The Coeur d'Alene Press just published what I think is the most detailed article yet on this debacle.
http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_c7eccf12-1a5d-11e6-acdc-73bea8028404.html
The letter in reference.
"This was written in collaboration with one of our commissioners that has defended sportsmen and our F&G
In 1938 the Idaho Fish and Game Commission was created by voter initiative for the expressed purpose of having a Fish and Game Department free from political manipulation. Now seventy six years later it’s time to see how this principle is holding up over the course of time.
To fully understand the state of the commission now, one must look over the last few years. The F & G has always been treated as the bastard child of the legislature but this relationship has degraded to the point that two fish and game commissioners that are celebrated by sportsmen will not be reappointed. Although the commission’s approval with the sportsmen is at an all-time high, Governor Butch Otter has made the highly unusual decision to rid himself of sitting commission chairman Mark Doerr of Twin Falls and sitting vice-chairman Will Naillon of Salmon.
In trying to make sense out of such an unprecedented attack on the sportsmen of Idaho, we will venture down the rabbit hole of Idaho politics, complete with the cronyism, self-serving, and special interest that seem to be the common thread in any discussion of the goings on in the Idaho state house. The crux of this dismissal of leadership in the fish and game commission seems to be the continuing rift over (a) taking tags away from the general sportsman to sell to the highest bidder, (b) giving large landowners more tags and letting them market them for financial gain, and finally (c) instituting a bonus point draw system because one legislator wants them.
Let us start with a July commission meeting three years ago. The discussion was the Landowner Appreciation Program or (LAP). Mr. Larry Williams (Tree Top Ranches) who owns tens of thousands of acres of prime Idaho wildlife habitat and farm ground had been pushing the commission for more LAP tags. The history of controversy of the LAP program has been going on as long as the program has been in existence. But two new commissioners sitting in on their first meeting and eager to be involved, suggested to supply the landowners with more tags. Commissioners Doerr, Naillon and former commissioner Anderson (region 6) opposed this action informing the new commissioners that this issue was more involved than this simple fix. Other things to consider were, the landowners who not only wanted more tags but whom also wanted to be able to market them for financial gain, and sportsmen whom would most certainly be affected when the surplus population of wildlife was turned over to the landowners to do with as they please. Through the course of conversation the topic died without further resolution. Following the meeting Mr. Williams council Bill Mulder who was attending the meeting sent notice to the legislature condemning the commission for not conceding to the wishes of Tree Top Ranches, even blatantly miss-quoting at least one commissioner presumably to put him in bad light. **As a side note and for future reference, I will add that Tree Top Ranches has never provided hunting access to the average sportsman.
Next we will take a look at the issue of auction tags. Although sportsmen have long opposed the auctioning off of tags to the highest bidder, one man doesn’t care to stand in line with the commoners on a level playing field and simply wait for the luck of the draw. Seven years ago Doug Sayer (owner of Premier Technologies) a man with too many political connections to mention, hired lobbyist and former commissioner Jon Watts to institute a Governors tag program in which tags would be taken from non-resident sportsmen and auctioned off, thus creating an avenue to put the wealthy at the front of the line. Mr. Sayer was successful in his mission and legislation was passed. This gave the commission new and un-requested authority to issue up to twelve tags to be put to market. Each year following this new commission authority it has been reviewed and the commission has opted (largely on behalf of sportsmen input) that zero was the number of tags to be distributed to this program. Through an entirely different program, the commission has issued one big horn sheep tag for auction every year since 1988. ** Side note #2, Mr. Sayer has been the purchaser of this tag three times in the last several years, as well as numerus tags in other states.
At last, this brings us to bonus points. Although many states have variations of a preference point or bonus point system, they most generally fall into two main principles. (1) You have little or no chance of drawing until those who have been putting in longer than you have drawn. And (2) the longer you put in, the more chances you have to draw (but so does everyone else). While scenario 1 is pretty self-explanatory, scenario 2 requires a little deeper inspection. The latter option does have some merit in the less desired high turnover hunts that one would have decent odds of drawing regardless, but does not help in the most coveted of hunts where the drawing odds are astronomical. Over time the F & G Commission has reviewed point systems and even surveyed the public multiple times, the commission has always reached the same conclusion. They have felt that instituting any such program does little more than sell the applicants false hope and waste sportsmen dollars. There is one legislator however who feels very differently. The largest single vocal proponent of a point system is Representative Mike Moyle (R) of the Eagle/Star area. Representative Moyle has been quoted on at least three separate occasions as saying “I don’t give a #*^@#* what sportsman want, I want bonus points” The last person to repeat this quote of Representative Moye, actually gave it as testimony at the (recorded) January commission meeting in Boise. It was also said in the presence of former fish and game commissioner Fred Trevey (region 2), outgoing commissioner Mark Doerr and fish and game director Virgil Moore. Representative Moyle also gave these words of wisdom to Idaho State Bowhunters President Tad Sherman who even shared the quote on social media. ** No side note to this other than to thank Rep Moyle for his undying dedication of the voice of sportsmen and women."
