Nonresident Selway Elk Tags, Deer Quota Changed

During its quarterly meeting November 15, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission set new limits on nonresident Selway Zone elk tags, and changed nonresident deer quotas. Statewide, the overall number of nonresident elk tags did not change, but the number of deer tags was increased by 1,500. The commissioners approved a Fish and Game staff proposal to reduce the number of Selway B tags by 15 percent to 284, from 336 last year; they also capped Selway A tags at 374 - the existing level of use. The A tags had not been capped. The recommendations included shortening the Selway Zone B tag late season to November 1 through November 11, instead of November 18. The commission will act on the season recommendation in March. Bull elk harvest has stayed fairly steady in the Selway zone, but biologists are concerned that not enough young bulls are coming into the herds to replace big, older bulls. The commission made no changes to quotas for other elk zones. The overall number of nonresident elk tags in Idaho did not change. The total of A and B tags remains at 10,415 tags, with an additional 2,400 tags set aside for outfitters. That makes a total of 12,815 nonresident elk tags. The commissioners also dropped the southeast Idaho deer quota. A separate quota on nonresident deer tags was set for several units in the southeast region following the decline in herds there after severe winter weather in the early 1990s. Recovering numbers in the region and a slowdown in demand for nonresident tags there made the separate quota unnecessary. The commission increased the regular deer quota to 14,000, and added 1,500 white-tailed deer tags. The changes restore the number of nonresident deer tags to the 1996 level of 15,500. The nonresident deer quota was trimmed after winter losses in the 1990s hit deer numbers in several areas of Idaho. Herds in many areas of the state have come back. Nonresident tags go on sale Saturday, December 1.