Whitetail deer seasons

Last week the Idaho Department of Fish and Game held a public meeting in Boise. The F&G Commissioners passed a recommendation from the IDFG to extend four back country Units (16A, 17, 19 and 20) general weapon season to 67 days (a 2-day increase). Let me repeat that….67 days with a high-powered weapon (1 hunter, 1 tag).

At the 2018 Boise Meeting, the F&G Commissioners listened to the Clearwater Regional Commissioner (at the time) to trim back these seasons to a common sense 40 day length. That Commission voted 7 to 0 to approve. Immediately the following year, our current Commissioner returned these four Units back to 65-day seasons. The IDFG presented no new data or facts to justify this restoration. They themselves designated this area as medium to low deer density and also offered no population estimates for buck/doe ratios, age structure and herd recruitment/productivity. The IDFG reported very low success over a very large area for the 2020 season and is expected to remain low.

Last week, the IDFG proposed to extend this out to 67 days solely based on a “law enforcement technicality” ….not wildlife science or new data. NO OTHER state in the west allows the abuse of a wildlife resource in this manner. Our deer herds will never be able to recover if these seasons remain in place. As a common sense and ethical hunter, I have no words that can make sense of this decision or these seasons.

Therefore, if anyone is interested (or knows of someone who is interested) in looking into becoming a F&G Commissioner please call the Governor.

William Samuels

Orofino

NIWF President