Harvest stats for 2019 are out and a synopsis. Interesting reading.
One thing that jumps out is that there was a drop of 5.5% in deer hunter #'s from 2018 and a drop of 1.5% in elk hunters.
And elk hunters also took almost 100 more bulls in 2019 than 2018 even though there was a drop of 1,793 elk killed. The drop was all in the antlerless category and according to the synopsis, a lot of that was because of reduced opportunity, so by design in management. The synopsis also pointed out that it was the 6th straight year that over 20,000 elk were taken, the 2nd longest streak in State history. The FIRST year ever that over 20,000 elk were taken was 1988. So people longing for the "good old days" might need to put things into perspective.
Mule deer decreases seem to be the result of a couple bad winters. And even though 2019 was below the 10 year average for whitetails, it was still the 10th best season for harvest of whitetails in State history. Again, perspective.
https://idfg.idaho.gov/press/harvest-hunter-numbers-down-deer-and-elk-2019
