Out & About: Sportsmen required to report hunting activity

OUTFILE – Fines and incentives have boosted hunter compliance with mandatory reporting programs to help states manage game populations.

The requirement – managed differently in Idaho, Washington and Oregon – applies to hunters whether they were successful or not, or even if they didn’t get out to hunt.

Reports can be filed by phone, mail or online.

Fines for not reporting where you hunted and how you did are $10 in Washington and $25 in Oregon – a bill that comes due the next time you try to buy a license.

Even with a $10 fine, only about 70 percent of Washington hunters comply with the reporting requirement. Many of them don’t hunt every year, officials say, but they’d have to pay up before they could hunt again.

Washington hunters should file their reports before Jan. 31 or immediately after their seasons end. Hunters who get it done before Jan. 10 are automatically entered into a drawing for one of nine special incentive hunting permits, including any-elk permits and either-sex deer permits.

Idaho has dropped the fine it used to charge for noncompliance. Hunters who report by Dec. 1, or within 10 days of the season closing, are automatically entered into a special drawing for an extra elk, deer or pronghorn tag.

Despite the incentive, Idaho Fish and Game spends about $50,000 a year calling some of the hunters who don’t report on their own.

The info from hunters is part of the agencies’ game plan. It helps managers estimate harvest, set seasons and determine tag allotments.

“We feel that we have an important obligation to do a very good job at monitoring the harvest of deer, elk and pronghorn,” said Bruce Ackerman, Idaho Fish and Game Department biometrician. “It is my biggest job in the year.”

Roosevelt permits online

OUTBOAT – Permits for launching any vessel at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation area can be purchased online at a new site on pay.gov.

Details and a link are on the Lake Roosevelt website, 1.usa.gov/1r5N9HT.

Pend Oreille Water Trail topic

OUTPADDLE – The Ins and Outs of the Pend Oreille River Water Trail will be detailed in a program for the Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club, 7 p.m., Monday at the Mountain Gear Corporate Office, 6021 E. Mansfield.

Pend Oreille County Community Development Director Mike Lithgow and Ray Entz, the Wildlife and Terrestrial Resources director for the Kalispel Tribe, will present a travelogue. The 70-mile route includes historical, cultural and geological features in addition to access points and recreational opportunities between Newport and Boundary Dam.