Weiser River and Sawtooth Elk Zones Seasons

customweld · Mar 27, 2017

https://idfg.idaho.gov/blog/2017/03/commission-decisions-weiser-and-sawtooth-elk-hunts

andrew12gauge · Mar 27, 2017

Seems like they kinda walked back those weiser river zone cow hunts a little bit, and the fact that they put quotas in place to keep the zone from being overrun was a good idea as well. As far as the sawtooth zone even splitting the tag sales up like that I'm sure there will still be a lot of angry people who don't get tags

twsnow18 · Mar 29, 2017

We've killed cows in the Weiser zone 3 out of the last 4 years. The elk numbers have been great and we should have went 4/4. However, I don't think the unit is sooo far over objective that they need to be slaughtered either.

The proposal includes turning some of the current controlled cow hunts into extra tags, adding cows to the general bull tag and adding more controlled cow hunts to the 18 anterless hunts already in place the Weiser Zone.

To those that have hunted the Weiser zone longer than I have, what are your thoughts?

customweld · Mar 29, 2017

It is going to be interesting for sure. I was glad to see that they scaled back on some of the original proposal. If the main objective is to cull some the cow population to alleviate depredation on private ground, it is going to take some cooperation from landowners. It is my opinion that a lot of these elk are going to be pushed right on to private ground. Without landowner cooperation and access, the objective isn't going to be met.With the A tags being open for antlerless,any weapon during deer season, It may be downright dangerous on the hill. I grew up in that country and have hunted it all of my life. I have a hard time believing that the elk numbers are that far above the carrying capacity.

Weiserbucks · Mar 29, 2017

I just spent my first winter in Weiser. I think part of the issue is that there were a ton of elk in and around town. I would think that during a normal winter, the elk would be much more spread out and less in the barns of the ranchers.

My theory is that the ranchers had a lot more losses this year than in the past . When there's that much snow , the elk will turn to the easiest food source possible.

I don't have much time in the area , but I'm not sure killing more cows is the answer to a tough winter. Maybe guys with more experience can chime in .

customweld · Mar 29, 2017

It doesn't need to be said that this winter was out of the norm for the lower country.It may be another 30 years before we have another similar winter. I'm just not convinced the need to be so hell bent on reducing the size of the herd.

twsnow18 · Mar 30, 2017

LAST EDITED ON Mar-30-17 AT 12:39PM (MST)[p]>It doesn't need to be said
>that this winter was out
>of the norm for the
>lower country.It may be another
>30 years before we have
>another similar winter. I'm just
>not convinced the need to
>be so hell bent on
>reducing the size of the
>herd.

Thanks customweld, I agree. That's what I feared. The high country around Council, West Mountain and that area seems to have good amounts of grass, water and green feed in the alpine areas compared to other parts of that state.

Much of Idaho has very rocky, dry and brown high country (The Sawtooth batholith or the Middle fork Zone for example) with much less feed up high.

In my opinion, the herd could be reduced slightly but not slaughtered as proposed. I think more emphasis and pressure needs to put on the landowners to build better fences and allow more hunters permission. The Weiser Zone has greater carrying capacity than much of the state I feel.

andrew12gauge · Mar 30, 2017

The way they proposed it was set up for a slaughter, the way that it actually came down with quotas on the tags and more restrictions(b tag more of a greenfield hunt and shortened a tag season) I think it will go very well. Let's not forget that IDFG was giving out something like 3-4000 antlerless tags in this zone previously and the herd was continuing to grow

customweld · Mar 30, 2017

LAST EDITED ON Mar-30-17 AT 08:15PM (MST)[p]You're absolutely right Andrew. As originally proposed, it was going to be a wholesale slaughter. If you can get access to some private ground , that B tag should be pretty successful. I haven't seen what they are putting out for controlled hunts, I have a feeling there may be a hefty amount of extra tags.As for carrying capacity, I think your right TW. The hills are productive enough that the ranchers graze the snot out of it from the time the snow melts until it's snowed back over.