Regional Roundup
Southwest — August 2009

Boise District:

As reported by District Conservation Officer Bill London

September had the openers for wolves, bear, early archery deer and elk and many birds. It was warmer than usual, this made for fewer archery kills of deer and elk and even fewer wolf kills. All the Boise district conservation officers worked the wolf opener. We found a few wolf hunters and did not check any wolves. There was a great deal of media interest in the wolf hunt. Officer Rob Brazie had a photographer from the National Geographic magazine ride with him for two days and Officer Matt O'Connell had a reporter from the Idaho Statesman ride with him on the opening day.

While looking for wolf hunters, Brazie located two elk hunters in a closed unit. One of them was also a nonresident who had illegally purchased a resident hunting license and elk tag.

Officers O'Connell, Robert Sellers and Marshall Haynes have been kept busy with the kokanee runs on Mores Creek and the South Fork of the Boise River. Unfortunately many people like to illegally snag these bright red fish as they swim upstream each fall.

Officers Haynes and London were patrolling the early muzzleloader cow hunt when they located an illegal timber theft on national forest ground.

Officer Kurt Stieglitz is investigating a hawk that was shot near Lake Lowell.

Officer Brian Flatter has been working with a Bureau of Land Management officer on illegal antelope blinds in the Owyhee desert. These blinds must be taken down within 10 days of the closing of the season.

Officers Brazie and London each took kids out hunting for the youth waterfowl weekend, many shots were taken and few birds fell.

---

McCall District:

As reported by District Conservation Officer Larry Jindrich

Officer Joey Ishida conducted a backcountry horse patrol into Sulpher Creek with Officer Rob Brazie.

Ishida worked with U.S. Forest Service LEO Amy Harvey on multi-day investigation and surveillance to apprehend an individual baiting big game with salt. The violator was caught hunting over the bait on the opening day of the elk/deer archery season.

Ishida also worked a waste case involving a 6X7 bull elk.

Officer Randy Martinez spent a lot of time working illegal big game baiters. Two elk hunters were apprehended hunting over salt and another hunter was cited for placing salt to attract elk.

---

Payette District:

As reported by District Conservation Officer Charlie Justus

September marked the opening of the first open wolf hunt in Idaho in decades. The Sawtooth Wolf Management Zone opened for harvest on September 1. Officers Ben Cadwallader, Matt Erickson, Brian Marek and Charlie Justus worked the wolf season in the Sawtooth zone. No incidents were encountered. Most archery elk hunters in the zone were more interested in hunting elk than trying to kill a wolf although most hunters had wolf tags "just in case." A hunter harvested a wolf in the Sawtooth Zone on the opening morning as it harassed his horse near camp. Cadwallader assisted the hunter with his mandatory report and check requirement by retrieving the head from the kill site after the hunter mistakenly left it behind. Erickson assisted the McCall district with the investigation of a wolf killed in a closed unit.

September was unseasonably hot but just before the first we received enough of a cold snap that many doves left the area. Dove hunters found fewer than normal doves for the September 1 opener. Officers investigated several calls of late shooting. Officers Paul Alexander and Mark Sands located a family group unlawfully shooting doves after legal hunting hours on their private property. Alexander had received multiple calls on this group.

Officer Craig Mickelson conducted a camp check in Owyhee County during the archery deer season and located a fawn mule deer without a tag. The deer had been killed some time prior, and was more than likely never going to be tagged.

Officer Justus issued warnings to an individual for keeping an illegal alligator and importing two rattlesnakes from California without a permit. The rattlesnakes were returned to California. The alligator will be given to Northwest Nazarene University for use in their biology class.