No Tentatives Planned for this Winter

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State wildlife officials will not be conducting meetings this winter to discuss next fall’s big game hunting season.

            That’s because last year the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission moved deer and elk to a biennial (every other year) season setting process.

            “The commission has already implemented a biennial season setting process for most species, like antelope, moose, sheep and goat, furbearers and birds,” says John Ensign, FWP Region 7 wildlife manager. “They just added deer and elk to the mix.”

Ensign continued, “If necessary, harvest quotas and number of antlerless permits per hunting district can still be adjusted every year after the spring and summer survey’s are completed.”

Examples of structural changes that can only be made every other year include implementing or eliminating antlerless licenses, like deer B or elk A9, from a particular hunting district.

            No scheduled tentative meetings this winter will be both good and challenging to wildlife biologists, says Quentin Kujala, chief of FWP’s wildlife management bureau.

“Some season types, like population reductions, take a couple of years for the results to become apparent,” Kujala says. So not changing a season framework annually could be a good thing.