The Montana Trappers Association is trying to sneak into the ranks of our state’s hunters and anglers. HB 372 proposes a referendum to make trapping a constitutional right, but the short title is “Establish right to hunt in [the] Constitution”. The bill includes hunting and fishing because trappers know that without those widely-accepted public uses, their effort would surely fail.

Our Montana Constitution and statutes already protect the interests of hunters and anglers. Trapping is already protected outside of the Constitution by statutes. But treating trapping in the same category as hunting and fishing is false—they are very different for a lot of reasons.