Hunting season 2017, let the adventures begin

By Roger Phillips, Public Information Specialist

Welcome to 2017, I hope you had a great hunting season last year, and it’s understandable if you think the season is winding down. Many people think hunting seasons start in late summer, run through fall and end during winter, but there are many hunting opportunities in Idaho throughout the year. 

Since we just started the new year, you can consider this the beginning of a new hunting season, too. Get your 2017 hunting license, if you haven’t already, and keep going into the field to pursue game and have the wonderful experiences that go along with it. 

There’s a lot of options in January, and beyond. Some upland bird seasons last through January. Duck and Canada goose seasons close at different times during January depending on which part of the state you’re in, and other waterfowl hunting opportunities run later.

White-fronted goose season goes until Feb. 19 in Area 2, which includes Southwest Idaho and portions of the Magic Valley (see the migratory game bird rules for details). 

Light goose seasons (blue, snow and Ross’s) extend into March depending on the area, so again, please check the rules booklet so you can see the exact boundaries. 

Light geese are overpopulated in some areas, and biologists are concerned that their high abundance can damage Arctic habitat, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

That means there are special rules in place to reduce these high populations, including the use of electronic calls and allowing unplugged shotguns. There are restrictions on where those rules apply, so again, check the rules booklet. 

Snow geese and white-fronts are interesting and exciting birds to hunt. If you’ve ever listened to a flock of snow geese overhead, or seen a swirling mass of white-fronted geese (aka speckle bellies) landing in a field, you know what I am talking about.

It’s a sight to see, hear and experience. If you haven’t, you owe it to yourself to check them out, even if you’re not hunting them.

One reason for the late seasons for these birds is they are often migrating back from the south, and following the receding snow line north, which makes southern Idaho a natural, but brief, stop over. 

When you’re done hunting waterfowl, you will barely have time to stow your decoys and clean your shotgun before spring turkey season opens on April 15. It’s a great time to be in the woods as they are coming alive with the sound of gobbling toms. 

Some hunters compare the excitement of calling a tom turkey to calling a bull elk, but with a much easier pack out if you’re successful at bringing a gobbler within shotgun range and closing the deal. 

Turkey hunting is also a great way to introduce novices to hunting because they often see and hear the birds up close, and there’s usually not the long, arduous hiking that’s involved with big game hunting. 

If you’re not a bird hunter, but still want to keep hunting, some hunters extend their season by taking on the challenge of predator hunting. Mountain lion and wolf hunting are open and continue through March in most parts of the state and beyond March in some areas.

You can find details in the big game rules booklet. Mountain lions are typically hunted with hounds, which is not an option for the average hunter, but there are outfitters available to guide you on one of these exciting hunts.

Predator hunting is also done by calling in the animals, and they all have a reputation for being wary and wily, so expect to put in some effort doing it, but you will have a trophy if you succeed.

The pelts are prime during winter, so you can have one turned into a rug, or a full-body mount. 

The end of mountain lion and most wolf seasons at the end of March dovetails with the start of spring black bear hunting in April, so you can continue pursuing big game. 

Like mountain lions, black bears are often hunted with hounds in units where it’s allowed, but hunters are also successful at baiting them, or by spotting and stalking them similar to deer and elk hunting. Spring bear hunting runs through June in many units. 

That brings us to July, and if you’re still itching to keep hunting, there are some limited opportunities for wolf hunting, but for most hunters, it’s time to start thinking about deer, elk and other seasons that start in August, September and October. 

So don’t feel like your 2017 hunting seasons should be limited to few months. If you’re willing to use your creativity and try some different quarry, and you can keep hunting nearly year round in Idaho.

Idaho spring steelhead season opens New Year’s Day

By Mike Demick, Conversation Information Supervisor

For some anglers, the best thing about New Year's is the start of the spring steelhead season, which opens Jan. 1 on parts of the Clearwater, Salmon, Little Salmon, Snake and Boise rivers.

But before wetting a line, anglers will need a 2017 Idaho fishing license and steelhead permit.

River sections to open include:

Salmon River from its mouth to the posted boundary 100 yards downstream of the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery weir, near the town of Stanley.

Little Salmon River from its mouth to the U.S. Highway 95 Bridge near Smokey Boulder Road.

Snake River from the Washington state line at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers upstream to Oxbow Dam.

Clearwater River mainstem and Middle Fork Clearwater River from its mouth to Clear Creek.

North Fork Clearwater River from its mouth to Dworshak Dam.

South Fork Clearwater River from its mouth to the confluence of American and Red Rivers.

Boise River from its mouth to the Barber Dam.

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. 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 are in the Boise River and the Snake River above Hells Canyon Dam only when stocked by Idaho Fish and Game. 

