PINE, Ariz. — The Arizona Game and Fish Department is offering a $2,000 reward for information on elk that were poached near a residential community in Pine, about 15 miles northwest of Payson. Reports to the Department's Operation Game Thief Hotline over the past two months led wildlife managers to several elk that were shot in separate instances in the vicinity of Pine Canyon. The meat was left to waste. Not only were the animals were killed outside of the legal season, it is illegal and unethical to waste game meat in Arizona. Because the carcasses were found near residences, it is possible that someone saw the suspect leaving the area. "Poachers are not hunters; they are criminals who steal…
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The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will hold their next meeting January 27-28 at Fish and Game Headquarters in Boise. The public hearing will begin at 7 pm, January 27 in the Headquarters trophy room. Citizens are invited to address the commission regarding agenda and non-agenda items at the hearing. All testimony will be taken into consideration when the commission makes decisions on agenda items at the meeting. The commission meeting will begin at 8 am, January 28. Routine agenda items include a JFAC budget preview; legislative update, big game briefing, and appointment of Winter Feeding Advisory Committee members. A complete agenda is available on Fish and Game's website under the About Us tab athttp://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/about/commission/2016/01_January/Agenda.html. Individuals may request accommodations by…
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Washington, D.C. (January 12, 2016) – In response to President Obama’s final State of the Union address to Congress, Western Caucus Chairman Cynthia Lummis (WY-At large) issued the following statement on the state of the West: “Reviewing the executive’s past seven years of manufacturing regulations, designating land unilaterally, empowering Washington, killing energy jobs, burying agriculture under red tape, and fiddling as the West burns shows President Obama and his Administration have utterly failed the West. But as this regime enters its final year, we can see light at the end of the tunnel at last. “The future holds the key; it holds the opportunity to enact the reforms that Western members of Congress have been pushing these past seven years…
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Written by Jeanne Rife on 13 Jan 2016 The harvest of a strange mountain lion in southeastern Idaho recently has generated lot of fuss among media and the public. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has shared some facts and some extra information about the harvest of this mountain lion and its odd deformity. Last week, a young male mountain lion was harvested legally in the Weston area nearly 8 miles southwest of Preston, Idaho. The mountain lion was seen attacking a dog on the property of a landowner in the rural Weston area on December 30. The mountain lion rushed away, leaving its foot marks behind. The tracks were followed with the help of other properties and ultimately…
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The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is asking for public input on the 10-year revision of the Idaho State Wildlife Action Plan. Fish and Game officials are interested in tapping local knowledge and experience to improve Idaho's plan. When completed, the Action Plan is intended to conserve fish and wildlife by helping landowners, resource-based industries, and land management agencies choose programs and on-the-ground activities that benefit those species that need the most help. All guidance, strategies, and actions suggested in the Action Plan are voluntary and will help prevent future endangered species listings. The Action Plan describes key conservation targets (fish and wildlife species and their habitats), threats to those targets such as noxious weeds and wildfire, and recommended…
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http://ravallirepublic.com/missoula/news/local/article_0eeb1cf1-7711-5071-b2f9-5a771dc612a9.html December 11, 2015 6:30 pm • By Rob Chaney Hunters, landowners and state wildlife managers will all be looking at how a test extension of the elk hunting season works out in central Montana. Read more BILLINGS - While the antlerless elk shoulder season in four Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 4 hunting districts will continue straight through… Read more Some big game could become fair game for half the year if elk shoulder season rules get adopted by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission. The commissioners reviewed a lengthy list of hunting districts where elk seek sanctuary on private land that might be opened to antlerless harvest as early as August to as late as February. They also stressed any decision on the…
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Officers need your help This winter is not a good time to try to kill a mule deer illegally in Utah. Conservation officers with the Division of Wildlife Resources are conducting massive patrols on ranges on which deer congregate in the winter. They're conducting the patrols with one goal in mind: to protect Utah's mule deer from poachers. Tony Wood, chief of the DWR's Law Enforcement Section, says in the winter, deer congregate on ranges at lower elevations. As large groups of deer bunch together, they provide poachers with an enticing target. But the deers' behavior helps wildlife officers too: it directs them to areas where poaching will most likely happen. Officers aren't focusing their efforts entirely on popular winter…
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http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2015/11/29/black-bear-population-healthy-growing-new-strategies-for-hunt/#.Vlxg9ISS4p8 SOUTHERN UTAH — A new black bear strategy, started in Utah in 2015, did exactly what wildlife managers hoped it would: It led to government agencies taking fewer bears and hunters taking more bears. In 2014, hunters and government agencies took a total of 378 bears in Utah. In 2015, despite putting more hunters in the field, the number taken declined to 370. Leslie McFarlane, mammals coordinator for Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources, said biologists are happy with the results. Division of Wildlife Resources reports a new black bear hunting strategy is working in Utah. Utah, Nov. 20, 2015 | Photo by Lynn Chamberlain, Division of Wildlife Resources, St. George News“The strategies implemented last year gave more hunters an opportunity to hunt…
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http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/wolf-issue-back-in-wildlifes-crosshairs By Dennis Webb Sunday, November 22, 2015 Concern among the governors of the Four Corners states over federal recovery plans for the Mexican wolf has prompted the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to look at again weighing in on the issue of wolves more generally. The agency on Friday considered a draft resolution that would reaffirm positions taken in the 1980s in which it opposed the reintroduction of wolves — and for that matter, grizzly bears — into the state because of concerns about impacts to livestock, wildlife and human welfare. However, it put off any action until later, in part to consider ensuring that it’s also consistent with the recommendations made by a Wolf Working Group and adopted…
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PHOENIX – Tired of waiting for results of a hunt draw to be made public to find out if there's a permit-tag with your name on it? The Arizona Game and Fish Department has the solution: Open up a Customer Portal account. It's quick, easy, and – best of all – it's free. Beginning with the 2016 spring hunt draw, those hunters who have Portal accounts will have the ability to view their draw results a day or two before the results actually are released. The Portal allows customers to create a secure account where they can manage and view their contact information, as well as their license and draw results information and bonus points, in their personal "My AZ…
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