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2017 should be another productive hunting season |
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August 22, 2017 |
By Roger Phillips
IDFG Public Information Specialist
Idaho big game hunters have been on a roll in
recent years with a top-10, all-time deer
harvest in 2016, an all-time record whitetail
harvest in 2015, and a top-five, all-time elk
harvest in 2015.
Overall hunting success rates over the last five
years have averaged 40 percent for deer and 23
percent for elk. Word has gotten out that big
game hunting in Idaho has improved because the
nonresident deer tags sold out last year for the
first time since 2008, and only 300 nonresident
elk tags (out of 10,415 available) remained
unsold.
The 2017 tags are selling faster, and at current
pace, Fish and Game could sell all the
nonresident deer and nonresident elk tags by the
end of October to nonresidents, or to residents
and nonresidents as second tags.
So what does all that mean for big game hunters
taking to the field this fall? They will see
similar numbers of elk and white-tailed deer,
but fewer mule deer.
Mule deer
Last winter took its toll on mule deer,
particularly young bucks, because most of the
fawns born last year died during winter, and
they would have been two-points this fall.
Most of southern and central Idaho had record,
or above-average snowfall, coupled with
prolonged winter weather. Deer and elk weathered
repeated snowstorms and snow depths not normally
found on their traditional winter range coupled
with Arctic temperatures. That prompted Fish and
Game officials to launch a massive feeding
effort that included up to 13,000 deer and
12,000 elk.
Despite that, statewide average survival for
mule deer fawns was 30 percent, which was the
second-lowest since winter fawn monitoring
started 19 years ago.
The big question in many hunters’ minds is how
much that will affect their fall deer hunts.
Deer hunters killed 66,925 deer in 2016 (mule
deer and whitetails), down slightly from the
previous year, but still a respectable 36
percent success rate statewide, including 34
percent in general hunts.
Like most things related to big game hunting,
it’s hard to predict what will happen during the
upcoming season because there are many
variables, but past hunting seasons may provide
some insight.
The 2011 deer harvest – which followed the
lowest winter fawn survival since monitoring
started in 1998 – was 2,555 fewer deer than the
previous year, or a drop of 6 percent. Last
winter actually tied with 2008-09 winter for
second-lowest fawn survival at 30 percent, and
in 2009, the deer harvest was 1,380 fewer than
the previous year, a drop of 3 percent.
How does that happen?
There are a couple things to keep in mind.
First, although mule deer fawn mortality was
high in those years, whitetail herds were less
affected by winter kill. Whitetails have
typically comprised 30 to 40 percent of Idaho’s
annual deer harvest during the last decade. That
means sometimes white-tailed deer harvest
compensates for fewer mule deer.
While last winter’s mule deer fawn survival was
well below average, it was still not
catastrophic to the overall mule deer
population.
Adult mule deer doe survival was 90 percent, and
although Fish and Game does not radio collar
adult bucks and monitor them during winter,
their survival likely tracked similar to does.
Yearling bucks (two-points) typically account
for a significant share of the mule deer buck
harvest, but over the last 19 years, annual
average survival for fawns was 57 percent. While
the 2016-17 winter fawn survival was about half
the average, there’s still a large mule deer
population remaining, including adult bucks and
breeding-age does.
With a normal upcoming winter, the herds could
quickly rebound. To aid that, Fish and Game has
reduced doe permits for most hunting units in
southern and central Idaho to help more of them
survive into breeding season.
Another thing to consider is prior to this year,
mule deer populations were trending upward for
several years, so while biologists expect a drop
in the harvest, there’s a good chance it will
fall within the range of the last five years.
Elk
Hunters shouldn’t see a big change in elk
populations this year. Elk are hardier than deer
and able to withstand the rigors of hard
winters, and elk herds have increased in recent
years and produced some outstanding hunting
seasons.
Hunters killed 22,557 elk in 2016, which was
down 1,670 animals from 2015, but still the
second highest in 20 years. (For more
perspective, 2015 was the fourth-highest,
all-time harvest dating back to 1935.)
Elk hunters in 2016 had 21 percent success
statewide, including 39 percent for controlled
hunts and 17 percent for general hunts, but
general hunts accounted for 62 percent of the
harvest.
