Here’s what IDFG biologists learned from two elk surveys

Recent surveys by Fish and Game biologists showed elk populations in the Weiser River and Brownlee Elk zones are well above objectives for both bulls and cows. These abundance surveys helped inform Fish and Game’s season setting proposals for the 2025 fall elk seasons, as biologists seek to move these populations toward management objectives by providing additional hunting opportunity. 

Fish and Game’s Elk Management plan establishes population objectives for each elk zone. Those objectives are influenced by a variety of factors, including Fish and Game’s responsibility to minimize agricultural depredations caused by elk. Those are substantial in both the Weiser River and Brownlee zones.  

“We have a very productive elk herd in these zones, which is great,” said Regional Wildlife Manager Regan Berkley. “But our goal is to manage populations within our management plan objectives, which are intended to balance hunting opportunity with minimizing elk depredations.” 

A look at the numbers and initial season proposals 

For both bulls and cows, estimated elk numbers in both zones were up from the last survey in 2019 — substantially for cows in the Brownlee Zone, and both bulls and cows in the Weiser River Zone.  

For the Brownlee Zone, the 2025 survey produced an estimate of 1,852 cows — well above the objective range of 550 to 850. The survey produced an estimate of 608 bulls, also well above the objective range of 150 to 200.

With those population estimates and objective ranges in mind, biologists proposed increases to controlled hunt bull tags, controlled hunt cow tags, controlled hunt either-sex tags and to add over-the-counter cow hunting opportunity on the Brownlee B tag for the upcoming elk seasons.  

In the Weiser River Zone, the survey produced an estimate of 7,897 cows, compared to an objective range of 3,300 to 5,000. It produced an estimate of 1,835 bulls, compared with an objective range of 670 to 1,000.  

Factoring in the results of the survey, biologists proposed removing the quota for Weiser River Zone B tag — which would make it an uncapped elk tag — and increasing the number of controlled hunt cow tags in the zone. 

Weiser River and Brownlee zones present similar management challenges 

The Weiser River and Brownlee elk zones present similar challenges for management due to the mosaic of public and private lands within them. 

In both zones, a portion of the elk population are nonmigratory and do not leave private lands, associated with agriculture, in areas considered to be winter range. These elk are included in the population estimates, but are not typically available to hunters who can't access private lands, and the elk are responsible for a large portion of depredations. During the hunting seasons, many of the elk in the Weiser River and Brownlee zones also get pushed off public land, which limits harvest. 

“These zones are really hard to manage because of that substantial public/private land interface,” Berkley said. “There are elk that spend a lot of time on private land and are mostly inaccessible to hunters, which makes this a really complicated system to manage to keep hunters and landowners happy.” 

Biologists are actively working to get better information about how many, and when, elk are moving on and off private land, and what that means for both private landowners and public land hunters. In 2024, they started placing tracking collars on elk in the Weiser River Zone to better understand those dynamics. Ultimately, information like this will help future management efforts.  

In the meantime, wildlife managers believe they can help address some of these issues with tweaks to seasons, such as adding private-land-only hunts to push elk from private land — or at least help avoid elk being pushed onto private.  

A final upshot 

One particularly encouraging takeaway from this year’s elk abundance surveys was where the elk were surveyed: The herds aren’t just growing on private lands.   

More than half of the elk surveyed in the Brownlee Elk Zone were on Fish and Game’s Cecil D. Andrus WMA. And over in the Weiser River Zone, biologists saw population increases in all three of its units, including 22 and 32A, where there is a greater proportion of public land.