The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is asking hunters and sportsmen in the southeastern regions of the state on proposals to changes on the 2014 big game seasons. Among them are increasing the limit on wolves statewide and expanding bear hunting in a portion of Southeast Idaho.
The proposals, which have been presented in a series of open house meetings during the past week, involve the hunting of mule deer, black bear, and gray wolves.
The mule deer proposals
• Unit 70: The elimination of the general archery hunt and replacing it with an unlimited controlled hunt and adding a week of antlerless-only harvest. This proposal is due to the increasing number of archery hunters in his unit and concerns related to nuisance deer and public safety in and around Pocatello.
• Unit 74: The additional a muzzleloader hunt during late November that rotates annually though three units on a three-year schedule. The units proposed for this rotating hunt are 74, 68, and 73A, with alternative units to consider are 73 and 75.
• Unit 73: The addition of a controlled hunt offering extra antlerless tags in a restricted area of the Bear River corridor from just north of Preston downstream to the Utah border. This proposal is to address concerns associated with the increasing resident deer population in the Bear River corridor near Preston that is resulting in increasing landowner and public safety concerns.
The black bear proposals
Units 75, 77, 78: The proposal of opening these three units to a dog training season. There have been reports from hunters in these units that suggest an increasing black bear presence in the area, but Fish and Game does not have enough information to support a take season.
The gray wolf proposals
• The Southern Idaho Zone: The proposal is to increase the hunting bag limit from two to five wolf hunting tags.
• The Fish and Game Commission is seeking public comment on these proposals. Comments can be made at the their website, fishandgame.idaho.gov. Public comments can also be made at the following meetings:
Feb. 24: Senior Citizens Center, 26 North Main Street, Malad
Feb. 25: Larsen-Sant Library, 109 South 1st East, Preston
Feb. 26: Senior Center, 60 South Main Street, Soda Springs
Feb. 27: Bear Lake Senior Center, 115 South 4th Street, Montpelier
The public comment period will be open until March 7. Once Fish and Game reviews the comments, their final recommendations on the proposals will be submitted on March 11. The recommendations will be vote on at the Fish and Game Commission’s Special Meeting in Boise on March 20.
(1) comment
Every area has its own number of wildlife, based on its ecosystem and the number of animals reintroduced through the efforts of the federal government over the past twenty years or so. Based on studies from Yellowstone State Park and the scientists who have been studying these animals for years, it is in the best interests of the land, the ecosystem and the animals themselves that no hunting be allowed.
If no hunting is allowed, the ecosystem will balance itself, as it has for many years. The system did not become unbalanced until man arrived. The Native American people understood this and kept minimal control on the animals.
Hunting is a source of revenue for states, with contests, bounties, trapping. It is a sad commentary on man that one of his favorite pastimes is the butchering of animal he literally has to travel hours to exterminate.
Do not increase hunting and bagging limits. It is either a remnant from a less civilized time, or a cold and calculated source of income. Either way, it is damaging to the environment and the animals who have done nothing to deserve such treatment.
Welcome to the discussion.
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