Sportsmen Defeat Montana’s I-177

By Duncan Johnson

Montana –-(Ammoland.com)- Montana’s Initiative 177 was soundly rejected by voters in the Gem State on the Nov. 8 ballot. The initiative would have banned trapping on the state’s public lands and forced private landowners to document the used of non-lethal means for at least a month before using traps to resolve nuisance wildlife issues. While the final tally is still being determined, a vast majority of precincts have already reported and sportsmen are winning by a wide margin, 63 – 36 percent.

After years of failing to qualify a trapping ban for the state’s ballot, anti-hunting organizations turned to paid signature gatherers in order to do so – qualifying the initiative at the last moment in July.

“Initiative 177 was a bad measure. It was bad for wildlife management and bad Montana in general. It was unsafe, expensive and would have forced Montanans to suffer severe losses before rectifying a situation,” said Evan Heusinkveld, president and CEO of Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Today, sportsmen, ranchers and everyone concerned with scientific wildlife management protected the state, its citizens, resources and, most of all, wildlife by defeating this initiative by a landslide.”

Had the initiative …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand