Getting Insight From Local Wildlife Biologists

One of the hardest parts about hunting a new area is knowing where to start. By calling local wildlife biologists in the area you plan on hunting you’ll have a huge head start finding game. These guys and gals are out in the field every day and understand how game moves through the area and reacts to environmental changes such as cold or warm weather, wildfires, or hunting pressure. But, knowing what questions to ask is important so you’re not wasting your time and the time of biologist.

Visit the State’s Website First

Before contacting a local wildlife biologist, visit the state’s wildlife agency website. Brian Wakeland is the head of the game division for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. He said, “I try to encourage people to use our website and the information there to a greater extent than the local biologists. [The biologists] try to put as much information on our website as they can and most of the frequently asked questions are there.” By visiting the state’s website before calling the local wildlife biologist, you’ll have your list of questions narrowed down and won’t be wasting your time or that of the person you are calling.

Don’t Think You’re the Only One Calling

Biologists and game wardens receive a lot of phone calls regarding where and when is the best time to hunt a variety of animals. Tiege Ulschmid works for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. He said, “We have seven regions around the state and we staff a fulltime person to answer the calls that come in. I’d just be shooting from the hip to give you a number, but I would say a minimum of a dozen per day and it can get much higher than that, up to a hundred probably.” Wakeland said, “When you get a hold of [biologists] you’ll probably be one of at least several dozen phone calls they’ll be returning.”

Don’t Expect a Biologist to Give You a Secret Spot

As mentioned, wildlife biologists receive tons of calls from hunters. Therefore, don’t expect to glean information on the exact whereabouts of a big bull or buck. Wakeland said, “It’s not like if you press the biologist really hard he’s going to let go of a really good secret spot that he hasn’t already put on the website. If one person calls, there’s typically a couple hundred people calling and [the biologist] would be providing everyone with the exact same secret that the seven point 470” bull is tied to the tree A on road Y.”

Environmental Changes Matter

While they aren’t going to give up specific information on secret spots, local biologists do have a good handle on how the game in the area will react to unexpected environmental changes such as hot or cold weather, snow, or recent wildfires. Wakeland said, “If you just had a deep snow occur, there may not be recent information about movements of the herd [on the website.] Keep in mind that the fall period tends to be a time of year that our biologists are in the field a lot. So trying to get a hold of them can be challenging.”

Choose Your Hunting Style

Before calling the biologist in your hunting area, it’s important to decide what type of hunt you want to embark on. Ulschmid said, “A lot of times the question is going to be centered around how much time do they have, how much of a backcountry hunt do they want? A lot of times guys just want to bring their ATVs over and hunt areas with roads. So we’re going to direct them into areas where we have higher densities of roads and better ATV access versus the guy who wants to go back into the backcountry and spend five days. Then we’re going to be directing him into more of those types of units.”

Calling local biologists is definitely a way to learn more about the unfamiliar ground you are planning to hunt. Just be sure to do your research and decide what it is you want from the hunt before making the call.