Montana trappers can breathe a bit easier today after an effort to ban trapping on public lands in the state was stopped in its tracks.
Last year, the anti-trapping organization Footloose Montana announced it was working to place the trapping ban on the ballot. However, it was announced this week that the group failed to collect the required number of valid signatures to qualify the issue for this November’s ballot.
Despite the victory for Montana sportsmen this is likely not the end of the debate over trapping in the state. The proponents have suggested that they will continue to push for a trapping ban either as a future ballot initiative or through the state’s legislature.
“We’re extremely pleased that this issue failed to make the ballot,” said Bud Pidgeon, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) president and CEO. “Montanan’s have long recognized the importance of trapping as a wildlife management tool, but we can’t let our guard down now. Montana sportsmen must remain ready and united when this issue resurfaces.”
The USSA joined with the Montanans for Effective Wildlife Management and numerous other statewide and national organizations and individual sportsmen including the Montana Trappers Association, the Fur Takers of America, and the National Trappers Association in opposition to the proposed ban.