Quota on Boise River "B" Elk Tags Removed

Meeting in Driggs Thursday, August 9, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted to remove the quota on Boise River Zone "B" elk tags. The action was a response to Wednesday's failure of the computerized license sales system during a planned sale of resident elk tags for the Lolo, Selway, and Middle Fork zones. The tag sale planned for Saturday, August 11, is no longer necessary and Boise River B tags will be available on an unlimited basis immediately. Anyone who was waiting in line for a Lolo, Selway or Middle Fork tag Wednesday evening and was issued a receipt or number to mark their place in line will be assured of having a tag available, said commission chairman Fred Wood. The remainder of the tags for those zones will be available on a first come-first served basis. The quota on those tags remains in place. "We're lifting the quota on the Boise River Zone in the interests of customer service," said Commission Chair Fred Wood of Burley. "The computer system has failed twice on these door-buster sales and the planned sale of Boise River tags would have been the biggest. We can't trust the system, so we have avoided it by removing the quota." Fish and Game wildlife chief Steve Huffkaker said the biological impact of removing the quota would be minimal. "The quota only reduced tag numbers by about nine hundred from what was sold last year and was a move toward slowing the harvest of adult bulls in the area. We'll take a look at it in our planning process and deal with it in next year's regulations." Resident and nonresident B tags will both be available for the Boise River Zone. Quotas remain in place for the Lolo, Selway and Middle Fork zones.