Idaho: Grizzlies Force Rule Change

Idaho has just changed some rules for bear hunting.  These rules take effect September 1, 2024, and although “temporary” they will extend at least through the 2025 season (or until made permanent).  On September 1^st, 2024, there are new rules for baiting bears in Idaho.  Any person who is baiting bears in Idaho and witnesses (in person or via trail camera) a suspected grizzly bear on their bait, must immediately notify Idaho Department of Game.  

Along with the notification, the hunter must immediately stop hunting that bait site for the rest of that season.  That bait will need to be removed as soon as it is safe to do so.  The “remainder of the season” would mean that if the bear is identified during the fall season, that bait site cannot be used for the rest of the fall season.  You can, however, hunt that bait site in the spring the following year if there are no more grizzly sightings.  

This rule change also requires (starting January 2025) that every bear hunter must show proof that they took a bear identification test prior to buying a bear tag.  This will be an attempt to prove that the hunter can tell the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear before they go hunting.  The identification test and subsequent proof has not been outlined yet but will be published prior to the 2025 season.  

This temporary rule is called just that because it has not gone through the formal rulemaking process that is required to make it a law going forward past the temporary rule time frame.  Expect chances for public comment to come in the future.  

This rule comes on the heels of the northern Idaho hunter who I wrote about in a previous blog post who mistakenly shot a young grizzly while hunting in Unit 6. Idaho Hunter Mistakenly Kills Grizzly (eastmans.com)

Since that article was written, new information came out that would partly explain why that hunter was not charged.  Turns out that the hunter, two days prior to shooting the grizzly bear, sent a video of the same bear at his bait site to Idaho Fish and Game.  The video was reviewed by Fish and Game staff and even the Fish and Game staff misidentified the bear as a black bear.  

There has been a push recently by western States that are home to grizzly bears to delist the bears from the Endangered Species List (currently listed as “threatened”).  With the mistaken identity killing in Idaho and one that followed in Wyoming, the new rules in Idaho were placed to try and help the States get the grizzly bears removed from the Endangered Species List.  Read Todd Helms’ article on this and the Wyoming incident.  Killing Grizzlies: Mistaken Identity Killing Chances Of Delisting? – Eastmans’ Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans’ Hunting Journals