POCATELLO — The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is considering eliminating youth-only general season antlerless mule deer hunts in Southeast Idaho because of this year’s harsh winter.
The proposal, if approved by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission next month, would prevent youths from harvesting antlerless mule deer in Fish and Game’s Southeast Region during the 2017 and 2018 general deer hunting seasons.
However, youths will still be able harvest mule deer bucks, while some controlled hunts will still be available.
Wildlife officials have cited large numbers of mule deer fawn deaths in multiple areas across the state because of this year’s harsh winter conditions.
Because young hunters are the largest demographic that hunt antlerless deer in Idaho, Fish and Game officials say the proposal is needed to ensure that there are healthy deer populations and quality hunts in the future.
According to statistics presented at a public big game season-setting meeting at Fish and Game’s Pocatello office Thursday evening, some locations in the state, such as the Boise River and Wesier-McCall areas, are seeing mule deer fawn mortality rates of 18 percent. But because the statistics presented at Thursday’s meeting were last recorded on Jan. 31, officials warned those numbers are higher now.
However, Fish and Game officials said mule deer fawn mortality numbers were not available for the Southeast Region because the region does not have radio collars for fawns.
Sportsmen and sportswomen in attendance at Thursday’s meeting were split regarding the youth-hunt proposal. Some publicly expressed support for the change, agreeing that everything must be done to help deer herds after such a destructive winter. However, others worried that the measure could turn kids away from hunting, because it is far easier for a young hunter to harvest a doe than a buck.
Fish and Game officials said that youth-only antlerless hunts would return once the deer populations recovered.
“We hate having to take away hunting opportunities from our youth,” said Zach Lockyer, Fish and Game regional wildlife manager. “We want to add this back as soon as possible.”
Mule deer hunts aren’t the only hunts being seriously affected by this year’s severe winter weather conditions.
In January, approximately 300 pronghorn antelope crossed the ice on the American Falls Reservoir and entered the Fort Hall area.
With the ice melting rapidly on the reservoir, Fish and Game officials are concerned that the antelope will not be able to make it back to their habitat in Game Management Unit 68, which is in the expansive Big Desert area west of Aberdeen. If that happens, wildlife officials said the pronghorn herd in Unit 68 could quickly shrink in size and take years to fully recover.
To prepare for a possibly smaller pronghorn herd, Fish and Game officials are proposing to cut the number of pronghorn tags in three controlled hunts in Unit 68.
Other big game hunting proposals for the 2017 and 2018 hunting seasons in the Southeast Region include:
- Providing more controlled antlerless mule deer hunts along highways and urban areas of Bear Lake and Franklin counties to address conflicts with wildlife.
- Continue to provide late-season hunting opportunities with a muzzleloader-only mule deer hunt in Game Management Unit 73A as part of a rotating hunt.
- Reduce crowding and social concerns in the late 72/76 archery-only mule deer hunt by making it first-choice only.
- Providing muzzleloader opportunity for antlerless elk in the Diamond Creek and Bannock elk zones to address depredation concerns and to offer a unique late-season hunting opportunity.
- Providing either-sex short-range opportunity within 1-mile of private cultivated fields from Aug. 15 to Sept. 30 in the Big Desert elk zone to address elk depredation.
- Extending the spring black bear hunt Unit 76 and 66A from June 7 to June 15.
- Proposing to maintain the pursuit-only black bear season in Units 75, 77 and 78, but remove the language asking sportsmen to contact the regional office if they are interested in providing information on black bears.
- For mountain lion hunting, establish female quotas that represent current 3-year average harvest parameters.
Sportsmen have until Sunday before midnight to provide input on these proposals. Comments are accepted at idfg.idaho.gov by clicking on “Idaho Big Game Season Proposals for 2017-2018.”
Fish and Game officials will review the public comments, make adjustments to the current proposals and then present the final proposals to the Idaho Fish and Game Commission at the March 16 meeting in Boise. The commission can either approve, modify or decline the proposals.
