Since we’re talking about the State of Deer and Elk, we assume you are referring to deer and elk hunters. You are correct we’ve seen some increases in the last decade, but we’re not at historic highs for either deer or elk hunters. You can see a graph below and the blue bars represent the total number of deer and elk hunters from 1982 to 2022.
But we are addressing the issue of hunter crowding on several fronts.
In response to complaints about crowding in some areas, the Fish and Game commission in 2021 capped nonresident tags in all elk zones and limited nonresident deer hunters to one hunting unit in an effort to redistribute them and reduce crowding in some popular elk zones and deer hunting units.
We are also in the process of surveying hunters about the crowding issue, which started in 2021 and will continue in 2022, and this is a repeat of previous surveys regarding crowding.
Here’s a summary from a 2019 report on hunter crowding:
“Idaho resident hunters of elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer perceived crowding at slight to moderate levels in the region they hunted in 2019. Levels of perceived crowding, based on a 1-9 rating of the most crowded day experienced, varied based on the species pursued and the region where an individual hunted (based on a selected elk management zone or game management unit). See the full report
We also surveyed mule deer hunters in 2017, and here’s a summary of the overall response:
“2017 mule deer hunter survey results do not differ much from the 2007 results. Maintaining family traditions and the opportunity to hunt mule deer every year is important to the vast majority of Idaho sportsman and something they are not willing to give up. They value the diverse hunting opportunities that Idaho provides from general season hunting, and quality and high quality controlled hunts. When asked “Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about hunting mule deer in Idaho”, the number one response was “things are good – support current management”.
You can see the full report here, and page 5 for more details about hunter crowding
A similar survey of white-tailed deer hunters also showed overall favorable satisfaction with hunting.
However, we are fully aware that not everyone agrees with those assessments, and if this problem persists and grows, we will be asking hunters whether they prefer the current hunting management, or the inevitable trade offs that would be required to reduce crowding. Those trade offs could include further limits on tag sales for certain areas, being limited to one weapon type, split seasons, more controlled hunts, etc.
But the essential questions hunters would have to face is whether they are willing to give up some of their hunting opportunity and variety of hunts to have fewer hunters in the field at the same time.
We might add that although we’ve seen an increase in deer and elk hunters in the last decade, we’ve seen similar numbers of hunters in past decades, and hunter numbers tend to fluctuate. However, with Idaho’s growing population and continued interest from nonresident hunters, we’re likely to see similar numbers of hunters in the foreseeable future.
