IDFG Kills 200 Elk

kidoggy · Jan 26, 2020

truth is , nothin game and fish does , will ever please everyone.

I do however agree they come up with some bonehead policies.

there is a saying around here ," if Idaho fish and game were to be put in charge of managing a beach, it would soon be impossible to find a grain of sand on said beach! "

this may be a bit unfair but not entirely inaccurate.

to be fair to them, without them there would also be zero game left to hunt .
it is a tough act to balance and everyone is a critic.

I blame some of this on the ranchers who are getting paid for the elk damage yet will not allow hunter access.
this does happen.
if a land owner won't grant access they should not receive a dime of compensation.

a few years ago a ranch outfit on highway 20 , posted flyers at their gate that said something along the lines of,(paraphrasing), " attention hunters, do NOT bother calling asking for permission to hunt. fish and game has allowed the elk herds to grow to large and no access will be granted till they address this issue."

talk about a rational solution. lol.
IT is very hard or me to find sympathy for ranchers who adopt such policies. though I do acknowledge they have the right to do so and I would fight for them to keep that right.

to be fair to this particular outfit , I do not know if they have recieved payouts or not, (though I do know ,they are asking for them) which is why I refrained posting their name.

I also blame the very hunters who just complain and offer up no solutions.

very few hunters do all they can to support their passions. I know I don't.

buckbull · Jan 26, 2020

Sounds like Idaho needs more wolves.

kidoggy · Jan 26, 2020

buckbull said:
Sounds like Idaho needs more wolves.

lol. could be ,or more sharpshooters! this is taking place in an area where there are very few wolves around. in areas where wolves are abundant , herds have been decimated.

last year they did raise tag numbers for cows from around 1000 draw tags , to 2500 capped OTC cow tags .

funny thing is when there were 1000 tags they had the season split into two hunts of 500 ,in November and October .
in their infinite wisdom, F&G increased it this year to 2500 but at same time put all those tags into one hunt taking place only in November. hunt was a total s$#tshow . be interesting to see if there were even as many elk killed as in previous years.

I have no issue with decreasing the herd if it needs be done but they are certainly not using intelligence in the way they are going about it.

maybe a new dec blackpowder season by shoshone might be a better idea??????

they get to sell more tags, make more money. AND let's face it , the benjamins ARE the number 1 factor driving management policies these days.

kidoggy · Jan 26, 2020

in the article the f&g spouted some nonsense about elk going nocturnal and unable to be hunted

what poppycock ! this is wide open country. sagebrush and rock . rolling hills with some canyons. it is desert, not mtns and nary a tree to be found . even if the elk did bed down all day ,(which they don't ) hunters can hunt them just fine . if they are not around in October, they sure as hell are in December. or Jan for that matter!

are the government killers some sort of superhuman hunter elite???????????

THEY managed to kill 200, how was this possible ???????????

could it be that landowners just want deprivation money and are using herd size as an excuse to get it , all while keeping hunters out at same time????????????

methinks something sounds a wee fishy in F&Gs response!

Bonecollector · Jan 26, 2020

Something definitely doesn’t sound right with this...

87TT · Jan 26, 2020

First off, I'm not sure I trust a news report on elk with mule deer video on top. Second, it said that this was a "study" to test the effectiveness of "sharpshooters" to control depredation. It took place in "five" units. Now maybe if the study shows that "sharpshooters" can influence depredation, hunters may be allowed to be the shooters. Just allowing hunters to hunt your property doesn't necessarily mean it would stop depredation. It may have to be done under controlled circumstances. Hunters can do almost as much damage as wildlife.

kidoggy · Jan 26, 2020

LOL. that is funny.

I do believe the story though , the F&g officer in the video admitted it to be true.

another question ….. if they hired sharpshooter hunters , how is it possible they were able to kill the elk that supposedly are not there for "regular " hunters ,during daylight hours??????????????

were they using magic, nocturnal bullets?????????????

I am not really all that upset over it but I do find some of the officers statements to be curious ,to say the least.

also..... which five units ?
how many were killed in each of those units????????
what were the dates this took place ?
were their open seasons going on at the time?
who are the landowners ??????? I don't think it unreasonable for that to be made public
who are the awesome hunters that are capable of doing what average hunters can not?????? nor this since taxpayers are footing their wages.

so many unanswered questions...…...

