Panhandle still booming

Elk hunters in the Idaho Panhandle last year had one of the best seasons in memory for bagging bull elk, and this year should be even better, according to Idaho Fish and Game surveys.

“Hunters did very well last year even though we’ve been conservative on the season to build the herd and I think that’s one indication that the herds are healthy,” said Jim Hayden, department regional wildlife manager in Coeur d’Alene.

The Panhandle remains one of the few places in the nation to maintain a general any-weapon either-sex elk season, although it was reduced from 10 days to five days following the brutal winter of 1996-97. Many of the youngest and oldest elk in the region’s herds perished that season.

“But they’ve made the comeback and our bull elk success rate was higher last year than it was the year before the bad winter,” Hayden said, noting that 29 percent of the general season harvest in Unit 1 last year was bulls with six points or better.

“We’re coming off another mild winter, so the elk numbers should be even better this year.”

Archers get to hunt elk during the rut, and they’ve been wildly successful in Idaho, bagging some of the biggest bulls in the Panhandle, Hayden said.

“The number of bowhunters keeps growing,” he added. A look at the stats tells why. North Idaho archers have success rates than often double those of modern rifle hunters in Washington, and the Idaho archers’ success rates in several units range higher than 40 percent for bulls six points or better.

“Last year, about 4,000 archers killed 400 elk during the Panhandle archery season,” Hayden said. In 2002, some 3,800 archers took 310 elk. In 1998, archers took only 157 elk.

Having been with Idaho Fish and Game for 21 years, Hayden advises hunters to take advantage of the healthy elk herds.

“Pretty soon, the other shoe is going to drop,” he said. “A bad winter every now and then has a way of setting things back, and then we’ll have to start rebuilding again.”

Elk in portions of the Clearwater Region have been struggling to reach their potential for several years, said Mike Demick, Idaho Fish and Game Department spokesman in Lewiston.

“It’s not something that’s going to change overnight,” he said.

The remote Lolo and Selway zones, once the standouts of Idaho’s elk hunting areas, just aren’t what they used to be, he said. Meanwhile, on the private lands of the Palouse area – Units 8, 8a and 11 — the state has to hold depredation hunts to help stem the damage elk are doing to crops.

“There’s quite a bit of Potlach (timber company) land in that zone,” he said. “They have some travel restrictions, but there’s some good hunting there.”

Demick cited quality hunting opportunities in the Dworshak and Elk City zones, where the hunter harvests have held up fairly well.

“And if you draw a controlled hunt elk tag, the Craig Mountain bull permits have been producing some really good record-class bulls.”

Elsewhere in the state, the Salmon and McCall zones showed excellent numbers of elk during aerial surveys, said Brad Compton, Idaho Fish and Game wildlife manger in Boise. “And in some Eastern Idaho areas we’re having to reduce elk herds because they’re getting too big.

“We’ve increased permit levels, extended some antlerless seasons and, for the first time, we’ve offered 450 extra elk tags so hunters can take two elk in four management units in the southeast corner of the state.”