“This is the good-old days of elk hunting,” said
Craig White, F&G’s Magic Valley regional
supervisor. “There was only one period when
Idaho hunters were harvesting as many elk as
they are now.”
However, elk herds didn’t survive winter
completely unscathed. There was higher calf
mortality due to the harsh winter, which means
some zones will have a “blip in the recruitment
of young bulls,” White said, adding that it will
likely be short-term.
Adult winter survival, particularly breeding-age
cows, was “bulletproof,” he said, so any decline
in herds will likely be replaced next year,
barring another extreme winter.
While Idaho is reliving some of its glory years
for elk hunting, the location of the animals has
changed. During record harvests in the 1990s,
Central Idaho’s backcountry and wilderness areas
were major contributors. They are less so these
days, but other areas have picked up the slack.
“We grow more elk in what I like to call the
front country,” White said.
Harvest results support this. The Panhandle is
currently the top elk zone in the state, and the
top 10 zones include the Weiser River, McCall,
Tex Creek, Palouse, Boise River and Pioneer, all
of which have major highways running through
them.
Those zones provide accessible opportunities for
many hunters, but also have unique challenges
because there’s often a mix of public and
private lands where the elk roam.
Elk herds are doing so well in some zones, such
as the Weiser and Pioneer zones, those herds are
over objectives and Fish and Game has increased
cow hunting opportunities to thin the herds.
But elk hunters in some areas will have to
navigate a mix of public and private lands, such
as large sections of commercial timberlands in
Central Idaho that used to be open to the
public, but are now closed.
For new elk hunters, or experienced hunters
looking for a new place to hunt, White
recommends taking a longer view than this
season. Elk populations are likely to remain
healthy in the foreseeable future, so now’s a
good time to learn a zone where there are
abundant herds.
“Be patient,” White advises. “Make it a
multi-year commitment, and get to know the
area.”
Idaho offers a variety of over-the-counter tags
for elk hunters. Out of 28 elk hunting zones,
only two are limited to only controlled hunts.
Hunters should research each zone and look
beyond the general, any-weapon seasons to find
additional opportunity. Many archery and
muzzleloader hunts provide antlerless, or
either-sex hunting, and also early and late
hunts.
White-tailed deer
Idaho’s whitetail deer are about as reliable as
you can ask for in a big-game animal. Over the
last five years, Idaho’s mule deer harvest has
swung by nearly 20,000 animals, but during that
same period, whitetail harvest varied by only
about 10,000 animals, which included an all-time
record of 30,578 whitetails harvested in 2015.
Whitetail harvest dropped about 2,700 animals in
2016, but it was still in the top-10, all-time,
and hunters can expect to similar numbers, or
more, of whitetails this year.
“We feel we’re in pretty good shape, and it’s
going to be a normal year,” said Clay Hickey,
wildlife manager for the Clearwater Region.
Winter in prime whitetail country in the
Panhandle and north/central Idaho was closer to
average than southern Idaho, although Hickey
pointed out there was more snow than usual at
lower elevations. Fish and Game doesn’t monitor
whitetails the same as it does mule deer, but
Hickey said there’s no indication of an
above-average winter kill.
It’s also been two years since Fish and Game has
detected outbreaks of the lethal hemorrhagic
disease that hit some local herds hard in recent
years. Hickey noted many of those herds have
“rebounded as you would expect,” and Fish and
Game is starting to get complaints from
landowners about too many deer in areas where
herds were thinned by the disease.
Whitetail hunters have lengthy seasons and lots
of either-sex hunting opportunities, and hunters
will see a good mix of age classes, and plenty
of mature bucks. Hickey said Fish and Game’s
white-tailed deer plan calls for 15 percent of
the harvest to be bucks with five points or more
(on one side), but it’s currently higher.
“We’re averaging over 20 percent of the bucks in
the harvest are five-points or more in almost
all our whitetail units, and lots of units are
over 25 percent,” he said.
While the areas north of the Salmon River have
the highest densities of white-tailed deer, the
animals are widely distributed throughout the
state and provide hunting opportunities in most
places, but typically at lower densities. |
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