HELENA – The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission will move the review of  proposed 2024-2025 black bear hunting regulations to its February meeting and add a final decision on the wolf administrative rule amendments to its meeting Dec. 14.

The change provides additional time for FWP to assess potential commission amendments to the FWP’s proposed black bear regulations, which have included statewide changes. The public comment period deadlines for the proposed black bear regulations and commission amendments will remain unchanged. Comments already submitted will be reviewed by commissioners prior to the February meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 16.

During the December meeting, the commission will take final action on proposed amendments to the current Administrative Rule of Montana (ARM) dealing with wolf management. The public comment process followed for these proposed ARM changes is outlined in statute. A public hearing to hear comments was held Nov. 3. Comments were received through Nov. 6. Comment at the commission meeting will be limited to whether the commission should or should not adopt the rule amendments as final.

For a full agenda, background on the scheduled topics and public comments, go to the Fish and Wildlife Commission page on the FWP website.

FWP’s website offers live-streamed audio of each Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting.