Outdoors briefs September 19,2013
Outdoors safety course offered
COEUR d'ALENE - North Idaho College's Outdoor Pursuits program is offering a Wilderness First Aid course on the college's Coeur d'Alene campus.
Participants do not have to be enrolled at NIC to take the course.
The class will be offered Oct. 5-6 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The course is taught as an introduction to wilderness medicine and basic life support skills. The emphasis is on recognizing and treating life-threatening traumatic and medical emergencies, common wilderness injuries, bandaging and splinting and environmental injuries. American Heart Association CPR is included.
Register online at www.nic.edu/wft.
For more information, call 769-7809
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Chukar, partridge quail seasons open Saturday
Seasons for chukar, quail and partridge open Saturday.
Hunters need only a valid hunting license to hunt quail, chukar and gray partridge.
Chukar and gray partridge seasons run from Sept. 21 through Jan. 31, 2014, throughout the state. The daily bag limit is eight chukar and eight gray partridge, and the possession limit is 24 chukar and 24 gray partridge.
Chukar were introduced into Idaho from Asia. They are common in suitable habitat along the Salmon, Snake and Boise rivers, and along other river drainages of southern and central Idaho up to an elevation of about 5,000 feet. Chukar habitat consists of steep, rocky canyons with grassy and brushy vegetation.
Gray partridge, also introduced in Idaho, are widely distributed and can be found in agricultural regions, as well as in sagebrush-grassland areas. They are hardy birds able to withstand severe winter weather if adequate food is available.
Bobwhite and California quail seasons in Area 1 run from Saturday through Jan. 31. The daily bag limit is 10 total, and the possession limit is 30 total.
Area 1 includes Ada, Adams, Benewah, Blaine, Boise, Bonner, Boundary, Camas, Canyon, Cassia, Clearwater, Elmore, Gem, Gooding, Idaho, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce, Owyhee, Payette, Shoshone, Valley, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka, Twin Falls and Washington counties.
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Fish and game elk plan comments due Sunday
There's still time for anyone interested to comment on how Idaho Department of Fish and Game plans to manage elk over the next decade.
Public comments on the proposed management plan released in August are due by Sunday. The proposed plan directs IDFG to maintain or increase current elk populations across most of the state. To accomplish this, IDFG has identified in the plan:
* zone-level elk population objectives for each zone;
* specific factors limiting elk numbers in each management zone; and
* strategies and performance objectives to address limiting factors.
This revised plan is not designed to prescribe specific hunting seasons; rather it is designed to establish goals that IDFG staff members, working with elk hunters and the public, will achieve over the next 10 years.
The plan is available for review and comment at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/elkplanning.
Copies of the plan also may be obtained at regional Fish and Game offices. Comments may be submitted on the website or mailed to: Elk Plan Comments, c/o Idaho Fish and Game, P.O. Box 25, Boise, ID 83707.
Idaho's current elk management plan is more than 12 years old. Starting in late 2011, IDFG launched an effort to revise and update that plan.
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Ask Fish and Game: Legal shot
Q. What kinds of shot are legal for waterfowl hunting? Is lead shot still legal for any kind of waterfowl?
A. Lead shot is illegal for all waterfowl hunting, including ducks, mergansers, geese and coots. Hunters may not hunt waterfowl while in possession of shot other than non-toxic shot approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The shot must be .2 inches - T size or smaller. Only steel shot or shot made from bismuth-tin, iron, iron-tungsten, iron-tungsten-nickel, tungsten-bronze, tungsten-iron-copper-nickel, tungsten-matrix, tungsten-polymer, tungsten-tin-iron, tungsten-tin-bismuth, tungsten-tin-iron-nickel or tungsten-iron-polymer are on the list of approved non-toxic shot. For details see http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/CurrentBirdIssues/nontoxic.htm.