Idaho big game reg changes

[Rock Chuck]

I've been perusing the new ID regs and I see some changes. Here are 3 in particular:

black bear meat....for many years, bear hunters were only required to pack out the hide and skull. A few years ago, this was changed to require hunters to also recover the meat. For some reason, it's been reversed again and the meat can be left behind. Why the change is beyond me.

tracking dogs...for the 1st time, a tracking dog can be used to recover a wounded big game animal, within limitations. It has to be on a leash and only during hunting hours. No nighttime tracking. It can only be used within 72 hours of the shot.

short range weapons...these are required in more populated areas for safety reasons. In the past, they were defined as archery, muzzleloaders, and shotguns only. Now they've added pistols as long as the cartridge has a straight case that was originally designed for a pistol. For you guys who like to experiment with large rounds, sorry. Your bored out T/C Contender with the 458 Win barrel won't work.

[Bushman]

I like that short range pistol designation. We have a pistol provision here in WI. too that you can use a pistol in the shotgun zones, but guys are taking advantage of that and using the scope sighted .308 and larger Savage Striker and the T/C Contender "pistols" instead of the straight walled pistol cartridges.

They did a study here a year or so back that showed that there were more hunting accidents in the shotgun zones than there were in the rifle zones.

[dave-t.]

I can't speak for ID, but it seems here in MO that the desk jockies change the regs, just so they can get credit for doing something. Imo, so do congressman.

[Rock Chuck]

Idaho has a series of public hearings each year to get public input into proposed rule changes and they do listen. For example, the trad muzzleloaders have convinced the IDFG that 209 primers and scopes are detrimental to the pioneering spirit of ML hunting. So, those items can be used in general, any weapon seasons but not in ML only seasons.