Idaho Fish Report

Every hunter who purchased 2017 big game or turkey tags needs to report their hunt results by the deadline, which is Jan. 31, 2018 for most tags.

Hunters are required to report on each deer, elk, cougar, bear, pronghorn and turkey tag purchased—even if they were not successful or did not hunt. Sports Pac license holders need to report on each big game or turkey tag issued.

Hunters have two ways to report:

• Online via www.myodfw.com or reportmyhunt.com either at home or by visiting an ODFW office with a computer available for Hunter Reporting (ODFW field or regional offices in Adair Village/Corvallis, Bend, Clackamas, La Grande, Sauvie Island, Roseburg, Salem Headquarters, Springfield, Tillamook.)
• By telephone: Call 1-866-947-6339 to talk to a customer service representative. Hours: 6 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time, seven days a week.

Reporting deadlines are:

• Jan. 31, 2018 for all 2017 hunts that ended by Dec. 31, 2017
• April 15, 2018 for all 2017 hunts that end between Jan. 1- March 31, 2018

Hunters need the following pieces of information to report, which takes just a couple of minutes:

• Hunter/Angler ID number (located on ODFW licenses, tags and applications; this is a permanent number that stays the same from year-to-year)
• The two digit Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) number of the Unit you hunted in most and the Unit you harvested an animal in if successful.
• The total number of days hunted (including mentoring youth), the number of days hunted in the WMU hunted most, and the number of days hunted in the WMU you harvested an animal in if successful.

$25 penalty for not reporting deer and elk tags
Hunters who fail to report 2017 deer or elk tags by the deadline will be penalized $25 when they purchase a 2019 hunting license. This penalty is assessed once, regardless of the number of unreported tags.

As of Jan. 10, about 56 percent of buck deer tags and 57 percent of elk tags have been reported. ODFW saw an uptick in reporting after mailing reminder postcards to hunters who hadn’t reported on their deer and elk tags yet earlier this month.

“The information hunters provide is used when setting controlled hunt tag numbers and hunting seasons,” said ODFW Game Program Manager Tom Thornton. “We really appreciate hunters taking a few minutes of their time to complete the report, even if they did not hunt or were not successful.”

ODFW used to get this data through phone surveys but these became more difficult and expensive as hunters moved or screened their calls. The mandatory reporting program was put in place in 2007.

A penalty of $25 was added several years ago because even after several years promoting the program and providing incentives to report, only about 40 percent of tags were being reported on time. This rate was too low to for ODFW to even use the data.

After the penalty was implemented for 2012 tags, reporting rates jumped to 80 percent or more. This has allowed ODFW to phase out big game survey calls; the agency no longer makes these calls.

Information from the mandatory surveys about how many hunters went hunting, how many big game animals were taken, antler points and success rates is available at ODFW’s Big Game Hunting Harvest Statistics page, myodfw.com/big-game-hunting-harvest-statistics

Chance to win special big game tag
Hunters that report on time are entered into a drawing to win a special big game tag. ODFW selects three names each year and the winners can choose a deer, elk, or pronghorn tag. Hunters who win get an expanded hunt area and extended season, similar to auction and raffle tags that hunters can pay thousands for.