Check Station Story #2:  Check stations give Fish and Game a glimpse of the hunting season

October 6, 2015

Idaho Fish and Game's check stations help the department gather valuable information from hunters, and their help and cooperation is appreciated during big-game seasons. Fish and Game operates about 16 "biological" check stations throughout Idaho during fall. Department employees and volunteers typically interview 10,000 to 20,000 hunters at check stations, and see up to 2,500 harvested animals. "The primary goal is to get an immediate feedback on how the season is going," said Brad Compton, Fish and Game's assistant wildlife bureau chief. "Check stations are invaluable. Within a few weeks, we can put our hands on hundreds of animals, and that can tell us a lot about them." Biologists can determine the ages of deer and elk harvested, take tissue samples to test for diseases, such as chronic wasting disease. CWD has never been detected in Idaho, but it is found in neighboring states. Check stations also give biologists a way to see the body condition of animals harvested and get an indicator of how other big-game animals are faring before heading into winter. Hunters may be asked what areas they are hunting, and they can be assured the department is not giving away their favorite hunting spots. It's another way to track what hunters are seeing and harvesting in different areas. Idaho law requires all hunters and anglers to stop at check stations regardless of whether they have harvested game or kept fish. Although enforcement isn't the primary focus of biological check stations, hunters can be cited if they have violated rules. Improperly tagging big game animals and failing to retain evidence of sex/gender on a carcass are common violations. Avoiding the first one is simple: make sure you completely remove the date and month from the tag, which verifies when the animal was harvested. Cutting a slit in the date or month is not legally validating the tag. The date and month notch must be completely removed. The easiest way to show evidence of sex is to keep the head attached to the carcass. If the animal is quartered and/or boned out, evidence of sex must be naturally attached to a portion of the carcass. Antlers or horns removed from the head must be left naturally attached to the skull plate where point or brow-tine restrictions apply and must accompany the carcass. Hunters can check page 100 of the big-game rules booklet, or go online at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov, to get rules for leaving evidence of sex. If you are transporting game (or fish) for another person, the animal must be properly tagged and you must have a completely filled out and signed proxy statement from that person, which can also be found on page 100 of the rules booklet, or online. To make the check station process more efficient, hunters who have harvested should have their animals and tags readily available for inspection. Hunters should also retain all usable meat from big game animals as required by law. A detailed description can be found on page 95 of the big game rules booklet. Hunters are responsible for keeping game meat from spoiling. Chris Wright, Fish and Game's assistant bureau chief of enforcement, said the most common way game meat spoils is hunters not skinning and cooling the carcass in a timely manner. Wright said conservation officers at check stations use discretion when deciding whether to cite someone who has violated a rule, but "waste of game is one of the things we have the lowest tolerance for." In addition to biological check stations, which are typically held in the same locations every year, Fish and Game also has "impromptu" check stations that are strictly for catching hunting violations. These are unannounced, in undisclosed locations, and typically take place when Fish and Game has received tips about illegal hunting, or other violations. Like biological check stations, all hunters and anglers must stop at those check stations.