Mineral County Commissioners discuss hunting regulations and land use

SUPERIOR – Some big changes were discussed at the county commissioner’s weekly meeting on Thursday.

Randy Arnold, the new Region 2 supervisor of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, brought forward the possible misuse of both disabled hunters and shoot-from-vehicle permits.

Arnold said that, while there have been no documented cases of abuse so far, the growth of hunters applying for disabled tags and permits was exponential to their availability. This led MFWP to determine that abuse was possible.

“The more opportunity we presented to the disabled hunters, the more disabled hunters there were,” said Arnold.

Initial concern of this topic did not come from the MFWP offices, but from the disabled hunters themselves. Arnold said some disabled hunter groups came to them and made them aware of the possibility that this could be taken advantage of. Rising conflict between hunters with shoot-from-vehicle permits and those without also raised some concerns to Arnold’s office.

The response was to make several changes to the regulations that would more clearly define who was able to qualify for a shoot-from-vehicle permit. These changes were made into law during the last Montana State Legislative session.

The new law states that “a person qualifies for [the permit] if the person is certified by a licensed physician, [chiropractor, physician’s assistant], or an advanced practice registered nurse to have substantially impaired mobility, or to have a documented genetic condition that limits the person’s ability to walk or carry significant weight for long distances.”

People seeking to renew their existing permits and disabled tags under the new law will need to present signed notes from their doctors, or any of the professionals mentioned above, detailing the nature of their disability. The process will require redoing the paperwork, but once done Arnold said the applications will be completely refreshed.

“The new form very clearly outlines what’s required and your doctor or physician signs off on it,” said Arnold. “Then you come into the office and it’s basically a fresh start on all those applications.”

The hope is that the new law will prevent abuse of the shoot-from-vehicle permit and keep them in the hands of people that really need them.

Another issue raised during the meeting was a request by Mineral County Search and Rescue for a piece of land in Superior on which to establish a more permanent base of operation.

The issue at hand was that the land search and rescue would like to use for their expansion is also being eyed by the Mineral Community Hospital as a possible place to expand later. While they have no current plans for expansion, John Updike, chief operating officer of MCH, said the land would be ideal for expanding the hospital’s parking lots as the structure continues to grow.

Roman Zylawy, county commissioner for Eastern Mineral County, pointed out the search and rescue was offered the same plot of land years ago, but turned it down. According to Zylawy, the land was declared unsuitable for their needs at the time. The search and rescue representatives were unaware of this offer.

Lori Dove, co-representative for search and rescue, said that their location would not take up much space from the hospital and could benefit from possible parking expansion by the hospital themselves. According to Updike, the proposed search and rescue building could cause problems for future hospital expansion.

Tim Read, the other representative for search and rescue, said that one of their concerns was access of utilities. Since the proposed site is located near pre-existing plumbing and electrical, it is better than a location that would require those be added in. Dove and Read said that, at minimum, a small building to store equipment in and where vehicles could park would be fine.

By the end of the meeting, feelings were that the need of the Mineral County’s Search and Rescue was greater than the future possibility of MCH’s expansion. While no final decision was made, the inclination appears to lean more toward letting search and rescue use the land for their base of operations.