Be sure to brush up on your wildlife identification skills before your fall hunt

Mar 28, 2024

Conservation Officer Steve Ross explains the importance of wildlife identification, and offers some tips for hunters

Fall is approaching! Once again it’s time to dust off the hunting gear, lace up, load up and head out to the hills. Hopefully before Thanksgiving most of us will have notched a tag or two and be enjoying some well-earned woodland meals shared with family and friends. Many of life’s fondest memories come from time spent in and around the pursuit of a fall’s harvest. The hunt is definitely something worth getting excited about! However, as responsible hunters we cannot let our excitement for the season be our downfall in the field.

A responsible hunter truly appreciates and understands the value of the game they pursue. One part of this respect is simply knowing the difference between the various game species and not being too hasty on the hill when the time comes to pull the trigger. Each year a handful of hunters find themselves in hot water because they didn’t brush up on their wildlife identification, they didn’t take the time to positively identify their target, or didn’t pay attention to what species or sex their tag allowed them to harvest.

Over the last three years, the Southwest Region alone has seen nine incidents of moose being shot at or harvested by mistake during deer and elk seasons. In addition, many more accounts of deer and elk unlawfully harvested by mistake have been documented over the same time period.

It’s critical that hunters know what species their tags are valid for and whether they may harvest antlered or antlerless animals. Just knowing the target species is brown with antlers is not sufficient. Can you tell the difference between a mule deer and white tail deer by antlers? How about the rump of an elk vs. mule deer vs. moose? Knowing these types of specific traits will greatly benefit a hunter in the field not just by preventing a mistake, but also being able to more easily locate game hiding in cover. Once you know specifically what you’re looking for, they’re a lot easier to spot!

To make a misidentification situation worse, a large portion of mistakenly harvested animals are left to waste on the hillside. Fearing the consequences or the shame of taking the wrong animal, some hunters make another even bigger mistake and fail to report an accident. This results in multiple violations and a total loss of hundreds of pounds of valuable food which otherwise could have been salvaged and used to feed those truly in need.

Idaho Fish and Game takes care to process and donate these animals to shelters and food banks. But this can only be done if the mistake is reported immediately! Without a doubt, a hunter who turns themselves in during one of these incidents faces far less consequences than the one who chooses to walk away. While I can’t say that this has happened every time, it is true that many hunters who choose to do the right thing and take responsibility for their mistake have received warnings or minimal fines at most and no loss of hunting privileges.

So in final preparations for the season, make sure you spend some time double checking the game tags you have in hand. What species are they for? Antlered or antlerless? Which game unit? Then take an opportunity to freshen up your wildlife identification skills. The Idaho big game regulations have pages to aid with species identification using different physical traits. There are also several great free videos and resources readily available online that make it easy. Below are some examples of common traits for moose, elk, mule deer and whitetail deer.

Lastly, if you happen to witness a possible illegal harvest or poaching event, take the time to report it. Callers may remain anonymous and still claim rewards for turning in wildlife violators! You can call your local Idaho Fish and Game office or the Citizens Against Poaching hotline at 1-800-632-5999. Save it in your phone or find it printed on the back of your hunting license. Good luck this fall!