Free: Contests & Raffles.
Quote from: lord grizzly on April 02, 2018, 08:44:26 AMremember this is only NON RESIDENTS were talking about limiting. I say great job F&G. a resident of there own state should have privileges a NON RESIDENT shouldn't. going to make this hunt better for sure All the more reason for everyone to move to Idaho!!!!
remember this is only NON RESIDENTS were talking about limiting. I say great job F&G. a resident of there own state should have privileges a NON RESIDENT shouldn't. going to make this hunt better for sure
So let me get this right, the above comments are all complaining about the internet ruining Unit 27 yet Hirshey's post on her Idaho hunt goes to a dozen pages or more and views in the hundred with "wow's" and "thank you's", talk about hypocritical!...the airstrips are not "little cities" and there is a lot of wilderness hunts in Unit 27 when it was unlimited, but most hunters (guessing the ones who complained above) expect to walk a 100 yards and see dozens of bucks...well, I have been hunting Unit 27 since 1991 and some of the leanest years were 95 and 96 and especially 97 after the back to back winters of the previous years...in 2014, 2016 (I skipped 2015) the hunting was incredible, probably the best I have ever seen it...and last year the deer suffered from the winter (not the hunters) but the elk hunting was crazy...saw over 200 in 2 days, and killed a 5x5. Don't be fooled that hunters pushed this change...hunters and air taxi services DID NOT push for this, as I know dozens of hunters who sent letters to not have this kind of cut...it was driven by the Idaho Outfitters and Guide's Association...they WILL NOT suffer from this as they noted that in the past 5 years the most deer hunters that hunted with a guide was 99...so IDFG allotted them 99 outfitter tags above and beyond the NR cap. But on average just over 500 NR hunted this unit so they capped the NR tags at 10% and are only allowing 51 tags NR tags. Even IDFG warned the Guides that if the NR hunters do not return to Idaho to hunt other regions that this will be looked at again in the near future as each NR hunter is worth on average $500 to IDFG and a 450 hunter hit x $500 = $225,000 out of their budget (just for Unit 27...add in the cuts to 26 and 20A, as well as 10A) which is a lot of money to IDFG. Add in all of the revenue lost to Air Taxi's, and local communities (I know we stay at least 2 nights at a hotel, plus food, gas, and buy our groceries once we get to McCall...I grew up in a small tourist town and know that it means more to them to spend my money when I get there than to buy my food at my local grocery store). As far as the hunting goes...no biologist agreed with the cap, as the carrying capacity is just fine in the Wilderness areas...most of the hunters above are complaining because of THEIR expectations, not the ecosystems. Wolves get hunted hard by all of those NR hunters, with a lot of wolves taken or chased out of the area allowing the mule deer to breed. It is an 18 day season, and the Frank Church is the largest wilderness area in the lower 48 states...500 deer taken out of Unit 27 is nothing and even then, it's not 100% success as some hunters don't care to shoot small bucks...but just because YOU don't want to shoot a small buck doesn't give you the right to limit other hunters...this is the main problem with hunters today...they (YOU) expect everyone to conform to your ideals...I like sitting in camp and spotting 10-15 bucks even if they are 2 to 4 year olds. I like going out in my last day of the hunt, after passing on bucks all week and then filling my freezer...which I find ironic that most hunters in WA just try and find a legal buck, yet when we go to Idaho all of a sudden a "real hunter" only shoots a 180+ inch buck...give me a break. The 500 NR hunters contribute way more to the local economies in ID, as well as the deer can handle the harvest, so why should it be limited?...because Guides were pissed that a NR can and have been going in there and killing the same deer that the Guide charges a NR $5000 to hunt. I've had those guides ride by me on their horses with clients while I was packing out a nice buck and the look on the clients face said it all..."why am I paying this guide so much money and that guy gets to kill that buck instead of me". WE ALL SHOULD BE UPSET AS WE JUST LOST A HUNTING SEASON...last time I checked the Frank Church is PUBLIC NATIONAL FOREST...I have just as much of a right to hunt there as the next guy, but we all get stuck on this idea of "I want to hunt alone...it's not fair someone else found MY spot" and are apparently willing to give up our hunting spots with an attitude, "Well, if someone else is going to hunt here then I'd rather nobody can"...and for what it's worth, where I fly into (same spot as Hirshey, fyi), I can hike to an area and hunt all day without seeing another person...so, I don't care if there is 200 camps (fyi, there isn't as that would be more than the entire hunter count for Unit 27 at 4 hunters per camp on average) at the runway...nobody is near my spike camp...Grade
My hunting partner Dioni was at every single meeting related to this decision. The air services AND guides were screaming to NOT put a cap on this hunt. Guides were hauling in group after group and making good money doing it with little effort. This was driven by the citizens of Idaho who were tired of what the NR masses were doing to the unit.
Action...I'm sure we know each other...first, the guides were untouched...the MOST clients they had in the last 5 years was 99 and so, IDFG alloted them 99 tags above and beyond the 51 NR special Permit tags, so the guides actually got an increase in tags over last year's total client patrons. 500+ hunters for the entire unit 27 is nothing for the size of that unit.
