Hunting for the Holidays

LCHS
4 hours ago
7 min read

This article first appeared in the November/December 2025 edition of Home & Harvest magazine.

By Hayley Noble, Executive Director

John Thomas, Owen Hardeman, and Douglas Hunter with deer and a bear shot near Peck, ID. LCHS Photo: Thomas.Joh.01.

The air is turning crisp, the leaves are changing, and football is common weekend entertainment. Autumn is here, and for many, that means hunting season. Latah County, and Idaho, have a rich history of hunting and recreating outdoors. In the county’s early days, Native tribes, homesteaders, and townspeople all relied on hunted game to supplement their diet. That practice continues today, although many now view hunting as a hobby rather than a necessity for survival.

The ecology of our region means that historically north central Idaho is home to diverse wildlife from big game like deer and moose, to upland birds and waterfowl, to smaller game like coyotes. Indigenous peoples like the Nimiipuu see the land and all it provides as sacred. According to Nimiipuu ethnographer Josiah Pinkham, hunting is his culture and an act of prayer. In an Outdoor Life he remarked, “The Nez Percé are constantly trying to refine and reevaluate their value structure in this modern time. And hunting is a core part of that because we wouldn’t be here without animals.” Alice Henry Jackson recalled going with her family to gather camas and hunt deer. Dried venison fed her and her family throughout the winter. Exercising hunting and fishing treaty rights and stewarding natural resources are ways that Nimiipuu members connect to their ancestral traditions.

Today, Latah County is comprised of 97% dryland agriculture, but early in our history, more forested areas and less private land meant more access for hunters. At the turn of the century, Bovill was touted as a “hunters’ paradise,” according to a 1934 Moscow News Review article by Perry Culp Jr. According to Culp, Hugh Bovill visited what would become the townsite Bovill in 1900 and was treated to herds of deer walking down future main street. Bovill established his hotel and resort there in Warren Meadows, catering to folks looking for outdoor adventures in the relatively secluded wilderness. Soon the timber business came to town, with the railroad not far behind. The increased activity led to the Bovill family relocating in 1911, but the town of Bovill, continued to see increased demand for outdoor recreation from vacationers and new homesteaders in the area.

Early homesteaders were drawn to the abundant land and relied on hunting to complement their agrarian diet. Norla Callison remarked that her grandparents moved to American Ridge in 1888 and “lived a pretty simple life; they done a lot of fishing and a lot of hunting. And they used to hunt antelope and prairie chickens.”

1916 license. LCHS Collection: SC 1988-19.

Arthur Bjerke was just five years old when his family homesteaded near Deary after emigrating from Norway in 1891. He recalled in a 1973 oral history learning to hunt growing up, and getting his first gun, a .22, at age fifteen. Bjerke remembers spending much of his free time in pursuit of deer, coyotes, and birds. To alleviate boredom while herding cattle, he would practice his shot. He relayed a particular story about getting off work and spotting a cow in a field on his way home, near Deary.

I said, “Now whose damn cow is in the field up there.” I stood and looked at her a little bit, it was getting pretty late in the evening, getting kind of dusk. But I could see her good in the sky light over there. And I looked and I said, “By god, that ain't a cow, that's an elk!” So I got the gun out of the pickup, and I started in shooting. I shot nine times and I got two elk up there. And it was late in the evening, Melvin Peterson lived over here… and he come out of the barn with a lantern. And I hollered at him, “Come on down here, I got some job to do." And Edwin Magnuson was over there, he come down, we went up and I had two elk up there…Well I give Melvin and Edwin—they both had family—the big elk, and then I kept the little one and I kept a half of that, and give the other half to another neighbor.

Bjerke also recalled large herds of elk, deer, pheasants, and grouse that roamed the countryside, but overhunting diminished those numbers. George Schmaltz recollected that most homesteaders did not pay attention to seasons, while people coming from town were more likely to abide by management policies. Homesteaders hunted year-round and “they got it whenever they could. And they, by god, they were entitled to it.” During the 1930s, Schmaltz stated that “we just practically lived off when we were in the depression. But in those days, the town guys generally paid attention to the hunting season, but the homesteaders didn't, they hunted year-round.” Hunting was pivotal to survival when food was scarce and grocery stores were miles away, but that also led to unregulated overhunting.

George Schmaltz and Arthur Bjerke both remember elk shipped by railroad from Yellowstone. Hunting bans in Yellowstone and excessively large elk herds meant that shipments were made throughout the country. Idaho received over 1,000 elk from Yellowstone from 1915 to 1946. Bovill and Moscow both received one shipment each in 1930, with support from local chapters of the Izaak Walton League. The degradation of natural resources across the country led to the founding of several organizations, like the Izaak Walton League, to champion conservation and clean up waterways and wildlife areas. Many of those organizations still exist today, furthering the conservation and stewardship mission.

