BOISE, Idaho — Governor Brad Little signed HB 939 into law during the legislative session. This new law attempts to balance technological advances with fair-chase ethics to keep harvest numbers from getting too high.
The law prevents hunters from using thermal imaging, night vision, drones, and transmitting trail cameras to hunt big game animals and game birds from August 30 to December 31.
WATCH| Check out the video below to learn more about the law
"Our goal is to maintain traditional Idaho hunting as we have it now, and we have it pretty good," said Roger Phillips with Idaho Fish and Game. "If we start seeing those harvest rates creep up, that could mean shorter seasons, that could mean fewer tags, and it could mean directions that we don't want to go."
The law's origin dates back to 2024, when Idaho Fish and Game commissioned a Hunting and Advanced Technology working group called HAT. More than 750 people applied to be in the working group, and in the end, 23 people with various backgrounds met eight different times to discuss technology and hunting.
"They were unanimous on both the drones and the thermal imaging," said Phillips. "There was some split on the cameras, it went through our rule-making process, and then it ended up in the legislature. They looked at what we were trying to accomplish, and they had some concerns."
The legislature exempted wolf and mountain lion hunting from technology restrictions, eliminated the ban on using technology for retrieving game and monitoring traps, and also made it so restrictions don't apply to monitoring livestock and private property.
The transmitting trail cams brought the most controversy through this process, as hunters can still use traditional trail cameras, where they have to go pull out a card to review the footage.
"We put some restrictions on the cams that will transmit to your phone or [to] your computer in real time," said Phillips. "People can still use those cameras for other purposes. These are hunting rules; these do not affect anybody that is not hunting."
Phillips says Idaho Fish and Game is trying to get out in front of a possible problem when it comes to technology while trying to balance fair chase ethics. The restrictions take place this fall.
"We want to put a halt to it before these things really take root because we know it is a lot harder once people invest money in these things," said Phillips. "Obviously, it’s a lot harder to say, 'No, you can’t use them.'"
Here is some information Idaho Fish and Game collected on how other western states manage advanced technology when it comes to hunting.
