Shortly after Fish and Game issued a reminder letter in December to hunters whose 2001 harvest reports had not been recorded, the Department received a response in a form no one there had seen in quite a while. Postmarked December 26, 2001, the self-addressed lime-green business reply card came from a hunter in Fresno, California. The hunter reported spending five days not taking a deer near Tendoy. This deer hunt was noted on the "Nonresident Hunter's Report Card, Regular Deer" for 1975.

Wildlife biologist Lou Nelson said it "is nice this hunter hadn't lost his report form" since the fall of 1975 but wondered why he would file it in this particular year. "It just showed up," Nelson said, "with no explanation."

Biologists need information on last fall's hunt to evaluate the harvest and help make recommendations for this year's seasons. "It's going to be very difficult to make use of this 1975 report to set the 1976 seasons," Nelson said, "but if hunters want to help set the 2002 seasons, they should report on last season immediately." Fish and Game biologists need to finish compiling the information from tens of thousands of hunters before the Fish and Game Commission sets big game seasons for next fall when it meets in March. The information is also supplied to the public so that interested hunters can use it to make a choice about where they want to hunt this fall.

A second reminder letter was mailed January 20 to the more than 60,000 hunters whose reports were not yet in the database.

Several methods are provided for filing the harvest reports:
1) Hunters can fill out the attached report and mail it to:
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, P.O. Box 70007, Boise, ID 83707-0107
2) They can use the department website to complete the report electronically. The address is www2.state.id.us/fishgame. Look in the "Hunting" section and find "ONLINE HARVEST REPORT CARD" listed to access the reports. Hunters must have their hunting license number available, not tag number. Those who have reported and want to confirm it can look this up on the website also.
3) Reports can be called in toll free at 1-877-268-9365.
4) Reports can also be faxed to (775) 423-0799. Because of the volume of reports being faxed, you may have to try several times to find the line available to complete the fax.