Idaho Fish and Game has completed a two-phase project to remove 109 elk from private agricultural land in the Big Willow Creek drainage near Emmett in the state’s southwest.
USDA Wildlife Services, under contract with Fish and Game, killed and removed 75 elk in July, according to a Fish and Game news release. All meat has been processed and is being distributed to people in need.
Fish and Game staff in May captured 34 elk and moved them to the state’s northern panhandle region.
Herd management challenge
The project, announced in January, was pursued to reduce a nonmigratory year-round elk herd that has caused sustained agricultural damage, according to the release. Fish and Game and USDA Wildlife Services worked with landowners.
The project followed five years of work by landowners and Fish and Game to reduce damage claims using conventional tools such as hunter harvest and non-lethal hazing approaches.
This year’s project was pursued after conventional approaches “proved unable to keep pace with a resident herd that almost never leaves private property,” according to the release.
Over the past five years, the nonmigratory herd grew to about 350 animals. Hunters in 2025 harvested about 150 elk on these properties, yet the herd caused more than $1 million combined in crop damage to five landowners. The landowners hold about 42,000 acres overall, including 6,700 irrigated acres.
“With damage recurring year after year and conventional tools exhausted, taking no further action was not viable,” according to the release.
“Managing elk on private agricultural land requires balancing our responsibilities to wildlife, to hunters, and to the landowners who live with these animals every day,” said Josh Royse, Fish and Game southwest regional supervisor. “When that balance becomes skewed, we’re compelled to act. These decisions were incredibly difficult, and our goal throughout was a durable solution that provides relief to landowners while managing the public’s elk responsibly.”
General season hunting will continue in the area this fall, and landowner permission hunts remain available on participating private land.
Food donation
All elk killed in the project tested negative for Chronic Wasting Disease and were promptly field dressed, stored, and transported in refrigerated trailers to meat processors, according to the release.
About 9,500 pounds of meat were donated to the nonprofit Idaho Hunters Feeding the Hungry, which has moved wild-game protein into Idaho food pantries since 2002.
“Our part in this is a simple one: making sure none of this goes to waste, and that it helps feed Idahoans who need it,” executive director Jeff Schroeder said. “As a hunter, I recognize that this is a difficult situation and understand the passion that surrounds the management of Idaho’s wildlife. But I am just as passionate about our mission to transform donations of Idaho’s wild game meat into nutritious food for the hungry, and I commend Fish and Game for enabling us to do that with these elk.”
Protein from red meat is the most expensive and least-supplied nutrient in food pantries across the state, he said. This project and partnership with Fish and Game will provide nearly 40,000 servings to food-insecure Idaho families.
Distribution of the elk meat to local food pantries has started and ultimately will impact Adams, Washington, Payette, Gem, Canyon and Boise counties.
Opportunities to increase supply include hunters, or ranchers who have landowner permits, donating all or part of a legally harvested animal, Schroeder said in an interview. He also is president of Jerome Food Ministry, which operates a food pantry in Jerome.
Source - https://capitalpress.com
