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Idaho Fish and Game

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Wildlife Conservation and Management

Idaho's Wildlife Conservation and Management

Idaho Fish and Game is charged with preserving, protecting, perpetuating and managing all wildlife in the state for present and future generations. Most animals are not hunted, trapped or fished.

Wildlife Management Areas improve and maintain wildlife habitat for both game and nongame species and provide access for disabled hunters, fishermen, and wildlife watchers.

Our wildlife management plans and fisheries management plans, provide guidance and overall direction and help identify both statewide and regional population and management objectives. The State Wildlife Action Plan describes key conservation targets (fish and wildlife species and their habitats), threats to those targets such as invasive weeds and wildfire, and recommended actions to address the threats.

Programs indirectly related to hunting or fishing include wildlife diseases, the Wildlife Diversity Program, Idaho wetland habitat inventory, and information on lands and landowners.



Monarch butterflies on milkweed at the MK Nature Center July 2014

Got a good set of eyes and a green thumb? Become a community scientist and help F&G monitor monarch butterflies this summer

Idaho Fish and Game needs your help to adopt milkweed patches across the Gem State and monitor the milkweed throughout summer 2025. The survey kicks off July 1 and goes through Aug. 15. If becoming a community scientist seems like it’ll add too much to your plate this summer, don’t sweat it. Getting signed up is super easy.

young woman holding a couple of antlers

Shed Hunt Responsibly: Just because snow has melted doesn’t mean winter is over for elk and deer

Armed with nothing more than a good set of eyes, looking for a deer or elk’s shed antlers in late-winter and early-spring is a highly accessible hobby for those squirming like birddogs for the next outdoor adventure. But don’t jump the gun on shed hunting season and disturb wintering deer and elk.

Paddock fire restoration video volunteers

Volunteers plant 40 million seeds to rehabilitate burned wildlife habitat (VIDEO)

Fish and Game volunteers collected millions of sagebrush seeds in late fall. Then they returned and replanted thousands of acres north of Emmett with 40 million sagebrush and bitterbrush seeds so when spring arrives, new plants will grow to benefit animals that rely on them.

Bull Elk on a snowy Ridgeline

Fish and Game to hold big game season setting open houses in the Magic Valley

Wildlife biologists from the Magic Valley Region will be hosting a series of big game seasons setting public open houses in February across the region. The purpose of these open houses is to provide information about proposed changes to big game seasons for the 2025 and 2026 hunting seasons, and to accept public comments about these proposals.

Deer crossing the Highway 21 overpass.

Video: Watch a thousand mule deer cross the Idaho 21 overpass near Boise

The mule deer used the overpass between Oct. 17 and Dec. 18, 2024, and more importantly, they did not cross on the busy highway, which kept deer and motorists safer.

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Wildfires can affect big game for decades, negatively and positively, and here's why

Wildfires are a natural and historic occurrence, but that doesn’t mean they don’t create problems for wildlife, especially when they burn more frequently, at higher intensities, and/or burn tens of thousands of acres at a time.

A mule deer fawn with a GPS collar and ear tag

Big game surveys and capture operations to occur through early January across the Magic Valley Region

Over the next several weeks wildlife biologists from Fish and Game’s Magic Valley Region will be flying mule deer herd composition surveys and capture operations across many of the region’s game management units.