Fish and Game Searching for AWOL Radio Collars

By Evin Oneale, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Just after October 15 - the statewide general elk season opener - two valuable global positioning system elk radio collars suddenly went off the air. The two bull elk in question were trapped and collared in the Sawtooth elk zone in early 2008, and the odds are long that two functioning collars quit within days of each other. "We suspect that hunters legally harvested these animals, which is fine of course," said Craig White, Fish and Game wildlife research biologist in the Southwest Region. "We'd just like to get the collars back." It's no secret that Fish and Game has been busy the last few years radio-collaring big game animals across the state and then following the movements of those animals in the months and years that follow. The collars are not fashionable, but they are expensive; Fish and Game biologists would prefer to reuse old ones rather than buy new ones. "It's a matter of being efficient with our paying customers' money," White said. "If we can get a collar back, we can use it again immediately or return it to the manufacturer to be reconditioned. Either way, the cost savings to our license buyers is huge." It's likely that the animals were harvested by hunters living some distance from the Sawtooth zone. If that's the case, White and his team would be unable to detect any signals emanating from the collars. Hunters harvesting any collared animal are asked to return the collar to their local Idaho Fish and Game office. For information about the collars or the research project, contact Craig White at the Fish and Game Nampa office: 208-465-8465. Evin Oneale is the regional conservation educator in the Southwest Region.