|
|
|
Check Station Story #2: Check stations
give Fish and Game a glimpse of the hunting
season |
|
October 6, 2015 |
Idaho Fish and Game's check stations help the
department gather valuable information from
hunters, and their help and cooperation is
appreciated during big-game seasons.
Fish and Game operates about 16 "biological"
check stations throughout Idaho during fall.
Department employees and volunteers typically
interview 10,000 to 20,000 hunters at check
stations, and see up to 2,500 harvested animals.
"The primary goal is to get an immediate
feedback on how the season is going," said Brad
Compton, Fish and Game's assistant wildlife
bureau chief. "Check stations are invaluable.
Within a few weeks, we can put our hands on
hundreds of animals, and that can tell us a lot
about them."
Biologists can determine the ages of deer and
elk harvested, take tissue samples to test for
diseases, such as chronic wasting disease. CWD
has never been detected in Idaho, but it is
found in neighboring states.
Check stations also give biologists a way to see
the body condition of animals harvested and get
an indicator of how other big-game animals are
faring before heading into winter.
Hunters may be asked what areas they are
hunting, and they can be assured the department
is not giving away their favorite hunting spots.
It's another way to track what hunters are
seeing and harvesting in different areas.
Idaho law requires all hunters and anglers to
stop at check stations regardless of whether
they have harvested game or kept fish. Although
enforcement isn't the primary focus of
biological check stations, hunters can be cited
if they have violated rules.
Improperly tagging big game animals and failing
to retain evidence of sex/gender on a carcass
are common violations.
Avoiding the first one is simple: make sure you
completely remove the date and month from the
tag, which verifies when the animal was
harvested. Cutting a slit in the date or month
is not legally validating the tag. The date and
month notch must be completely removed.
The easiest way to show evidence of sex is to
keep the head attached to the carcass. If the
animal is quartered and/or boned out, evidence
of sex must be naturally attached to a portion
of the carcass. Antlers or horns removed from
the head must be left naturally attached to the
skull plate where point or brow-tine
restrictions apply and must accompany the
carcass. Hunters can check page 100 of the
big-game rules booklet, or go online at
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov, to get rules for
leaving evidence of sex.
If you are transporting game (or fish) for
another person, the animal must be properly
tagged and you must have a completely filled out
and signed proxy statement from that person,
which can also be found on page 100 of the rules
booklet, or online.
To make the check station process more
efficient, hunters who have harvested should
have their animals and tags readily available
for inspection.
Hunters should also retain all usable meat from
big game animals as required by law. A detailed
description can be found on page 95 of the big
game rules booklet. Hunters are responsible for
keeping game meat from spoiling.
Chris Wright, Fish and Game's assistant bureau
chief of enforcement, said the most common way
game meat spoils is hunters not skinning and
cooling the carcass in a timely manner.
Wright said conservation officers at check
stations use discretion when deciding whether to
cite someone who has violated a rule, but "waste
of game is one of the things we have the lowest
tolerance for."
In addition to biological check stations, which
are typically held in the same locations every
year, Fish and Game also has "impromptu" check
stations that are strictly for catching hunting
violations. These are unannounced, in
undisclosed locations, and typically take place
when Fish and Game has received tips about
illegal hunting, or other violations.
Like biological check stations, all hunters and
anglers must stop at those check stations. |
|
|
|
Questions or comments about this
article?
Click here to e-mail! |
|
|
|
|
