Wildlife?

Muleyfanatic · May 24, 2010

I'm doing a speech at school about Idaho Wildlife. My 3 main topics are Poaching, Wolves, and Idaho Fish and Game's poor management. I am pretty well covered on wolves but anybody have information I could put on it from poaching or Idaho Fish and Game?

IDkTm · May 24, 2010

What makes you think IDFG has poor management? Seems you might be putting the cart before the horse.

As for poaching why not contact your closest IDFG office and ask to speak to an officer.

Moosey69 · May 24, 2010

>What makes you think IDFG has
>poor management? Seems you
>might be putting the cart
>before the horse.

What makes me that is that Idaho has some of the best MuleDeer and Elk genetics in the west yet if you look at the B&C books there has been a sharp decline over the past 15-20+ years and even in areas not dealing with wolves. Idaho has some of the best MuleDeer and Elk habitat in the west, yet populations continue to trend down (and once again even in areas with no wolves yet). If all the unlimited OTC tags, and even allowing 2nd tags to be bought in those areas is not the definition of "poor management", I don't know what is.

Although I disagree with the first part of your response I think the last part is good advice.
>As for poaching why not contact
>your closest IDFG office and
>ask to speak to an
>officer.

gooseslayer · May 24, 2010

you must hunt around 32,32A, and 39...i've argued with F&G for i don't know how long about managing the hardest hit areas a little better, such as putting a quota on tags for certain units, changing a unit to four point only for two or three years then switching it to forked horn only....fish and game says that deer will start to mature at a three point and not get any larger?????? doesn't make sense, as for limiting tags for the three units mentioned i've spoken with several officers that say they will stay how they are.....due to the fact that they are the main "money makers" for the F&G.....extremely poor management IMO

alaska_lanche · May 24, 2010

I'd say its poor "trophy" management, but great opportunity management.

Bullelk1 · May 24, 2010

Somewhere on the IDFG home page, probably under "News" is a series of articles on poachers that were caught. Might be a good info source for you.

BPKHunter · May 25, 2010

A novel thought that I would suggest.

Do some research on your topic before deciding the conclusion. If you are concerned about the state of Big Game populations in Idaho and wether or not Fish and Game Policy/Management is the primary factor, do some research.

Starting here with Hunters is a good resource for opinions and maybe even a few facts, suprisingly you may not find they all support the Fish and Game is the primary or even sole factor.

Seek some professional studies that may discuss the impacts of the big game species you are concerned about to see their conclusions. Compare the relative change over time to that of other States to see if Idaho is isolated.

Last, seek some counsel from the group you are primarily pointing the finger at. I can recommend that you give Bill London a call. Bill is the Regional Supervisor of the Conservation Officers in SW Idaho, covering most of the units mentioned 32, 32a, 39. Bill can address both questions you have, "poaching" and "why has Fish and Game done such a bad job". PM me directly and I'll get you Bill's contact info, or simply call the downtown or Nampa Fish and Game offices and they will direct you.

Please, after you have had this discussion and done some research, report back to us what you think.

Another suggestion. Be sure to define your question. Who do you think Fish and Game has done a bad job for 1) All Sportsmen 2) The wildlife themselves 3) Trophy Hunters 4) All of the Above.

P.S. The amount of time it will take to do this research is less than you think, most via the internet and a call to Bill.