Planning Your Hunt

By Teri Mattulat, Karen Blight, Marilyn Kratzberg and Kris Van Cleave Front Desk Staff - Idaho Department of Fish and Game - Southwest Region Wow! That's the general response these days from people we visit with regarding hunting information after we've directed them to the Idaho Hunt Planner, the newest feature on the Fish and Game website. In the past, we grabbed our well-worn regulations and looked up hunt dates and boundaries, while at the same time reaching for maps to try to help with area questions. No more. With the wonders of technology, we now grab for our computer mouse and encourage you to do the same! You'll find the Idaho Hunt Planner at fishandgame.idaho.gov. Look for the "plan your hunt" button on the right side of the home page to access the easy-to-use, helpful features of the Idaho Hunt Planner. You can find information such as hunt unit boundaries, printable interactive maps, other hunts open in the same area and much, much more. The Idaho Hunt Planner can help narrow down your hunt area so you can spend more time out in the field where you really want to be, while at the same time saving you valuable fuel. Hunt areas and hunt numbers for 2006 will not be available until big game seasons are set in March by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. If you want hunt statistics, you'll find them in the Idaho Hunt Planner. You can look up drawing odds, animals harvested from previous years, and a whole lot more "need to know" information regarding hunt seasons and areas. Open the map center to search the Idaho backcountry by region, unit, game zone, and controlled hunts. Use the maps to show watersheds, terrain, satellite imagery, land cover, land ownership, and other details. While every hunter can benefit from this feature, it should prove particularly valuable to controlled hunt permitees or those hunting along the border of two or more hunt units. Many hunters have already discovered the Idaho Hunt Planner and use it regularly. If you surf this valuable tool once or twice and still have questions, give us a call. A chat with one of our Fish and Game field staff will be much more meaningful when coupled with the solid knowledge gained from the Idaho Hunt Planner. If you don't have access to the Internet, we're always here to help, and if we can't answer your questions, we'll find someone who can. Have fun surfing the Idaho Hunt Planner at fishandgame.idaho.gov. If your season has ended, remember that it's not too early to start planning your 2006 hunt; the Idaho Hunt Planner will help you do just that.