Updated Hunt Planner, Open Data Page Available Online

Idaho Fish and Game has updated the Hunt Planner for the 2012-2013 hunting seasons. The Hunt Planner is an interactive online tool that allows hunters to search for and create maps for hunting areas of interest. It is available at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/. Hunters simply answer a few questions about what game they would like to hunt, how, where and when they would like to hunt it, and a list of all the available hunts that meet their criteria will be generated. They can then select a hunt area from this list, and the Hunt Planner will create a map that can be printed or provide links to an interactive map that can be customized further. The Hunt Planner also generates helpful information for the hunt area selected, such as:

• General season harvest statistics.
• Tag, permit and fee prices.
• Landscape characteristics and access.
• Weather.
• Local outfitters and guides.
• Local services, including lodging, camping and restaurants.
• How to get there and current road condition.

In addition, hunters may download current and past controlled hunt boundaries from the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Information System "Open Data" page at https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/portal/opendata. The information can be viewed in Google Earth and GIS programs. Hunters can also download data for game management units, elk and wolf management zones, generalized game animal distributions and current and past Access Yes! property boundaries. Several new features have been added this year, including: New layers in the map center:

• Motorized and nonmotorized trails from trails.idaho.gov
• Fire emergency closures from InciWeb
• Real-time fire detections, updated every two hours, from USFS/MODIS.
• Landscape panoramas from Panoramio

New Mobile/Web Application "IDFG Fire Map" http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/maps/realtime/fire/

• View real-time fire detections and emergency closures with IDFG Hunting Areas

Additional updates for the 2012 season include:

• Updated rules for 2012.
• 2012 map index http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/mapindex.aspx (interactive maps and static PDFs of every hunt boundary).
• 2012 Access Yes properties. http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/accessyesguide.aspx.
• Open Data https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/portal/opendata/hunting download Google Earth (kml) and Shapefiles (shp) for offline and desktop viewing.
• Harvest statistics for 2011 http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/stats.aspx.