The Future of Idaho

[Hblazier3]

Being born and raised in Idaho, I cut my teeth hunting in these mountains and hills, right outside our back door actually. I rarely remember not harvesting in the first few days of season. My example today is mule deer, I pulled these statistics from a general unit I grew up hunting and still hunt today.

Mule deer general season any weapons-

-2008

• Total Harvest- 528
• # of Hunters- 1258
• Success- 42%
• Antlered- 444
• Antlerless-80

-2022

• Total Harvest-178
• Hunters-971
• Success-18%
• Antlered-168
• Antlerless-10

The reason for my rant today is to shed some light on an overly discussed, under researched by average joe people topic. These stats are pretty average across the board of most general units.
My opinion? Either cap the tags, or follow suit with Wyoming. Our hunting oppurtunities are diminishing before our eyes. Fish and Game seems to not care. The facts dont lie, our experiences out in the field are real, and there is no preservation for the generations ahead of us.
Please comment your thoughts, write IDFG your opinions, and do your research.

 

[SWOHTR]

I want to be mad but don’t have the energy to. All I’ll say is thank you to idaho for allowing me to first experience western hunting.

 

[CorbLand]

The bigger question is the why?

What am I supposed to write to fish and game about? Stats that they already know?

 

[downthepipe]

Native here. I like your approach because there isn’t any reason to bitch and moan about growth because all mountain west states have experienced that. I hope Idaho never goes to points. When it comes to deer It’s time to get realistic and creative.

Realistic:
- more cuts to NR general mule deer tags and turn NR to all controlled hunts.
- 5% reduction in controlled hunt tag quota all around for mule deer

Legislature gets aggressive and starts using surplus for our future (yes more government):
- put millions of taxpayer dollars into access yes
- put millions of dollars into buying access to landlocked state properties
- put millions of dollars into enforcement of illegal off road use including better infrastructure like fences and gates. Also, more game wardens instead of relying on check points (yes I believe people are breaking laws and even hunting wrong units)
- put millions of dollars into cheat grass fight

Here’s a few on the Creative side (if I was the dictator)
- any deer/elk/antelope controlled hunt with less than a 3% draw odds over last decade become once in a lifetime (for that unit/species) moving forward.
- nonresidents drawing a controlled antlered hunt may not apply for that species again for 5 years.
- (A biggie) pick 2 species max to apply for (yes that includes sheep, moose, goat).
- dedicated hunter programs to incentivize adult males from shooting young deer.
- shed hunting seasons

 

[Jimbee]

Why has the success rate decreased? What do you think fish and game should do differently and why?

 

[Bwhntr]

I hunt idaho as a NR. I feel bad for hunting out of state at times but the opportunity in other states seems to be better than my state (UT).

I can go to Idaho or Colorado and see twice the number of deer and half the hunters that I do here. Or overall buck quality is just better.

Unfortunately poor management or poor opportunities in one state push people out of state. It’s a vicious cycle.

That and the rise of social media hunting influencers has decreased the quality of hunting everywhere imo. I think every western state is struggling right now. Could be wrong and hope I don’t catch flack for being and out of stater.

 

[hj3!]

The bigger question is the why?

What am I supposed to write to fish and game about? Stats that they already know?

Those stats aren’t good at all but I agree that you really need an answer or at least an idea of the possible reason those numbers are even in that range.

 

[Glockster26]

Maybe those missing 287 hunters were the real killers? All that F&G is going to see or care about is there were 287 more people hunting in 2008 and how to get more hunters back in there.
Maybe pay newberg or the hunting public guys to promote Idaho!

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

I’ve had a lifetime fishing and hunting license here in Idaho since I was 2 years old.

This season on an archery hunt I was with my cousin. We took his truck which has Washington plates. I was riding my girlfriend’s dirtbike that has an Oregon plate on it. Everyone assumed we were both non residents. Out of 5 different groups we talked to, 4 of the groups were non resident, and one group were from Idaho. The 4 groups of non residents were awesome, polite, and helpful. The one group from Idaho were ass holes.

That being said, I think there’s a stigma that non residents are getting so many of our tags and don’t deserve them. They only account for 10% of our non res tags now. But they account for a hell of a lot of our IDFG tag sale dollars.

I think lower harvest rates are due to two main reasons… less overall animals in Idaho, (for various reasons) and the fact that people are being idealized by YouTube hunters and thinking it’s easy.

Ken

 

[Red Letters]

Any thoughts on lion numbers or any other contributing factors. I’ve read and watched several videos lately where they talk about mule deer numbers dropping way down and rebounding.

I almost think programs like this are worth a shot. https://www.mexicohuntingranch.com/...205795337&mc_cid=cf1bb1c3eb&mc_eid=72114c9986

 

[Cman]

Id say the cats are right where we saw good mule deer activity we went back and cat tracks were everywhere

 

[SWOHTR]

Why not sell more NR tags to get more funding to pay for more enforcement options?

Oh wait…

 

[khart_6882]

Maybe since 2008 a lot of the ol boys and locals have aged on and stopped hunting and been replaced with NR’s who are significantly less successful


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[idahodave]

It’s habitat gentlemen…always has been and always will be. Improve that or none of the other stuff matters.

The SINGLE biggest impact to mule deer population decline in Idaho is the invasion of cheat grass…followed by habitat fragmentation...which are somewhat interrelated. The sooner we can fix that, the sooner we’ll get more deer back to hunt.

Dave

 

[camelcluch]

I want to agree but it seems that you are mad at the wrong thing. Tag numbers are capped and haven’t really changed much. It’s not surprising that the harvest numbers lowered with more hunters. Most people aren’t very good in the mountains. There is more to the numbers like wolves and resident population growth. Again, tag numbers have been fairly stable. No more buying a second left over tag at the gas station. Overall I agree, something has to be done but not just Idaho, most of the west. Hopefully things get better for you. I suggest sending more hunter to Oregon. Yep, I said it. Hey everyone, Oregon is awesome!!

 

[Legend]

Any thoughts on lion numbers or any other contributing factors. I’ve read and watched several videos lately where they talk about mule deer numbers dropping way down and rebounding.

I almost think programs like this are worth a shot. https://www.mexicohuntingranch.com/...205795337&mc_cid=cf1bb1c3eb&mc_eid=72114c9986

How are elite private hunting ranches helpful?

 

[downthepipe]

Why not sell more NR tags to get more funding to pay for more enforcement options?

Oh wait…

How about instead of cutting taxes and putting money in rainy day funds we actually invest in the land and the people.

 

[Jimbee]

It’s habitat gentlemen…always has been and always will be. Improve that or none of the other stuff matters.

The SINGLE biggest impact to mule deer population decline in Idaho is the invasion of cheat grass…followed by habitat fragmentation...which are somewhat interrelated. The sooner we can fix that, the sooner we’ll get more deer back to hunt.

Dave

It's almost always habitat. I like hearing all the interesting theories though.

 

[willfrye027]

You are looking at a very good year in Idaho and a very bad one. You can easily correlate these with weather/winter kill and general population fluctuations.

Try harder to find reasons you don’t like nonres hunting Idaho

 

[cuerro viejo]

hooooooowwwlllllllllll