HUNT: How to fix Fish and Game

Last Saturday I read the article about Idaho Fish and Game bemoaning their strain of lost revenues. Mr. Virgil Moore, department director, blamed the last four years of lost revenue due to the economy. Mr. Moore also said “One of the primary reasons revenue is down is a reduction of non-resident deer and elk tags.” Later in the article Mr. Moore cited a recent survey in which they identified 700,000 potential resident customers and a desire to have 20 percent of these customers buy license or tags.

Well here comes a newsflash: Idaho Fish and Game with help from the U.S. Forest Service has done just about everything humanly possible to discourage potential hunters from HUNTING.

Idaho Fish and Game is supposed to manage land and water. I think they, like most government agencies, forget the scope of the agency. It seems today their primary management is us, the people. You know we need more nannies to help guide the majority because we have a few dummies amongst us.

I have taken multiple Idaho Fish and Game surveys over the years related to the usage of ATVs during hunting season — yes I have an ATV. I would love to use it during hunting season, being 65, and I can’t do the things like pack out an elk on my own. ATV trails are closed during the season; oh you can use the main roads that full-size vehicles use. You just try to retrieve your game using an ATV trail; you will most likely be cited.

Look, if this was my business I would be looking for ways to gain more customers, making the hunting experience an enjoyable one. I can only speak for myself, but if I’m stopped by a warden I start thinking of all the possibilities of what I might have done or am doing wrong, kind of like when I go to the dentist (mine is a great guy but I hate going). If we could get them to be more helpful/resource (since they do work for us) I think the agency might actually see an increase in the tags purchased.

I have family and friends who live out of the area; they stopped coming due to low success rates over the last four years, not because of the economy. Spending thousands of dollars and going home empty handed did not set well with them, especially since they had to make long range plans to get time off as well as the other coordination required for a once a year event.

MIKE MALLORY

Athol