Idaho Adopts Zone Plan To Encourage Elk Herds

It took awhile, but the idea of tethering elk hunters to one pocket of Idaho while they stalk their prey may have sunk in with wary sportsmen.

Hundreds of hunters attended meetings statewide recently to get a thorough explanation of the Idaho Fish and Game Department’s planned move away from a statewide open season on elk.

But few hunters took issue with that.

Unlike previous meetings throughout 1997, the proposal to start using “zone tags” during the general elk season was not controversial.

Now the issues are in the details.

“I’d like to see muzzleloaders get a better deal out of it,” said Shelley hunter Perry Nelson, who prefers to use the antiquated guns rather than the more conventional centerfire rifles. Archery hunters will get a shot at an elk before rifle hunters could start in many of the zones, and Nelson would like the same consideration for muzzleloaders after the main hunting season.

But he likes the broader change to zone tags. The idea behind them is to boost the number of breeding and trophy bull elk by spreading out the hunters and limiting their options. That makes sense to Nelson in a time when hunting pressure on the elk is growing dramatically, and it’s better than the other option of making everyone enter a lottery for a chance to hunt.

“It’s probably the lesser of the two evils,” Nelson said.

The proposal takes effect in 1998. The Fish and Game Commission approved the concept in August, but some of the details won’t be worked out until spring. As an example of how it would work, consider the results in the Palisades zone in the mountains around Swan Valley.

A hunter could buy an “A” tag over the counter and start hunting any elk with a bow from Aug. 30 to Sept. 30, then rifle hunt for spike-antlered elk from Oct. 15 to Oct. 28 and for antlerless elk from Oct. 22 to Oct. 28. Or, the hunter could choose a “B” tag, which offers a shorter season but adds the bonus of bull hunting by rifle from Oct. 15 to Oct. 21.

That system would replace the existing one, which allows a hunter to buy a tag and move from area to area throughout the season according to localized season openings and closures.

Ted Chu, the department’s regional game biologist in Idaho Falls, said the system allows for annual tinkering to make sure enough bulls are protected in each area.

For instance, if too many bulls are killed one year in the Palisades zone, the Fish and Game Commission could limit the number of “B” tags for that zone the following year. “A” tags, which tend to pull the pressure away from bulls, would not be limited.

“It will take us a few years to work out the bugs, but once we get it in, it’s pretty adaptable,” Chu said. “We can make it either extremely restrictive or we can make it extremely liberal.”

Restricting the traditional freedom to roam the state in search of elk still is painful to some, especially in the Panhandle, which has had some of the most liberal elk hunting rules anywhere.

But longtime Idaho Falls hunter Paul Martinez said he’s willing to give it a try because the department’s decisions in recent years seem to have been good for elk.

“I don’t like to be restricted to a particular zone … but I do think there is a lot of pressure in the hills,” Martinez said. “It’s only right to give (the proposal) a fair chance.”