CLEARWATER TRIBUNE HOME

December 16, 2010

It's not too soon to enter super hunt

By Ed Mitchell, IDFG

   Last minute gift idea: get your favorite hunter a chance to win the hunt of a lifetime.

   The first drawing is still several months away, but it's not too early to enter Idaho Fish and Game's Super Hunt.

   The Super Hunt is a fund-raising drawing for 40 big game tags. The tags are handed out to winners in two drawings. Entries are drawn for elk, deer, pronghorn and moose tags. Winners can participate in any open hunt in the state for deer, elk, pronghorn or moose. That includes general hunts and controlled hunts.

   Fish and Game has changed the price of Super Hunt and Super Hunt Combo entries in an effort to simplify sales for the fundraising drawings and to allow electronic entries, instant processing and to eliminate the need for filling out tickets by hand. Entries are no longer sold in packages. The simplified pricing allows the purchase of any number and combination of Super Hunt and Super Hunt Combo entries.

   The first Super Hunt entry for a species costs $6. Each additional entry for the same species purchased at the same time costs $4. The Super Hunt Combo entries work the same way. The first one costs $20, and each additional entry purchased at the same time will cost $16.

   The first drawing is in June when entries are drawn for eight elk, eight deer and eight pronghorn hunts as well as one moose hunt. One Super Hunt Combo entry also will be drawn that will entitle the winner to four hunts - one each elk, deer, pronghorn and moose.

   The second drawing is in August with two winners for elk, two for deer, two for pronghorn and one for a moose along with another Super Hunt Combo.

   Winners can participate in any open hunt in the state for deer, elk, pronghorn or moose, including general and controlled hunts.

   Entries can be bought online at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/superhunt/, at license vendors and Fish and Game offices, by phone at 800-554-8685, or by mail at: IDFG License Section, P.O. Box 25, Boise, ID 83707.

   Money from the sale of entries supports the Access Yes! Program, which compensates landowners to provide hunter and angler access to or across private land.

   For information about this program contact local Fish and Game officials or visit the Website at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/accessyesguide.aspx.

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Spring steelhead season opens soon

By Ed Mitchell, IDFG

   A surefire cure for cabin fever, steelhead spring harvest season opens Jan. 1 and continues until April 30 on many river segments, except parts of the Salmon, on the Little Salmon, the Snake above Hells Canyon Dam and the Boise rivers.

   The steelhead limit is three per day, nine in possession and 20 for the season. Once limits are reached, the angler must stop fishing, even catch and release.

   On Jan. 1, anglers need a 2011 Idaho fishing license and steelhead permit.

   Steelhead anglers may use only barbless hooks, and may keep only hatchery steelhead marked with a clipped adipose fin. All other steelhead must be released unharmed immediately.

Steelhead fishing on the:

·   Clearwater River mainstem and Middle Fork from its mouth upstream to Clear Creek is open until April 30.

·   North Fork Clearwater River from its mouth upstream to Dworshak Dam is open until April 30.

·   South Fork Clearwater River from its mouth upstream to the confluence of American and Red Rivers is open until April 30.

·   Salmon River from its mouth upstream to the Lake Creek Bridge about six miles upstream from the mouth of the Little Salmon River, and from Long Tom Creek (about a quarter mile upstream from the Middle Fork Salmon River) to the posted boundary 100 yards downstream from the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery weir, near the town of Stanley is open until April 30.

·   Salmon River from the Lake Creek Bridge to Long Tom Creek (about a quarter mile upstream from the Middle Fork Salmon River) closes March 31.

·   Little Salmon River from its mouth upstream to the U.S. Highway 95 bridge near Smokey Boulder Road remains open until May 15.

·   Snake River from the Washington state line at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers upstream to Hells Canyon Dam is open until April 30.

·   Snake River upstream of Hells Canyon Dam to Oxbow Dam is open until May 31.

·   Boise River from its mouth upstream to Barber Dam is open until May 31.

   In the boundary waters on the Snake River between Idaho and Oregon or Washington, an angler with a valid Idaho fishing license and steelhead permit may fish where the river forms the boundary between Idaho and Oregon or Washington, but may not fish from the shoreline, including wading, and may not fish in sloughs or tributaries on the Oregon or Washington side.

   An angler may have only the limit allowed by one license regardless of the number of licenses the angler holds.

   Consult fishing rules brochure for exceptions and special restrictions. For more information on steelhead fishing in Idaho, check the Fish and Game Website http://fishandgame.idaho.gov.

Sportsmen's Report sponsored by John and Lorraine Weiland