Fish and Game managers want to hear people’s opinions about mule deer hunting in Idaho, so they’re asking hunters to take an online survey and share their thoughts.
Fish and Game revised its Mule Deer Management Plan in 2008, and managers periodically re-evaluate plans so they can remain responsive to hunters and changing conditions. Understanding the experiences mule deer hunters desire is important to provide a diversity of hunting opportunities.
“The mule deer is our most popular big game animal," said Jon Rachael, State Game Manager. “It’s time to touch base with deer hunters to see if their perspectives and desires have changed over the last 10 years.”
Hunters can take the website survey here. Deadline is Sept. 22.
In July, Fish and Game mailed 5,000 surveys to a random sample of hunters. About 2,000 have been returned, and they are being processed and tallied.
On Aug. 28, an email request for the same survey was sent to a random sample of 25,000 hunters. They were selected from hunters who had provided their email addresses to Fish and Game.
Hunters who received the survey in the mail or via email should complete those, not take the open, website survey. The website option allows all hunters who did not get the mail or email survey to take it and express their opinions.
An open website survey is valuable because it’s another way to gauge hunter opinions, but it can have different results because hunters were not randomly selected, and there can be campaigning for or against certain topics. However, an open, website survey is also a good gauge of how hunters feel about certain aspects of game management, and if there’s strong sentiment for or against something.