We agree there have been changes in elk use of the landscape in units 37 and 37A. This is partly due to changes in private land management, but in large is a direct result of increases in hunter pressure.
Historically these units average around 466 general season elk hunters per year. As the elk population grew so did the demand to hunt them and hunter numbers peaked at approximately 992 general season hunters. This doubling of hunters on the landscape and the resulting pressure on the elk herd is believed to be a large contributor to why elk have found refugia in the private lands where pressure is greatly reduced. Recently IDFG made large changes to how nonresident general season tags are allocated and set zone-wide caps on elk tags. As these two hunts were historically about 31% nonresident hunters this change led to a dramatic reduction in total hunters on the landscape.
In 2021, following the nonresident caps being put in place there was approximately 523 general season hunters. This is roughly a 50% reduction in hunter numbers and should reduce pressure on public lands thus improve elk use of the accessible public lands. In 2021 we also shortened the general greenfield season from ending November 30th to ending October 31st. The intent was to reduce outside pressure off of elk so they may hopefully return to public land prior to the start of the controlled cow hunts. IDFG has also dedicated a technician to hazing and directing hunter pressure on those private lands that wish to participate in our depredation program. Admittedly there is a large preponderance of elk that utilize the private lands during hunting season and we are working diligently within our authority to address these issues.
It is our hope that the actions we have taken thus far will lead to less private land depredations and better sportsmen access to elk on public lands. However, it will take a few years to fully realize the results of these actions. The bull ratios across the zone, and in these units have all exceeded 25 bulls per 100 cows over the last three aerial surveys. As ratios as low as 8-10 bulls per 100 cows are all that is needed to maintain high productivity and genetic diverse elk populations there is little concern of population-level impacts at this time.
Thank you for the concern and you can be assured we are continuing to work on improving elk management and sportsmen opportunity within these units.