Frequently Asked Questions
We get a lot of questions. We post here answers to questions we're being asked frequently. If you have a question not answered here, please contact us. Urgent questions should be directed to your nearest office. Some answers change over time; please take note of the "answered" date.
Displaying 3351 - 3375 of 3534 questionsA:
No. The information on your intended hunt is collected to help Fish and Game in its management. For example, if one particular unit appears to be drawing a mob, the department needs to know that and may want to look at season structures.answered 9/14/2003
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The rule on artificial light, which applied only to trout, was dropped several years ago. Lighted lures are okay.answered 9/7/2003
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Access Yes! is off to an excellent start toward providing exciting private land hunting opportunity. A big part of its continued success and future growth is mutual respect. Treating landowners and the opportunity they are extending to the public with utmost regard cannot be overemphasized. If you go to the list of Access Yes! properties on the Internet at http://www2.state.id.us/fishgame/Hunt/ProgramsInfo/AccessYes/properties.cfm, you will see whether or not the individual landowner wishes you to call before coming to the property.answered 8/28/2003
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Dove hunting, which begins September 1, requires a federal migratory bird permit ($1.50). But the $15 federal waterfowl stamp is not required to hunt doves. The $1.50 permit is required for doves, sandhill cranes, ducks and geese.answered 8/24/2003
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No, that only applies to deer, elk and antelope. You can buy your crane permit right up to the last day of your hunt.answered 8/17/2003
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True, you can have more than one elk tag if you buy a tag through the usual process and then buy an unsold nonresident tag when they go on sale August 28. You will have to pay the nonresident price for this tag.answered 8/10/2003
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You need a Federal Migratory Game Bird Harvest Information Program, or Federal HIP, validation on your hunting license. It's not really a stamp. It costs $1.50, which pays the license vendor for issuing the validation. It is required for hunting doves, sandhill cranes, snipe and all waterfowl. With the information gained when hunters answer a questionnaire each year when buying the Federal HIP, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can do a more accurate job of managing these migratory birds.answered 8/3/2003
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Beginning August 28, any unsold nonresident deer and elk tags will be available for use as a second tag. They sell at regular nonresident tag prices, whether sold to a resident or a nonresident. There are plenty of nonresident deer and elk tags available.answered 7/27/2003
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There are no leftover tags in unlimited controlled hunts. These hunts are unlimited in the sense that game managers do not set predetermined number of tags as they do in other controlled hunts. The purpose of this kind of hunt is to achieve specific management objectives while limiting hunters to a particular time and place by using the rules long established for controlled hunts. But once the period for applying for controlled hunts passes, there is no way to obtain a permit for an unlimited controlled hunt. There will be no sale of unclaimed unlimited controlled hunt permits when other unclaimed controlled hunt permits are sold on a first-come, first-served basis August 30.answered 7/21/2003
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No, the youth controlled hunt tags cannot be used by an adult hunter. However, you can buy one for your child up through the age of 17.answered 7/13/2003
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They can have a resident license if they are old enough to be licensed and under age 18, and they are entitled to their own limit.answered 7/6/2003
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Here is the simplified version of how the controlled hunt drawing system works: Every application entered in the drawing has the same chance of drawing. The procedure for the selection of individuals to receive controlled hunt permits has been computerized since 1973. As an applicants apply for the controlled hunt application they are assigned an application number. A randomly generated number is scrambled, and then converted to be used as the final drawing application number.The starting draw routine, after seed numbers have been selected and attested by judges, initiates the computer draw system that rapidly selects the successful applicants from the entire application file of eligible applicants.How does it work when one person puts in compared to when four people put in on the same application? Is their number in the system one time or four times? When applying as a single applicant or as a group the system will recognize only one application number. When applying as a group, the group is assigned a single application number. How are second choice tags drawn? The controlled hunt drawing system processes all first choice hunts in the first round of the draw system. After this is completed, the drawing system does a second drawing to fill any open hunts with second choice hunts.Can a person draw his second before that hunt has been filled by first chance people? No.How does having a mix of residents and non-residents on the same application affect my chances of drawing? Nonresidents are limited to 10 percent of the permits available in a controlled hunt. For example if there are 100 permits in a controlled hunt, nonresidents can draw up to 10 permits. Below is a situation to help answer your question. Let's assume you and your hunting partner (who is a nonresident) apply for a controlled hunt on a group application. You have applied for a controlled hunt with 100 permits available. During the controlled hunt drawing process, applications are selected and marked as successfully drawing a permit. In your hunt there have been 90 permits drawn prior to your application. The system then selects your application and the following occurs. The system verifies that there is a nonresident on the application and checks to see if there is a permit available for a nonresident. If 10 nonresidents have already drawn a permit in the hunt your application will be rejected and the drawing process will go on to the next application.answered 6/22/2003
