Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Endangered ground squirrels!

Yep, you nailed it. Controlled hunts (antlered) have gone from trophy hunts to F&G cash cow.

I found out today that our club president received the letter yesterday afternoon. It says we can shoot ground squirrels south of the payette river and north of the snake river. Eastern Idaho is closed. He assured us that all officers have been informed not bother anybody or issue citations in this area. The tournament is still cancelled. We've already informed everybody that it was and it's getting to close to the date. There's just been to much confusion to go ahead with it now and I wonder if that wasn't intentional.

Sorry to hear. At least you can still hunt. Good luck and have a fun season.

Thanks. We have a badger tournament in June. Hope they don't become endangered by then.

I have been following this thread with interest since I shoot the Parma area when I am down that way. I fail to understand how F&G can arbitrarily close an area with no published criteria, normally if an area is to be closed they would have to notify the general public, have hearings and publish a decision.

I have been watching the Boise paper and there has been nothing published, no hearings scheduled and no public notification of any sort that I can find. Something just doesn't seem right about this - are you sure that they are not just jerking your club around?

Could you get your hands on a copy of the F&G letter and post it? I am curious as to how they worded it and the criteria they made their decision on - it just doesn't seem on the up and up.


drover

Hello drover,

My name is Gary Mathews, I am one od the Founders, and Sec/Tres of Idaho Varmint Hunters, Inc.

I am the one that got this whole issue started. One day the IVH President Loren, and I got our hands on the new Upland Game Regs. If you will look at page 44, the Ground Squirrel page, you will see a list of squirrels that IDFG listed as protected. Loren and I were concerned about this list because neither of us actually knew what species of squirrel lives in the area South of the Payette River, on south to the Snake River. Therefore Loren called the Nampa Regional F&G Powerline Office to talk to a Biologist, to confirm what species of squirrel we are shooting.

The lady that Loren spoke to on the phone told him that there were no squirrels in Idaho that were legal to shoot, except North of McCall (Columbians) and South of the Owyhee Mtns.

Loren then called me to tell me that he has cancelled the IVH Whistlepig Tournament due to the information he had just gotten. Well needless to say, I was instantly upset. I have been shooting whistlepigs for the past 35 years, and I didn't want to have that taken away from me, or anyone else. Therefore, I told Loren, that I was going to fight this thing. He said OK! So, On Friday evening, I got on the phone and called both my Idaho State Representatives. I was able to talk to State Rep. Carlos Bilboa. I introduced myself, and I represent IVH, and all Idaho Hunters. I then explained what Loren had told me. After I explained, Mr. Bilboa was quite upset. He told me that there had been nothing from IDFG come before the State Legislature in the form of a Bill.

After a lengthy conversation with Mr. Bilboa, he told me that he would on Monday go and talk to the Director of IDFG, and find out why the closure has been initiated.

The rest of the story has been posted, along with the Letter from IDFG, that includes a map, and a boundries description, on our forums at: http://idahovarminthunters.proboards.com

It is way to long to type all the info here, so please visit our forums for the whole story and all the updates to the story.

drover, it was no joke, squirrel shooting was shutdown. There was a fine of $1000.00, suspension of license, and confiscation of your guns.

Although, the area north of the payette river is closed to squirrel shooting due to it being Federally Protected - There are 4 other areas that are in Idaho that have State Protection, due to a low population, or habitat threatened status. IDFG is working to keep the Fed's from locking down the rest of the State.

Thank You for your time and attention to this issue. It was very important that we didn't lose this freedom!!!!!

Gary Mathews
Idaho Varmint Hunters, Inc.

We better hope they don't start breeding with the Preble jumping mouse

Thanks for the link, that clears things up - I will be down in a couple of weeks to do some shooting. I am glad that this has turned out okay.

drover

Ingwe,

Bring a semi load of ammo, and a truck load of replacement barrels.

I live half way between Emmett and Parma, as mentioned earlier. The critters in question are so thick that our local highways are often carpeted with their dead carcasses. In some years, it can be a real challenge in the spring to avoid running over two or three ground squirrels with every mile traveled.

If you wish to assist the locals in our annual attempts to eradicate these nasty, sometimes bubonic plague infested, vermin, come on over.

Get off of I-84 at exit 13, drive to the nearest cheat grass covered hill. It is a free fire zone. While you are exiting the freeway, pull into the RED Neck Cafe and enjoy some of Shooterwife's home made pie.

Does your rancher/agriculture lobby know about this? Don't think they'd be happy.

That was one of the things with this whole issue, NO ONE knew anything about it. It was not advertised, there was no notices. The list just showed up in the new IDFG Regs Booklet. And they told me that there was a $1000.00 fine, suspension of hunting licenses, confinscation of guns.

I talked to State Rep Bilboa, he told me that IDFG didn't even send a proposal or a Bill before the State Legislature for approval. The decision to place all the squirrels on the protected list was all within IDFG.

But? We have gotten it fixed. We can once again hunt squirrels in SW Idaho, from South of the Payette River to North of the Snake River. Checkout the posted map on our forums at: idahovarminthunters.proboards.com - scroll down to the Idaho Fish & Game Forum, there you will find the IDFG Letter with a map and description of the boundries for the protected species.

I would think that all ranchers and their advocates, lobbists, and every Idaho Hunter, would have be steaming if they would have known about the closure?? We are going to watch this issue closely, to insure that it continues to remain open to hunting for a everyone to enjoy, and future generations will have the opportunity to learn to hunt and shoot, and are able to enjoy it as much as I have in the last 35 years.

Gary Mathews
IVH Founder/Sec/Tres
IVH Idaho Hunters Advocate.

I sent an e-mail to Idaho F&G asking about the closure, here is the question and the response received from F&G.

I would have posted this sooner but I have been gone for a few weeks.

drover

MY QUESTION TO THE IDAHO F&G
"Over the weekend (24-25 March 2010), I read on an internet forum that the Weiser - Parma area was is closed to shooting gophers (ground squirrels). True or not? If it is true why was it closed?"

ANSWER FROM IDAHO F&G
"Gophers are different from ground squirrels. Most ground squirrels in the Weiser area are southern Idaho ground squirrels and are protected and cannot be killed. The ground squirrels found in the Parma area are Piute ground squirrels and are not protected. Hunting ground squirrels in the Parma area is legal."

LINK TO THE REPLY FROM F&G - https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/content/question/gopher-hunting

Yeah, they finally said they weren't endangered in this area and we can shoot them south of the Payette river and north of the Snake river. They did have the whole state shut down for about three weeks though and it would have stayed that way if we hadn't put the pressure on them. We had people from all over the country calling them and they had so many hits on their web site that they took it off. On behalf of the Idaho Varmint Hunters club I'd like to say thanks again to all of you who contacted them and expressed you're opinion. Just proof again that if we stick together we can get things accomplished.
Bob