Idaho Takes Comment Through Oct. 28 on Game Bird E-Tags and a Unit-Level CWD Carcass Rule

Idaho Fish and Game is taking written comment through Oct. 28 on two proposed rules, one that lets hunters validate game bird tags on the department’s mobile app and one that bars moving a deer, elk or moose carcass out of the game management unit where it was killed inside a chronic wasting disease zone. Both proposed rules appear in the Oct. 7 Idaho Administrative Bulletin, Vol. 26-10, pages 119 to 122, and the department summarized them in a notice on Oct. 21.

Docket 13-0109-2601 amends Chapter 13.01.09, the rules governing the taking of game birds and upland game animals. Under the proposed text, a game bird tag may be paper or electronic, chosen by the hunter at the time of purchase. Electronic validation means submitting the kill through the department’s official mobile app. Paper validation keeps the current method, removing the two triangles on the tag that mark the day and month of the kill, and a validated paper tag must still stay attached to the carcass in transit to final storage or consumption. The same choice is written into the Upland Game Bird Permit that hunters 18 and older need for department-stocked pheasants on the Fort Boise, C.J. Strike, Montour, Payette River, Sterling, Market Lake, Mud Lake, Cartier and Niagara Springs wildlife management areas and any other stocked site named by Commission proclamation. That permit still covers six roosters, and the word “non-erasable” for the ink on a paper permit becomes “permanent.”

The department said in its April 1 notice of negotiated rulemaking that it wants e-tag validation first for turkeys and WMA-planted pheasants, with potential to expand to cranes, sage-grouse and swans. The stated purpose is to end the trouble of faded, washed-out or lost paper tags for hunters who choose the option. A negotiated rulemaking meeting was held April 15 at department headquarters in Boise. The notice reports no fiscal impact on state funds and no change to fees.

Docket 13-0110-2601 amends Section 150 of Chapter 13.01.10, the CWD management restrictions. The current rule makes it unlawful to transport the carcass or any part of a deer, elk or moose out of a CWD management zone to any part of the state that is not a designated zone. Under the proposed text, that becomes a ban on transporting the carcass or any part out of the game management unit of harvest or salvage within a CWD management zone. The department’s summary says the current language lets whole carcasses that may contain brain or spinal tissue move between units inside a zone, and the revision would make that illegal for salvaged animals as well as hunted ones. Zones are designated by the Commission, and the Director may designate one on a temporary basis for up to 90 days subject to Commission review.

The list of exceptions does not change: meat that is cut and wrapped, quarters or deboned meat without brain or spinal tissue, edible organs other than brains, hides without heads, upper canine teeth, finished taxidermy, dried antlers, cleaned and dried skulls or skull caps, and a head or tissue from a zone presented to the department for sampling. Carcasses or parts moved in violation are subject to seizure, and the person in violation pays the handling and disposal costs. The negotiated rulemaking notice for this docket ran in the May 6 bulletin, with a public meeting on May 20 in Boise.

Written comments on either docket go to Deputy Director Amber Worthington at 600 S. Walnut St., P.O. Box 25, Boise, ID 83707, or through the department’s online comment form, by Oct. 28. Both notices are dated Aug. 20 and signed by Worthington. The window for 25 people, a political subdivision or an agency to request a public hearing closed Oct. 21. Technical questions go to Worthington at 208-334-3771 on the tagging docket and to Tricia Hebdon at 208-287-2704 on the CWD docket.

Department staff will review the comments and present them with recommendations to the Idaho Fish and Game Commission, which is scheduled to vote on both rules at its Nov. 17-18 meeting. Rules the Commission approves become pending rules. The Legislative Services Office sent both dockets to the rules review subcommittee of the Senate Resources and Environment and House Resources and Conservation committees in memoranda dated Oct. 23, one for the tagging docket and one for the CWD docket. The subcommittee may call a meeting on the rules until Nov. 9 and must hold any meeting by Dec. 7, and the full Legislature reviews every pending rule in its 2027 session, where it can approve a docket, reject it or reject it in part.