Hunting reserve seeks state land
BLACKFOOT, Idaho – The Idaho Department of Lands is considering leasing 2,000 acres of state endowment lands in eastern Idaho to a private hunting operation that would fence the property to keep domestic elk inside.
The request was filed by Rulon Jones, a former professional football player with the Denver Broncos, who built a hunting reserve on about 2,000 acres of former ranch land near Blackfoot. He hopes to add the additional 2,000 acres of endowment lands to the reserve.
Jones did not immediately return calls from the Associated Press on Monday.
Jones operates another private hunting reserve in Liberty, Utah that charges $5,900 for a hunter to shoot a bull elk, and $2,000 more for an especially large bull elk. Mule deer hunts cost about $5,000 and cougar hunts about $3,000.
He has also filed a request for endowment lands near Riggins.
Rick Cheatum, president of the Mule Deer Foundation, said Idaho should ban private game reserves where hunters pay to shoot domesticated animals.
“The whole idea of turning animals loose within a penned enclosure simply doesn’t fly with most sportsmen,” Cheatum said. “It’s not a very sporting thing to do. We’d like to see these operations shut down in the state of Idaho.”
Biologists with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game say a domesticated elk herd could spread chronic wasting disease and other illnesses to wild elk. There are also concerns that fencing in the domesticated animals could cause problems for migrating wildlife.
The Department of Lands is studying Jones’ request for the Land Board, said Bob Brammer, the agency’s area manager in eastern Idaho. He said the board could make a decision at its meeting in September.
The agency manages about 2.5 million acres in Idaho, Brammer said, and uses it to try and generate revenue for public schools. Typically, Brammer said, the agency does that by leasing land for grazing, mining and logging.
Members of the public have access to endowment lands for recreation as long as they don’t cross private land, said Brammer, adding that the 2,000 acres Jones wants to add to the private hunting reserve have limited access.
“There are ways to get into that area,” Brammer said. “It wouldn’t be fair to say the public can never get there, but there are locked gates.”
If the land is approved as part of the reserve, Brammer said a fence would likely be built.
“That would be my understanding,” he said. “That’s why he would want to lease it. The only way he could keep his domestic elk on there would be to put up a high fence.”