High Tech Web-link Helps Hunters Plan Trips

Hunters preparing for the fall season have a new high-tech resource to help them plan a trip from start to finish. Idaho Hunt Planner provides answers to questions from "Where can I hunt mule deer?" to "Where are the boundaries of Unit 36B" to "How much will a two-bed motel room in Riggins cost me?" System features include Hunt Finder, which allows you to get information about specific hunts without sorting through multiple pages in the rules brochure. It also features Map Center which allows you to zoom in on any point in Idaho and check everything from topography to land ownership. It even allows you to make your own maps. According to Bart Butterfield, who oversees the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Information System for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, while the printed brochure is still the official rules document, the Idaho Hunt Planner goes further by allowing hunters to quickly answer questions about hunt unit boundaries, controlled hunt boundaries, seasons for hunts in specific areas of the state, and a seemingly infinite number of other questions. "It allows you to determine what seasons are available in the area you want to hunt. For example, if you want to hunt elk in Unit 24 during October, Idaho Hunt Planner will list the seasons that are open at that time" Butterfield said. Hunters can quickly access that information without sifting through page after page in printed hunt brochures. "We can never put a rules brochure together that would be able to do all of these things." Idaho Hunt Planner also lets you find the odds of drawing a particular controlled hunt, hunter success from previous year's harvest reports, and search Idaho's Access Yes! program. Fish and Game managers believe the system will allow people to plan a hunting trip in Idaho from start to finish with fewer calls to Fish and Game offices with questions about their specific hunt. Idaho Hunt Planner is not a collection of PDF files. It is essentially a search engine that allows hunters to quickly move from one information source to another. Idaho Hunt Planner can be accessed at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner