Montana bill would let private landowners hunt deer and elk inside Flathead Reservation; tribes and FWP warn of legal fallout

Representative Tracy Sharp introduced House Bill 216 to the House Fish and Wildlife Committee, saying the measure would "merely seek in a collaborative fashion to permit citizens living on their own private land within the boundaries of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai scribe reservation be granted permission to hunt deer and elk on their own property." The sponsor said the licenses would be valid only for private landowners and would be coordinated with tribal authorities, and that revenue would go to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT).

Supporters — including retired game wardens, ranchers and local conservation groups — told the committee the bill would help reduce crop and fence damage, improve road safety and give landowners a humane way to address overabundant deer and elk. Rick Schoening, a retired Montana game warden, said the bill "will improve the relationship between the CSKT tribes and nontribal member landowners" and cited Montana v. United States (1981) when describing legal precedent mentioned by proponents.

Tribal officials, tribal‑legal staff and statewide conservation organizations urged lawmakers to reject HB216. "Currently, all lands within the exterior boundaries of all Indian reservations in Montana are closed by Fish and Wildlife Commission rule to the hunting of game animals and state licenses," Director Christie Clark of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks told the committee, and she warned passage would ‘‘almost certainly lead to the renewal of costly and complicated litigation between state and tribes over this issue." John Harrison, staff attorney for the CSKT, described the Flathead Fishing and Hunting Agreement as "one of the most incredibly successful tribal state cooperative agreements" and said the agreement grew out of prior litigation that the tribes and state resolved by negotiated settlement.

Multiple CSKT program managers and community groups described existing depredation and food‑sovereignty programs that pair tribal hunters with private landowners to harvest problem animals and provide meat for elders and local distributions. Carrie Kingery, CSKT wildlife program manager, told the committee the tribe currently enrolls private landowners in depredation programs and had removed more than 40 animals from private lands in early 2024 through those efforts.

Committee members pressed both sides on legal history, treaty interpretation and disease management. FWP legal staff summarized the late‑1980s/early‑1990s litigation that produced the current cooperative agreement and said the settlement reflected a political choice to seek a long‑term compromise rather than extended trials. Tribal leaders warned that a legislative assertion of licensing jurisdiction would be viewed as a breach of the cooperative arrangement and could jeopardize federal funding streams tied to wildlife management.

Representative Sharp closed by urging lawmakers to consider property owners' ability to use their land and asked the parties to work cooperatively; the committee did not take a vote during the public hearing. The committee recessed at the close of the hearing for HB216 and moved on to other bills on the agenda.

This hearing produced extensive testimony from both sides and no formal committee action on HB216 during the session.