Agency Seeks $6 Hike In Deer, Elk Tags

The Idaho Fish and Game Department will recommend adding $6 to both resident and nonresident deer and elk tags to raise $1.4 million for a budget increase.

The Fish and Game Commission is scheduled to consider the matter at its meeting Thursday in Boise. The panel decided in mid-December to seek the budget hike from legislators to pay for a new and mandatory report system for big game hunters, better monitoring of the herds and restoring money cut from the agency’s enforcement budget.

Resident deer tags would jump to $16.50 and elk tags to $22.50. Nonresident tags would rise to $232.50 for deer and $332.50 for elk. The department’s proposal calls for making the higher fees effective May 1.

Once the commission determines the course it will take, the decision will be up to legislators. Gov. Phil Batt told the commission last month he would support a modest fee hike. Sportsmen’s groups across the state generally have supported it.

But, Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, earlier this week said he plans to introduce legislation that would establish bargain fees for nonresident family members of Idaho residents.

Cameron would like to charge out-of-state relatives $60 to $80 to hunt in Idaho, but he has not yet worked out all the details.