Wildlife Council Rebuffs Fish And Game Director Hunting Group President Rejects Mealey’s Request For Meeting

Fish and Game Director Steve Mealey’s first effort to repair his tattered relationship with the Idaho Wildlife Council didn’t get far.

In a letter to council president Don Clower, Mealey tried to set up a meeting with the hunter group’s leadership. Clower said no.

“Most of the chairmen of the regional councils are really not interested in meeting just to have a meeting,” Clower said in a letter to Mealey.

“Enough has already been said and now it is time for you and the (Fish and Game) commission to start doing your job. You have to earn credibility and respect and you can only achieve that goal by actions and deeds, not talk.”

Mealey’s message to Clower said he realized that he hasn’t spent enough time with the council and its members.

He said he needed to “solicit your opinions on important fish and wildlife matters” and improve working relations.

The Idaho Wildlife Council, actually seven wildlife councils across the state, asked for Mealey’s resignation in August after Mealey mooned a piece of art on a sportsman-fund boat trip on Lake Pend Oreille.

Clower said he was upset by what he called “the continued coverup” of what happened on the boat trip and the agency’s decision not to seek a fee increase next year.

He said that decision shows disregard for what the department needs in favor of what was acceptable to political leaders.

The chairman of the commission, John Burns, said the wildlife council’s hard feelings toward Mealey started when the director said he would not hunt bears using bait.

The council and its allied organizations led the battle against a bear hunting initiative rejected by the voters last year.