Ask the Conservation Officer - Fish and Wildlife Violations

by Gary Hompland, Regional Conservation Officer Question: "It seems to me the 2006 hunting season has been pretty successful. Were there more fish and wildlife violations than last year?" Answer: I also believe 2006 was a successful hunting year. I appreciate your concern about fish and wildlife violations and will share some of our results from 2006, but I caution anyone looking at violation numbers about what the numbers really mean. The number of citations and warnings that Magic Valley conservation officers issue each year varies dramatically. Yes it can be generally said, "If you have good game numbers, you have high violations." However, the number of citations and warnings only reflects the number of violations we detected or discovered. We have no way of estimating the number of violations that went undetected. Economics also play a role. During a down-turn in the economy, disposable income drops, and some turn to poaching. Violations related to fraudulent resident license purchases appear to be more common among affluent hunters. Additionally, citation numbers can reflect fluctuations in Department budgets and manpower. When conservation officer positions are vacant for extended periods of time or equipment failures and budgets prevent officers from working a specific sporting situation, sportsmen contacts drop off and violations during that activity go undetected. The number of sportsmen contacts by conservation officers in the Magic Valley increased significantly from 6500 in 2005 to 9500 in 2006. In 2005, Magic Valley conservation officers issued 282 citations and 298 written warnings. In 2006 officers issued 465 citations and 406 written warnings. In 2006, Magic Valley conservation officers worked slightly more than 50 percent of their time in enforcement. This is down slightly from 2005. About 15 percent of their time is spent training others or themselves, and about 10 percent of their time is spent on game management activities and administration respectively. Conservation officers are stretched pretty thin all across Idaho, especially during the hunting seasons, but overall they did a good job enforcing Idaho's fish and wildlife laws in 2006. If you have any further questions you may call the Magic Valley Regional Office of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at (208)324-4350 or e-mail us at the Fish and Game web site at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov.