Montana Hunting and Fishing Privileges for Veterans and Service Members

Four separate Montana provisions sit under this heading and each has its own gate. Purple Heart. Section 87-2-816(2) entitles a Montana resident awarded the Purple Heart to fish and to hunt game birds, not including wild turkeys, on the purchase of a conservation licence and a resident aquatic invasive species prevention pass. No fishing licence, no upland game bird licence, no age test. Subsection (3) extends the same to a nonresident Purple Heart recipient, but only during expeditions arranged by a nonprofit organization that uses fishing and hunting in the rehabilitation of disabled veterans. Verification of the Purple Heart and a DD-214 are required, and a resident can only obtain it at a Fish, Wildlife and Parks office rather than online. Legion of Valor. Section 87-2-816(1) entitles a member of the Legion of Valor, resident or nonresident, to fish with a conservation licence alone. The Legion of Valor is limited to holders of the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, the Air Force Cross and the Coast Guard Cross, so this is a very small group and a correspondingly broad privilege. VA hospital patients. Section 87-2-802(1) lets a veteran who is a patient residing at a hospital operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, within or outside Montana, fish without a licence. Note the words: residing at, not merely treated at. The person carries a permit on a form prescribed by the department and signed by the superintendent of the institution instead of a licence. The same provision covers residents of institutions under the Department of Public Health and Human Services. Stationed nonresidents. Section 87-2-102(1)(a) treats a member of the regular armed forces, and a spouse or dependent residing in the member's household, as a Montana resident for hunting, fishing and trapping licences if the member is stationed in and assigned to active duty in Montana, has lived in Montana for at least 30 days, and presents assignment orders plus proof of a hunter safety and education course or a trapper education course. The 30-day requirement is waived in time of war. Reassignment out of state ends the status, except where the spouse and dependents keep physically residing in Montana and the member continues to meet the other residency criteria. Two clauses in that residency section are worth keeping. Designating Montana as a "home of record" or "home of residence" in armed forces records does not by itself establish residency for licences, which disposes of the most common misunderstanding. And subsection (1)(b) provides that a member of the regular armed forces who is otherwise a Montana resident does not lose that status merely because, by virtue of that membership, they also hold or have applied for resident hunting, fishing or trapping privileges in another state. Holding two resident privileges normally destroys both, and for service members Montana carves that out. Section 87-2-817(3) protects a drawn licence lost to a deployment: a member of the armed forces who forfeited a licence or permit issued through a drawing because of a deployment of at least two months outside the state in support of a contingency operation is guaranteed the same licence or permit without additional fee, on application in the year of return or the first year the licence becomes available after it.