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You can set up the tackle, bait the hook or tie on the lure, and you can take the fish off the hook. You cannot cast it for them or reel in the fish or lure. If the child gets tired of fishing, make sure they reel in the line rather than leaving it set up near you. If you are not fishing but have a valid license you could do the casting and reeling.answered 6/15/2003
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Under the old procedure, you would have been waving from the front step as your buddies left for the hills this fall. You had to take the controlled hunt tag or nothing; you could not purchase a general hunt tag instead. Not so now. The new procedure requires that you buy your controlled hunt tag by August 20. If you don't, it will be sold as a leftover. But now you can buy a general hunt tag if you do not have a controlled hunt tag.answered 6/8/2003
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July 10 is the customary date by which you will be notified through the mail. The results are also available online at www2.state.id.us/fishgame in the controlled hunt section. Results go up on the department web site as soon as they are available after the drawing, so you might beat the July 10 date by watching the site. Many hunters find this the quickest and most convenient way to learn their results.answered 6/1/2003
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Surveys of elk populations in the Lemhi Zone indicated the chance to offer more hunting opportunity. Elk permits were added in hunt numbers 2005 (58 permits), 2013 (24 permits), 2139 (two permits), 2142 (one permit), and 2148 (three permits). Three permits were cut in hunt number 2141. The increases are conservative and the overall goal for the Lemhi Zone units is to maintain quality bull hunting. The increases will help allow a few more hunters to hunt there, but still maintain the quality bull hunt.answered 5/15/2003
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June 7 is the day you and your friends, even from outside Idaho, can fish for free. All the other rules and limits apply, so pick up a copy of the fishing brochure or view it at www2.state.id.us/fishgame. You do not need a license and if you go after chinook, you do not need a salmon tag.answered 5/12/2003
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It is about picking up your tag for controlled hunts on or before August 20. This new rule applies to deer, elk, antelope and black bear tags. It does not apply to trophy species or unlimited controlled hunts. Six to eight percent of people successful in the draws fail to pick up a tag each year, depriving someone else of a chance to hunt. Tags that are not claimed by the person who drew them will go on sale at license vendors statewide Aug. 30 as unclaimed leftover tags.answered 5/5/2003
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Nope. This kind of an exchange amounts to a license upgrade, which is now prohibited by Commission policy.answered 4/28/2003
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There are two kinds of turkey tags, the regular spring tag and a late spring/fall tag. You can harvest two turkeys this year. You must have a separate tag for each turkey. The spring turkey tag can be used from April 15-May 25 in any general season turkey hunt. The late spring/fall tag can be used in general hunts from May through May 25. If you have not harvested with it by the end of the spring season (May 25), you can hunt with it during the fall season. The spring turkey tag cannot be exchanged for the late spring/fall tag. Please note: there are no turkey controlled hunts this fall.answered 4/20/2003
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Yes. It has been illegal to snag salmon for a long time, but up until now if they were hooked in the head, it was accepted. The new rule is that it is only legal to keep a salmon if it was hooked in the mouth or jaw. In other words, if that salmon did not actually bite that hook, you cannot keep it.answered 4/13/2003
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With each controlled hunt drawing, there are hundreds of requests for changes, usually because hunters used the previous regulations to look up hunt numbers, which change each year. If F&G staff changed one, they would have to change them all to be fair. There is limited staff working on controlled hunts, and rather than delay the drawing, no changes are made. Hunters must take the responsibility to apply correctly the first time.answered 4/6/2003
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Spring steelhead fishing has been surprisingly good with some areas recently down to an average of a couple of hours per fish. Any time the average is below 20 per fish, we think it is worth fishing. The end of the spring season is April 30 in most areas now open but it ends March 31 on the Salmon River from its mouth upstream to Long Tom Creek. The season runs through May 31 on the Snake River from Hells Canyon Dam upstream to Oxbow Dam. The end is May 31 also on the Boise and Payette Rivers where surplus hatchery steelhead have been planted.answered 3/31/2003
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The Clearwater Region Fish and Game office in Lewiston is the place and April 12 the date for this year's auction of furs, antlers and other wildlife parts, many of them confiscated from poachers. The auction is moved around the state from year to year so everyone has an easier opportunity to attend one of them. Watch for further details on the department web site at www2.state.id.us/fishgame.answered 3/23/2003
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Because the Fish and Game Commission meeting came late in March and final rules are set at this meeting, the brochure will be a few days later than the April 11 delivery date we usually try to meet. The application period for big game species is the entire month of May. Moose, mountain goat and bighorn sheep applications are due in April.answered 3/16/2003