87TT · Jan 27, 2020

I know the local USDA trapper/hunter that handles this area and he has a night vision scope for wolves. So yeah at night could be possible.

87TT · Jan 27, 2020

idcwby said:
Look it up, there are multiple other sources for this, I picked one that didn’t connect to facebook so everyone could read it.

idcwby

What did I miss?

87TT · Jan 27, 2020

I was just being funny about the reporting not the article content, Obviously the reporter was just reporting on what was said and not a hunter probably.
The fact remains that people see a pile of dead elk and they get upset and jump to conclusions. How many read the whole article? How many called the DFG and spoke with anyone about this? The original picture and Facebook post was way off base. DFG gets a bad rap but it seems that they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. I first saw this and learned of the incident and the million dollar claim from a DFG supervisor. The DFG changed the rules to cap the claims at a lower amount. So they are working with U of ID research to find a way to stop or limit depredation and that is a good thing for us as hunters. It would save them (us because it is OUR money) money and make more not less opportunity for hunters. Be it depredation control or just keeping the elk on public land and off the farms.

DH56 · Jan 27, 2020

They do the same here with our deer herd around the metro parks. Why not allow bow hunters and let them take care of it?

Have hunters do the same within these 5 zones. Identify the issue if there is one, and allow access to these areas as controlled hunts until the amount of Elk is taken that is needed or just to reduce the herd to "acceptable levels"

. Let's do some "research" using hunters who in many cases would be very willing to help given the right opportunity.

Hiring sharpshooters isn't cheap either. If I remember right a community here paid in excess of $150,000 to kill a few hundred deer.

kidoggy · Jan 27, 2020

I'd be happy to kill a few hundred deer an I would only charge them a paltry $100,000

heck, I'd even be happy to git me on o them night veesion scopes.

87TT · Jan 27, 2020

DH56 said:
They do the same here with our deer herd around the metro parks. Why not allow bow hunters and let them take care of it?

Have hunters do the same within these 5 zones. Identify the issue if there is one, and allow access to these areas as controlled hunts until the amount of Elk is taken that is needed or just to reduce the herd to "acceptable levels" . Let's do some "research" using hunters who in many cases would be very willing to help given the right opportunity.

Hiring sharpshooters isn't cheap either. If I remember right a community here paid in excess of $150,000 to kill a few hundred deer.

Once again, It was never about the amount of animals. They were trying to change the elks habits to limit depredation not manage a herd size. Elk are smart and learn from their elders. Some of them old mama cows can be 15 or 20 years old and have seen a thing or two. I have seen them skirt the line of private and public like they have GPS. If they can get it in their head that it isn't safe, then maybe they will go somewhere else and the young ones will learn it too. It was selective and calculated, not just "let's go kill X number of elk".

DH56 · Jan 30, 2020

Yes, you are correct in that regard but even here it's two fold. They do want to kill x amount of does, bucks etc, but it's also driven for the purpose by the deer eating all available resources in that area where people and farmers are also complaining about the amount of damage done and resources eaten by deer reducing the carrying capacity, which is similar to depredation. My point was, let's get the hunters to do the work and allow them the opportunity vs paying sharp shooters to do so. Let them know what is "fair game" to hunt and shoot and let them at it.

"Depredation includes agricultural damage, private property damage, threats to human health and safety, and threats to recovery of protected wildlife".

87TT · Jan 31, 2020

DH56 said:
Yes, you are correct in that regard but even here it's two fold. They do want to kill x amount of does, bucks etc, but it's also driven for the purpose by the deer eating all available resources in that area where people and farmers are also complaining about the amount of damage done and resources eaten by deer reducing the carrying capacity, which is similar to depredation. My point was, let's get the hunters to do the work and allow them the opportunity vs paying sharp shooters to do so. Let them know what is "fair game" to hunt and shoot and let them at it.

"Depredation includes agricultural damage, private property damage, threats to human health and safety, and threats to recovery of protected wildlife".

What you are talking about sounds like a solution to the problem. What they are doing here is "studying" to find a solution. Maybe they will find a methodology that works and can incorporate hunters to accomplish their goal but they are just testing and conducting a study now.

IDFG Kills 200 Elk

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