During November, over 300 steelhead were stocked in the Boise River. A steelhead permit is required to fish for and keep steelhead (rainbow trout longer than 20 inches with a clipped adipose fin). Barbless hooks are not required on the Boise River. 

Consult Idaho’s 2016-2018 Fishing Seasons and Rules brochure for exceptions and special restrictions. For additional information on steelhead fishing including the latest catch rates, dam counts, and useful instructional videos, go to https://idfg.idaho.gov/fish /steelhead.

Idaho ranchers struggle to protect pastures, haystacks

In “Gem State Producer” March 2016, Vol. 20, Issue 2, Idaho Farm Bureau

By John Thompson

Ranchers in the Lemhi Valley are under siege. Hungry elk are raiding haystacks every night causing tens of thousands of dollars in damages. Elk, deer and in some cases moose are feeding on haystacks, stealing and wasting tons of alfalfa set aside for winter feeding of livestock.

Ranchers in Custer County, Clearwater County and several others are also under pressure and incurring steep losses. Along the Lemhi River from Leadore to Carmen nearly every haystack is surrounded with battered wire fence panels and bales are gouged out along the bottom row where elk have pulled the hay out and weakened the stacks. Some stacks are close to toppling.

Others have fallen, creating significant amounts of wasted hay. Most ranchers are sympathetic to the starving animals’ plight. Yet frustrations are mounting because the Idaho Fish and Game Department’s remedies are less than adequate, according to ranchers who attended a public hearing organized by the Lemhi County Farm Bureau. During the meeting, held Feb. 3 at Salmon City Hall, ranchers speculated that wolves are contributing to the problem. They believe wolf predation is concentrating elk in low-lying areas.

Idaho Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Tom Curet confirmed that wolves have caused elk behavior to change. “I will say that wolves have changed the behavior of elk in this area, there’s no question about that,” Curet said. “We hunt wolves now from August 30 to March 31. We also have trappers and there is a lot of pressure on wolves right now. Hunters and trappers are keeping wolf numbers much more moderate than they were eight or 10 years ago.”

Idaho Fish and Game has several remedies to help landowners protect their crops and haystacks from depredating big game, including hazing, providing fencing materials, depredation hunting and landowner appreciation hunting tags. However, ranchers at the meeting expressed frustration at nearly every remedy. Deep snow came early and has remained throughout much of the winter.

Several ranchers said they have never seen this many elk congregated in the Lemhi Valley. Curet said elk counts from last winter showed the region is meeting population objectives for bulls and exceeding objectives for cows. Idaho Fish and Game is currently flying helicopters in the Salmon Region counting elk but the statistics were not available during the Feb. 3 meeting.

When ranchers raised the question about feeding the elk and attempting to bait them away from haystacks, Curet said the Department’s first priority is to protect stored hay. He implored landowners to contact Fish and Game as soon as elk become a problem.

Fish and Game has spent over $50,000 since Christmas on wire panels and other fencing materials to protect haystacks. However, the wire panels surrounding many haystacks in the Lemhi Valley are battered and bent. One rancher said it’s nearly impossible to keep hungry elk out of a haystack. They push on the fences until they create a hole and then crawl through it. Most of the damage is occurring after dark.

Hazing is one remedy that works temporarily, but then the elk just become someone else’s problem. Rancher Mike Kosler said he could haze elk out of his stack-yards, but he knows they will just move on to his neighbor’s haystack. Another rancher said he has hazed elk for several miles using four-wheelers, but they make it back to his ranch nearly as fast as he does.

In a subsequent meeting held at the Idaho Statehouse on Feb. 17, Ed Schreiber, Idaho Fish and Game Deputy Director of Field Operations, said the Department has seven employees dedicated to dealing with depredating wildlife. They receive an average of 700 depredation complaints annually.

This year so far there have been 236 depredation complaints, with 189 of them involving elk. The Department has issued 76 kill permits and authorized 22 depredation hunts. They are currently operating five emergency feeding sites for elk with about 650 animals total at those sites.

Schreiber said, according to Idaho Statute, “in a nutshell, prevention of depredation is defined as a responsibility of landowners to prevent and mitigate damages.” The Department collects money from hunting tag sales to pay for depredation prevention and compensation. In 2015 they collected $655,000 but the cost of the program eclipsed that amount and money had to be pulled from the state’s general fund to make up the shortfall.

Over the last 10 years the average depredation cost to the state has been $245,000 and they have averaged 30 claims on damage to stored crops. Idaho Cattle Association Executive Director Wyatt Prescott said his organization wants elk managed away from private cattle operations. “Ultimately this industry has challenges going through the compensation program,” Prescott said.

“The goal is to manage wildlife away from the common threat. Many landowners enjoy having wildlife on their property but we’ve had two feet of snow all winter and around the haystacks the elk manure makes it resemble a CAFO. We don’t necessarily want compensation. We want to manage elk away from the conflict areas for ranchers,” Prescott said. 

