A prominent eastern Idaho rancher may fence off roughly eight square miles of big-game winter range and turn it into a pay-to-shoot hunting preserve.Terreton sheep rancher Jeff Siddoway said Monday he is considering enclosing 5,000 acres of his private property, despite the protests of Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologists who believe the fence could devastate the region's deer herd.
The ground encompasses the Juniper Hills immediately north of the sand dunes northwest of St. Anthony.
As a former member of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission, which sets policy to protect the state's fish and wildlife, Siddoway said he doesn't like the idea of closing off the ground where elk and deer traditional survive the winter. But he has to for financial reasons, he said
"I feel like I'm prostituting myself by doing this," Siddoway said. "But I've got to do something to keep my family fed and clothed."
He said he's lost money five straight years raising sheep on the family's 25,000 acres west of St. Anthony, making it necessary to diversify his interests. Siddoway said he sold 11,000 lambs this fall for 80 cents per pound, or 5 cents below a break-even price.
"Anybody can handle a couple of tough years," he said. "I've been going five now. I've got to make some changes."
Originally, Siddoway planned to lease the property to Rexburg businessman Mike Ferguson, who owns Velvet Ranch and Yellowstone Bear World. Ferguson ap-proached him with the idea in the spring, Siddoway said.
Ferguson on Monday said he talked with Siddoway, but the idea never passed the inquiry stage.
"As far as I'm concerned, it's a dead issue," he said.
Siddoway on Monday was surprised Ferguson wasn't going to lease the ground, but he said he plans to proceed with the hunting preserve, with or without Ferguson.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials say an 8-foot tall fence would harm the area's wildlife, specifically that area's deer herd, which spends the winters primarily in the junipers on the north side of the sand dunes.
Between 1,600 and 2,000 deer winter on the ground that would be fenced off, said Fish and Game habitat biologist Steve Schmidt. The fence would displace a smaller number of elk and moose.
Biologists fear those animals might try to return to the area in coming years and starve to death if they don't find a new wintering area, Schmidt said.
Two sharp-tailed grouse breeding grounds would be enclosed inside the hunting preserve, Schmidt said.
"A fence would certainly be a major migration barrier for wildlife in the area," Schmidt said. "We would also be worried about disease transmission between the domestic elk and the wild elk."
Wildlife officials across the West are currently tracking the spread of chronic wasting disease, which eats away the brains of deer and elk. It is largely traced to game-farm elk and deer, and it has no cure.
Schmidt said Fish and Game officials are exploring whether they have any legal options to stop the project, but Fish and Game Director Steve Huffaker said there is little the department can do because Siddoway owns the ground.
"It will be a loss of critical winter range, but it's his property, and he can pave it if he wants to," Huffaker said.
Hunters are sure to be upset by the pay-to-hunt ranch because it will break up a migration route and because many people consider shooting pen-held animals unethical, said Paul Kniss, an avid hunter and member of the Region 6 Idaho Wildlife Council.
"You don't jeopardize the migration of a whole herd to fence off ground for so-called hunting," he said. "It isn't hunting. It's killing."
He said the Wildlife Council, which is made up of local hunters who work to help Fish and Game to address wildlife issues, will try to change state law to outlaw high-fence hunt preserves.
Siddoway expects people to be upset by the plan, but he doesn't care.
"I'm tired of the hunters, the four wheelers and the motor bikes," he said. "There isn't a draw or a ridge that doesn't have a road going up and down it. It's getting to be ridiculous."
Siddoway's family has owned the ground for 100 years and always kept it open to hunters. But in recent years, vandalism and littering have grown exponentially, he said.
"Quite frankly, I don't care if people are hot," he said. "The way people treat my ground makes it a lot easier to consider this deal."
Siddoway added that 80 percent of his 25,000-acre property still will be open to wildlife.
He plans to start building fences in the spring.
Rob Thornberry is the Post Register's outdoor editor. He can be reached by calling 542-6795, or via e-mail at rthornberry@idahonews.com.
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