How to Contact Fish and Game

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has 83 Conservation Officers covering 84,000 square miles. Doing the simple math, Idaho Conservation Officer patrol districts average over a thousand square miles. Within each patrol district, officers have a wide variety of duties to perform. Law enforcement activities amount to only about a half of a Conservation Officer's time over the course of a year. Many hours are spent performing fisheries and wildlife management work, teaching hunter education, helping landowners and homeowners with wildlife problems, giving classroom and civic group presentations, attending training meetings, and dealing with whatever unexpected fish and wildlife matters may arise in the districts. Sometimes officers must cover a neighboring district if an officer is on vacation, sick, or temporarily assigned to another area. One Panhandle officer recently retired and current funding limitations require the position be left vacant for at least the next six months. With everything a Conservation Officer has to deal with, it can sometimes be a challenge for the public to contact them. If everything happened between 8am and 5pm Monday through Friday, it would be easy. The Idaho Fish and Game Regional offices are open during these regular business hours (excluding holidays) and people can walk in or call us. For location and telephone number in your region, go to: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/about/offices/ Regular business hours only cover a third of each day and not every day of the week. So, here are some suggestions for ways to contact us outside of regular business hours. A dispatcher, either through the local Sheriff's Department, the state police, or the CAP line has the ability to reach multiple officers at once on the radio. These dispatchers are true professionals at routing calls quickly and efficiently to the appropriate officers in the field. When you see a violation in progress or want to report a wildlife emergency, it is acceptable to call 911 just as you would when you need other law enforcement help. Dispatch centers can immediately contact the local fish and game officer with the pertinent information. Callers can remain anonymous when calling the CAP line or a dispatch center, but we encourage you to leave a call back number so officers can get additional information if needed. Callers can also receive a reward for information that leads to a conviction. The CAP line can be reached by dialing 1-800-632-5999.