Curet said the Department is reluctant to establish new winter feeding grounds for elk because of the potential for brucellosis transmission and other disease concerns. “Our main goal is prevention,” Curet said. “I also want to mention that you need to contact us if you are having problems. By state law the operator has to report the damage and then we have to respond before we can compensate. Winter feeding of elk is a dangerous prospect but if we need to bait them away then we would entertain that possibility. Our first priority is to help you protect haystacks. Then we try to harass the elk off and if that doesn’t work we start killing elk.”

Lemhi County Farm Bureau President James Whittaker said the Fish and Game compensation program doesn’t work. “It doesn’t function and it’s not workable so none of us want to apply for it,” Whittaker said. “We also have frustration with the landowner appreciation tag system. Basically what you’re doing is trying to force it down our neck when we are the ones carrying the animals.”

Whittaker said hunting pressure forces elk onto private land in the fall and wolves also contribute. If landowners were allowed to market the landowner appreciation tags that would push elk off the private land and make them available to hunters which would reduce herd sizes. “The legislature needs to change the compensation law and the landowner appreciation tag law and compensation needs to add up to 100 percent of damage incurred,” he said. “Those tags need to be given out in a number commensurate with damage to private property and the property owner should be able to market those tags as he chooses.”

The Lemhi County Farm Bureau is attempting to collect data related to damages this winter. County Board member Wes Mackay said an elk eats about 20 pounds of forage per day. Landowners are encouraged to survey their damages by number of elk counted feeding on haystacks or in private pastures, multiply by 20 pounds per day and report the numbers to the County Farm Bureau office.

Other ranchers who attended the meeting in Salmon expressed frustration with the hunting options provided by Idaho Fish and Game. Hunting on private property is a much different experience than many Idaho hunters expect. With barns and other outbuildings, as well as neighbors’ homes often nearby, it requires the rancher to oversee the hunts carefully in many instances. 

Yet guiding hunters on private land requires a guide license. Either way, ranchers say it takes up a lot of their time to make the hunts happen and after elk are shot it doesn’t necessarily alleviate the problem. Will Naillon, Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner for the Salmon Region, said it’s time to start talking about a long term solution to this problem.

“The Commission has to look at social acceptance and carrying capacity of the land and the relationship between sportsmen who think there is no such thing as too many elk and ranchers who are trying to make a living,” he said. “If we end up with an elk population that is beyond social acceptance we need to do something but a lot of this is set in Idaho code and these things can be changed. I’d rather see a long term solution than paying out huge depredation claims.”

Hunting, fishing seasons continue through holidays

There’s still time to bag that Christmas game bird, goose, or maybe a nice solstice-season steelhead. For hunters and anglers itching to get out in the field or to wet a line during the holiday season, several opportunities are available.

Pheasant seasons in Areas 1 and 3 are open through Dec. 31. Forest grouse seasons are open through Jan. 31 in north Idaho’s Area 1 and through Dec. 31 in the rest of the state. Seasons for bobwhite and California quail in Area 1 are open through Jan. 31, and chukar and gray partridge seasons are open statewide through Jan. 31 as well. In addition, turkey hunters can hunt either sex through Dec. 31 on private lands-only in much of the Clearwater region. 

For upland game hunters, the cottontail season is open through February 28, and snowshoe hare season through March 31. There is no season on pygmy rabbits.

It’s also not too late to bag that Christmas goose, with Idaho waterfowl seasons open through the holidays into January. In parts of southern Idaho, the white-fronted goose season extends into February and light goose (Snow and Ross’ geese) season extends into March. 

The daily goose bag limit is four Canada geese; 10 white-fronted geese; and 20 for light geese. The possession limit is three times the daily bag limit.

The statewide daily bag limit is seven ducks; but not more than two female mallard, three scaup, two redhead, two pintail, and two canvasback. 

Waterfowl hunters must have a valid Idaho hunting license, a federal migratory game bird harvest information program validation, and a federal duck stamp. The duck stamp is valid through the end of June.

For anglers with time off during the holidays, the fall steelhead season remains open through Dec. 31 in the Clearwater River and the North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork Clearwater rivers where bag limits are two per day and six in possession, and in the Salmon, Little Salmon, Snake and Boise rivers where limits are three per day and nine in possession. The spring steelhead season starts Jan. 1 in these waters with limits of three per day and nine in possession. 

Fishing is open year round in many other waters as well.

Idaho hunters and anglers must have 2015 licenses and appropriate permits through Dec. 31. On Jan. 1, they will need new 2016 licenses and permits. They are encouraged to review the current season and rule brochures available at all Fish and Game license vendors and online at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov.

Summer Chinook fishing to close on most rivers

Most of Idaho’s summer Chinook salmon fishing seasons are coming to a close Sunday, Aug. 2. 

Idaho Fish and Game will close fishing for spring/summer Chinook salmon on the mainstem Clearwater, Middle Fork Clearwater, South Fork Clearwater, Lochsa, Snake, and a section of the upper Salmon River from the Copper Mine to a posted boundary upstream of the mouth of Valley Creek near Stanley at the end of fishing hours on Aug. 2 (9 p.m. Pacific Time and 10 p.m. Mountain Time). 

Harvest of jack Chinook salmon (those under 24 inches) will continue on the upper Salmon River from the posted boundary upstream of Valley Creek upstream to the posted boundary about 100 yards downstream of the weir at Sawtooth Hatchery. This section will close to salmon fishing at 10 p.m. Mountain Time on Sunday, Aug. 9. 

The Chinook salmon fishing season continues on the Boise River through Sept. 30. The daily limit is two salmon, regardless of size. Fishing is permitted 24 hours a day and barbless hooks are not required.

Idaho’s wildlife professionals to advocacy groups: stop crying wolf

By Virgil Moore, Director, Idaho Fish and Game

It’s important for state agencies to understand and respect differing points of view. But when a few advocacy groups try to grab headlines by skewing Idaho Fish and Game scientific wolf monitoring data in ways that simply aren't true, it’s also important to set the record straight. 

Here are the facts:

Idaho has more than 100 documented wolf packs and over 600 wolves. Idaho’s wolf population far exceeds federal recovery levels of 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves. 

After meeting federal recovery levels in 2002, Idaho’s wolf population grew largely unchecked for the remainder of the decade, resulting in increased conflicts with other big game populations and livestock. 

After four harvest seasons since the 2011 delisting, livestock depredations have declined. Wolf predation continues to have unacceptable impacts to some elk populations, but there are signs elk populations are responding positively to wolf management.

Wolves in Idaho continue to be prolific and resilient. Idaho will keep managing wolves to have a sustainable, delisted population and to reduce conflicts with people, livestock, and other big game populations.

Despite these facts, a few advocacy groups chose to take the breeding pair metric out of context to make claims that Idaho wolves are “teetering on the brink of endangered status once again.” That’s hogwash. And it’s the kind of polarizing misinformation that undermines responsible wildlife conservation and management in Idaho.

Confirming a pack meets U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s narrow definition of a “breeding pair” is costly and labor-intensive. With vast reductions in federal funding to the state and Nez Perce Tribe for wolf monitoring, Fish and Game has focused our effort on demonstrating Idaho has at least 15 “breeding pairs” to comply with federal recovery requirements.

Idaho closely surveyed 30 packs and confirmed that 22 of them met the breeding pair standard at the end of 2014. Because Idaho has shown it is well above federal recovery levels, we may rely on less intensive monitoring for the other 70 + packs as we complete our final 2014 population estimates. One can assume these 70+ packs include some additional breeding pairs. We will publish our annual monitoring report in March.

As trained scientists, Idaho Fish and Game stands by our data and our wildlife management plans. We manage wolves to ensure we keep state management authority and address conflicts with people, livestock, and other big game populations. 

I hope people who truly care about wildlife conservation ignore the exaggerations and misinformation and help Fish and Game focus on the real issues affecting Idaho’s wildlife.

Vehicle accident en route to IDFG Salmon Camp

Idaho Fish and Game volunteer instructor Tim Cochnauer and two students, a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy, both of Lewiston, were injured after the 2010 Toyota Tundra they were riding in left the roadway on Highway 14 the afternoon of Aug. 12, along the South Fork Clearwater River. 

 

“Tim and his crew were part of the larger class of students who had travelled ahead. Tim was busy answering questions and pointing out all of the wonderful features of the South Fork when he veered too far to the left,” said IDFG in a statement about the crash.

The pickup traveled approximately 15 feet up a steep embankment until it struck a rocky outcropping, causing the vehicle to roll, coming to rest on its passenger side.

“His (Tim’s) quick thinking to take on the rocky bank on the left versus over-correcting may very well have kept the truck out of the river,” said IDFG in their statement. “Both of Tim’s young passengers were heroes, themselves as they helped Tim out of the truck.”

All occupants were wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident.

Both teenage boys and Cochnauer were taken to Syringa Hospital in Grangeville. The teenage boys were released with minor injuries.

Cochnauer suffered more significant injuries, including a fracture of his hand and a compression fracture of a vertebrae, but was also released from the hospital Tuesday evening.

Cochnauer, a retired Fish and Game Clearwater Regional Fish Manager, was a volunteer instructor for Fish and Game’s Clearwater Youth Salmon Camp. He was traveling to the department’s Red River Wildlife Management Area near Elk City.

An overnight session was scheduled on Tuesday night at Fish and Game’s Ponderosa Ranch facility located on Red River.

Contact the Idaho Fish and Game regional office at (208) 799-5010 for more information.