[Marshall Stanton]

After losing a great percentage of both our elk and deer herds in the winter of '96/"97, our hunting prospects have been rather grim.  However, mild winters since then, good forage and excellent survival of fawns and calves have helped rebound our herds.

For the first time since the bad winter, it looks like our elk and deer populations are returning to somewhat normal levels, and a good hunting prospect for the Panhandle of Idaho is finally on the horizon.

Too, Fish & Game have made part of the Panhandle a two-bear zone, increasing black-bear harvests and thus helping reduce the bear predation on fawns and calves.

Also, Idaho Fish & Game also made a new ruling last year that allowed out-of-state hunters to use either their deer or elk tags to harvest a black bear.  Not only did this open new opportunities for harvest with out-of-state hunters, it also gives incentive for incidental harvest of bears which will also help curb that predation on calves and fawns as well.

It's exciting to see that we once again might have the fine big game hunting that we were so accustomed to in Idaho.

Looking forward to a great elk season!

God Bless,

Marshall

 

[IDShooter]

Marshall,
     My son went to a friend's birthday party up near Athol a couple of months ago, just east of 95 and saw a very large herd of elk on their property. He said they watched the elk for about 10 minutes before they moved out of the meadow into the woods.
      He was funny, telling me about it - he said "daddy, there were some elk that were a lot bigger than the rest but there weren't any bulls!" Once I explained to him that the bulls had dropped their antlers and hadn't re-grown new ones yet he got the picture. I had taught him that elk and deer lose their antlers each year but I guess he had never seen it for himself. He had seen an antlered bull in the woods by age 4 so that's what he expected!  Like you I'm hoping the hunting is good this year.               IDShooter