Hunters near Troy, ca. 1920. LCHS Photo: 15-09-006.

The second half of the twentieth century saw more management and regulations to address the prior deterioration of natural resources. Wildlife species bounced back and legislation addressed some of the harm inflicted on native species. The 1950s and later also saw more people traveling to hunt thanks to increased marketing campaigns touting Idaho’s vast hunting opportunities. The language evokes untapped wildlife just waiting for hunters: “much of it, just as it has been for thousands of years. Unspoiled by man. Hundreds of square miles of timberland. Majestic snow-capped mountains. Awe inspiring formations and colors. Numerous clear, cold lakes,” according to the 1953 edition of Idaho’s Golden Road to Adventure, published out of Kooskia. Publications like these advertise the offerings for hunters and anglers and promote guides and packers for hire, drawing out-of-state hunters and advertising Idaho as a hunting destination.

The outdoors continue to draw people to Idaho, and our public lands access is seen as one of the top appealing resources to locals and tourists alike. As more and more people moved to Idaho in the latter half of the twentieth century, habitats have had to contend with increased development, including housing and agriculture, putting stress on wildlife populations. In the 1980s, farmers discovered that allowing deer, antelope, pheasants, and other game on their land and charging hunters access to their property was more profitable than producing crops. This was thanks to the Conservation Reserve Program, part of the 1985 Food Security Act. This program addressed the need for farmers to retire critically eroding acres, put the land into a 10-year conservation reserve, and receive federal cost-share for planting permanent groundcover. The program is still in existence and has helped reduce soil erosion, improve water quality, and benefit bird populations.

Historically (and presently), some believed that hunting was a masculine endeavor to conquer nature. History shows that that is not the case. Women have participated in hunting activities for millennia, as burial evidence shows anthropologists that the long-believed gendered division of labor in forager societies is incorrect. Naomi Boll Parker remembers her mother teaching her brother how to shoot and all of them going bird hunting. According to Dre Arman, with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, women are the fastest growing demographic of new hunters nationally. Arman also pushed back on the stereotypical depiction of hunters conquering nature. In her opinion, the majority of hunters have a deep respect for the landscape, deep respect for wildlife, and participate in being part of the natural cycle. She believes that hunters are the backbone of modern conservation: supporting Idaho Fish and Game through license dollars, participating in citizen science efforts, like monitoring deer for Chronic Wasting Disease, and paying taxes through the Pittman-Robertson Act to support wildlife management. Today hunting remains a favorite fall pastime and still a way to supplement diets, even with the abundance of grocery stores. Arman stated, “My diet is almost 100% wild game protein, which is really privileged and really cool. And something that our public lands allow for me to participate in here in Idaho.” She has also found community and connections while hunting that are hard to find elsewhere. She detailed:

There’s a level of storytelling that goes along with it, too, right? There’s just so much lore attached to hunting and fishing that I think it creates enthusiasm and connection, and that community outreach and education component too. When you can connect those stories of adventure and stories of dinners had, harvested, and connect that to science and the needs on the ground and the threats on the ground, I think that’s just such a powerful mechanism to conservation.

Arman with her 2023 Thanksgiving grouse. Courtesy of Dre Arman.

Regardless of background, one of the few things that unites people in today’s divided society is access to our shared public land. That reverence for the outdoors is baked into life in the Pacific Northwest, with 96% of Idaho voters wanting public lands to remain in public hands. With support for that access, Idaho continues to attract both in-state and out-of-state hunters each year for a chance to see rare wildlife. Arman recalled that recently while out turkey hunting she witnessed a moose, a common sighting in Idaho, but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to draw a tag to hunt in Idaho.

How cool is it to go out to the woods and try to bring a turkey home for Thanksgiving. Or you know, to maybe go to a different state like Arizona and do a wild hog hunt, to bring home a Christmas ham. I just think those opportunities are so unique and in other countries, like those in the UK, to go bird hunting - it is a rich man’s game. And that is something that is so uniquely American and so uniquely Idahoan, to a certain extent. To have that opportunity available to everyone - whether you want to participate or not. The opportunity is there for you.

Hunting’s deep roots to our past and present, and its legacies are all around us from our food to our modern conservation efforts, to our connection with the land and all it provides. This holiday season let’s celebrate all that Idaho and her public lands have to offer and give thanks for the beautiful planet we call home.