Private Land Access Program Adds Acres

More private land is open to hunters and anglers this year thanks to a state program that compensates private land owners. As of May 3, owners of 102 properties, comprising 620,215 acres of private land, have signed up with the Access Yes! program. That's better than half way to the program goal of 1 million or more acres. Passage across many of these private lands also provides access to an additional 689,030 acres of public land for hunting and fishing. This nearly doubles the amount of private land from last year when the program covered 355,998 acres of private and 430,690 acres of public land. The Access Yes! program is designed to improve hunter and angler access to private land or through private land to public land beyond by compensating willing landowners. The program, which lets landowners specify conditions of access to meet their needs, also provides access to wildlife that may cause depredation problems, and helps improve landowner-hunter relationships and hunter ethics. The program is a cooperative effort among the Idaho departments of Fish and Game and Agriculture and the Idaho Fish and Game Advisory Committee. Fish and Game urges hunters and anglers to respect private lands - ask permission, close gates, don't litter, be courteous and stay on the road. Hunters and anglers can support the program by making donations at any vendor or Fish and Game office, or by applying for a Super Hunt drawing; applications are available at license vendors, Fish and Game offices, by phone at 800-554-8685 or 800-824-3729, by mail or online. But time to apply is getting short. Super Hunt and Super Hunt Combo applications must be at the Fish and Game headquarters office by May 31 for the first drawing on June 15. Applications for the second drawing must be at Fish and Game by August 10. The second drawing will be August 15. A single Super Hunt application costs $6.25, and a Super Hunt Combo costs $19.95. A hunter may make several applications. Information about the Access Yes! program, along with a property list and the opportunities they provide are available on the Fish and Game website: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/accessyesguide.aspx