MAGIC VALLEY REGION NEWS RELEASE
Jerome, ID
| Date: | September 19, 2005 |
| Contact: | Kelton Hatch (208) 324-4359 |
Access YES!
Program Opens Up 131,960 Acres In Magic
Valley Region To Sportsmen
JEROME - Sportsmen in the Magic Valley Region will have more country to wander this hunting season with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game enrolling 131,960 acres in the Access Yes! program.
"We had a lot of interest in the program this year," said Steve Elam, Magic Valley Region Landowner/Sportsmen Coordinator. "Last year we secured 76,056 acres in the Magic Valley. With the increase in funds we received from the Super Tag sales and other funding this year, we were able to nearly double that amount."
"Much of the land we secured last year we reenrolled," he continued, "but we have also added some other places that will be of real interest to the sportsmen this hunting season."
Some of those areas include:
Big Game Hunting
 | The Flat Top Sheep Ranch in Unit 49. Idaho Fish and Game purchased access to the former 22,000-acre private hunting club in the Little Wood River Drainage. Sportsmen can access the property by vehicle on existing roads. There is no overnight camping, camp fires or sage grouse harvest allowed. |
| Lava Lake Land Ranch has also reenrolled their 13,000 acres of property, for a total of 47,387 acres in Unit 49. |
| In hunting Unit 44, seven landowners enrolled 38,000 acres. Much of
the land lies within the Chimney and Camp creek drainages. |
Bird Hunting
| Idaho Fish and Game secured 12,000 acres from five landowners in the Rockland Valley in hunting Unit 56. This area is primarily for sharp-tailed grouse hunting, but there are also some good areas for mule deer. |
| Near Three Creek and Shoshone Basin, hunters will be able to access 30,000 more acres for sage grouse and chukar hunting. |
| In the Hagerman and Wendell area, access was purchased to 1,250 acres
which will provide sportsmen with some excellent waterfowl hunting. |
Fishing
| Anglers also have some new places to try out. Idaho Fish and Game acquired access to Morrow Reservoir and access to the Snake River below the Bliss Dam. |
Statewide, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game was able to register 400,000 acres in the Access Yes! program this year.
To learn more about Access Yes!, go to the Idaho Fish and Game website at
http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/
and click on hunting and then Access Yes!
Sportsmen can also call the Magic Valley Regional Office at 324-4359.
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