account to pay for modifications to legal archery equipment so individuals with permanent lifetime disabilities can participate in archery seasons.

The unnamed sponsor told the committee the measure is modeled on existing donation programs and would be administered by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The sponsor noted two existing license checkoffs—Hunters Against Hunger and a wolf mitigation account—raised roughly $123,000 and $114,000 respectively in fiscal 2023, and that this bill would place the new donation option on hunting licenses (not the conservation license). The sponsor said the account is intended to help pay nonprofits that, in turn, acquire or modify archery equipment tailored to a hunter’s disability, and the bill is drafted to begin accepting donations for the fall 2025 hunting season.

Why it matters: Disabled bowhunters can obtain permits to modify equipment under the state’s permit-to-modify-archery-equipment (PTMAE) process, but modifications and specialized outfitting often carry substantial material and machinist costs. Proponents told the committee those costs are rising and that volunteer groups cannot keep up with increased demand without…