Depredation Hunts Southwest Region

Thanks for your question: There are a variety of tools Idaho Fish and Game utilizes to help landowners prevent damage on their property due to wildlife causing damages. One is Depredations Hunts. There are three different depredation style of hunts I will go through so there is no confusion. 1. Depredation Hunt; a hunt where 50% of the hunters are chosen by the landowner and 50% of the other hunters are chosen from a list of sportsment that fill out an application. These are controlled hunts that count as an extra tag and the hunters are able to keep the meat. In the Southwest Region, we had one depredation hunt this year. 2. Kill Permit; This is an emergency hunt that is used in a specialized situation. Some stipulations would include weapon type, methods, sex, and shooting hours. Hunters are very restritictive and are typicllay just the landower and a ranch hand.  The meat from these permits are donated to food banks, chruches, and local families in need. We have issued 14 kill permits this year; this includes revision of previous issed permits. 3. Landowner Permission Hunts; To address multiple depredations over a large scale area IDFG created some Landowner Permission Hunts, called LPHs. For example, the Wieser River Area. There are 35 landowners with large agricultural operations that have reported damages from elk. Insted of having 35 individual depredations hunts, we try to address the issues as a whole with one hunt.These hunts give landowers permission slips they can use to address the depredations on their peorerty. These permisson slips are redeemed in a Regional Office for an elk tag. The landowner can choose to give the permission slip out if they desire. These are classified as controlled hunts where the hunters can keep the meat. A few LPH hunts are extra tags. In the Southwest Region, there are 450 extra LPH tags and 525 regular controlled hunt tags. The primary areas for these hunts are Untis 31, 32, 39, and 41.   If you have futher question, please email me Katie Oelrich Idaho Department of Fish and Game Landowner Sportsman Coordinator Southwest Region Nampa, Id 83686 w. 208-465-8465 ext.1034860 c. 208-409-9481 katherine.oelrich@idfg.idaho.gov