Mark your calendars: Fish and Game to host Lake Pend Oreille “State of the Lake” open house April 22

Idaho Fish and Game will host its annual Lake Pend Oreille “State of the Lake” open house on April 22 at 6 p.m. PDT at the University of Idaho Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center (10881 N. Boyer Road).

Hunter Harvest Report: Elk and mule deer keep on climbing in 2025

It’s that time of year again. As we foam at the mouth anticipating which hunting units, weekends, and drainages to scope out this fall, here’s a summary of how last fall went, thanks to hunter harvest reporting.

New early season fishing opportunities coming to ponds in Council, McCall, New Meadows and Cascade

More than 2,000 hatchery rainbow trout are headed to four community ponds in the Southwest Region in mid-April. These four ponds haven’t historically seen their first stocking event until around Memorial Day, so it will provide an additional month of fishing for local anglers.

Southeast Region to host hunter education open house for volunteer instructors in April

Head on over to this event in the Southeast Region where you can learn what it takes to become a Hunter Education instructor in southeast Idaho. Whether you are new to the idea of teaching hunter education or a current instructor looking to re-engage in the program, we would love to see you there!

Prescribed burn will take place at Ted Trueblood WHA sometime between April 8 and 17

Fish and Game and BLM staff will be conducting a prescribed burn on Pond 3 at the Ted Trueblood Wildlife Habitat Area sometime between April 8 and April 17, depending on weather conditions. The burn will be followed by the application of herbicide to reduce bullrush and cattail that have begun to choke out open water, making it difficult to hunt and reducing the quality of habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds.

Upper Salmon River Steelhead Fishing Report (4-08-2026)

Senior Conservation Officer Jim Stirling honored as Shikar-Safari Club International Wildlife Officer of the Year

At the March Commission meeting, Senior Conservation Officer Jim Stirling, who serves the Magic Valley Region in the Twin Falls, Kimberly, Hansen, and Murtaugh areas, was honored as Idaho’s 2025 Shikar-Safari Club International Wildlife Officer of the Year. This award recognizes Officer Stirling’s outstanding service to the community, his fellow employees, and the sportsmen and women of Idaho. His work reflects a strong and ongoing commitment to conservation and resource protection.

Ground-based cameras show promise for measuring mule deer fawn ratios in certain areas of Idaho

For the past three years, Fish and Game staff in Southwest Idaho have been evaluating the effectiveness of remote cameras in Unit 32 to estimate mule deer herd composition. The results so far have been promising: In each year of the project, these ground-based cameras in the Weiser-McCall mule deer population produced fawn ratios nearly identical to those from traditional aerial surveys.