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February 10, 2011

Moose, sheep and goat seasons set

By Ed Mitchell, IDFG

   The Idaho Fish and Game Commission, Thursday, Jan. 27, approved moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat seasons for 2011 and 2012.

   The number of moose tags dropped, following declining hunt success in central Idaho. The new quota includes 761 tags for antlered Bull Moose down by seven percent from 2009-2010, and 163 tags for antlerless moose, down from 197 earlier.

   Three tags for bighorn sheep was added in controlled hunt area 37, following a 2010 census of the herd. In southwestern Idaho, the total number of tags declined by one. Two tags each ere subtracted from early and late hunts in the Owyhee River area - controlled hunt areas 42-1 and 42-2. But the hunt in the Bruneau-Jarbidge drainages was split into early and late hunts and three tags added.

   Two new hunts for mountain goats, with one tag each, were established in the Panhandle Region - one in Unit 1 and the other in units 7 and 9. In the Clearwater area, hunt boundaries were adjusted to create a new hunt in units 10 and 12, and a tag was added in eastern Idaho's Unit 67.

   The fall 2010 hunting season was notable in that two new state record bighorn sheep were taken by Idaho hunters. The largest Rocky Mountain bighorn ram ever harvested by an Idaho hunter, scoring more than 197 Boone & Crockett points, was taken in Hells Canyon, and the largest California bighorn harvested by a hunter, at more than 185 points, was taken in the Jarbidge River drainage.

   Moose, Sheep and Goat 2011 and 2012 rule books are expected to be available by the end of February. The application period for trophy species hunts runs from April 1 through 30.

Sportsmen's Report sponsored by John and Lorraine Weiland