Idaho asks for deer, elk jawbones

BOISE – The Idaho Fish and Game Department will collect deer and elk jawbones from hunters this year to estimate the age and condition of the herds.

The department will leave collection boxes in several areas for hunters to drop the lower jawbones of cow elk or doe mule deer. The bones can also be dropped at Fish and Game check stations or regional offices.

The department has long used bones and incisors to learn more about the large game population, but the formal collection effort is new this year. Wildlife officials hope to collect as many jawbones as possible for analysis, said Vicky Runnoe, the regional conservation educator at the Fish and Wildlife office in Salmon.

“The more, the merrier,” Runnoe said Monday. “We’re trying to look at the age structure within different populations, and the more we have will give us a better sample size for what we need.”

The jawbones will be collected from 16 of Idaho’s 99 hunting units, said Fish and Game spokesman Ed Mitchell.

Mule deer and elk are hunted in certain areas of the state between August 30 and Dec. 31, although the length of season, area, and weapon permitted varies.

The general rifle season for deer opens Oct. 10 in most areas and runs until the end of the month. The general elk season starts Oct. 15 in most areas and runs through the end of the month.