I have always used the winter months from January to the end of April to ski and maintain all my firearms and make sure they are cleaned, repaired if necessary, and in good working order for the target shooting, sighting in and the scouting for game I do from May to the end of July. During August, I begin to get ready for the hunting season, which for archery season opens about the end of August and goes through September. I then have 10 days to get ready for any-weapon season, which usually starts on Oct. 10. If I haven’t harvested any game by the end of October, there are still some hunts available for elk in November. So far in my life, I haven’t done much hunting in December except for jackrabbits on the Arco Desert back in the 1950s and early ’60s with my father who loved jackrabbit hunting.
At the first of January this year, I received an email from Fish and Game suggesting I renew my hunting license. While I was considering the pros and cons of renewing my hunting license now, instead of in April when I am getting ready to scout for game in three different areas, I got another email from a local sporting goods store telling me that I could hunt predators this winter and spring bear hunting was coming up.
The second email from the local sporting goods store reminded me that all hunters are not of the same mind when it comes to what we hunt and which hunting seasons we take advantage of during the year. For example, I don’t hunt bear. I don’t have a problem with those hunters that do, and I understand that in this day and age we have to manage the game and habitat carefully to ensure that there will be enough wild places and animals for future generations to enjoy. Hunting is certainly an important tool for wildlife management, and hunting seasons have been established for each species of wildlife. I just have never hunted bear because I have no justifiable reason to kill one unless it was in self defense. So far, when I have run into bears in the wild, both grizzlies and black bears, they have never given me any reason to think I was in any danger, nor were they threatening any livestock my father or anyone else owned.
The same is true concerning wolves and mountain lions. I don’t eat their meat, and I am not in the fur business, and so far I have never felt threatened by them, and they have seemed to not want to have anything to do with me. Many years ago, a mountain lion and her offspring took up residence close enough to my father’s horse ranch that we were concerned that they might cause a problem. A call to Idaho Fish and Game resulted in a relocation operation that proved to be successful. I was pretty happy Fish and Game had the equipment and resources to relocate them without having to injure or kill them.
Coyotes are a little different. I have no reason to hunt them unless they are threatening me or livestock. We did have a few coyotes come around the horse ranch, but they scattered and disappeared when we showed up with our shotguns. We never had a coyote attack any of the foals or mature horses on the ranch. A relative of mine who has a cattle ranch near Spring Creek, Nevada, has a real problem with coyotes and has invited my son and I to come with our AR-15s and rid the place of the coyotes. We may take him up on the offer as soon as we check with Nevada Department of Wildlife and make sure what our parameters are. We have been told by my relative that we don’t need a license if we just leave the coyotes where we shoot them and inform the department where to pick up the carcasses, which they will collect. Sounds great to me, but I want to verify that with Nevada Department of Wildlife to be sure we haven’t been misinformed.
In Idaho, there is no coyote season. They can be hunted year around, but one must have a hunting license.
Nonresidents can hunt coyotes with an Idaho three-day small game license that costs $35.50. Spot lighting for coyotes is an issue that can be taken up with Idaho Fish and Game and requires permission.
In my case, if I don’t plan to eat it, or donate it to Idaho Hunters Feeding The Hungry, and it isn’t a threat to me or livestock, I probably won’t hunt or shoot it. Even the jackrabbits my father and I hunted were at the invitation of farmers whose crops the rabbits were feeding on.
Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.
