Two years ago I drew a controlled hunt tag for elk in the Deadwood Roadless Area of Idaho's Boise National Forest, and hunted successfully but did not bag an elk. I say successfully because the hunting experience, in an island of wilderness in a sea of Forest Service clearcuts, was a true wilderness experience, with the hand of man relatively unnoticed. I saw no other hunters, and found complete solitude in the pristine environment of the towering ridges and ponderosa pine forests. However, the following year, I did not hunt the Deadwood area because the Forest Service had illegally spray-painted 87,000 large ponderosa pine and douglas fir trees throughout the area for cutting. Not only is the wilderness hunting opportunity eliminated by the alteration of the landscape that results from logging, but the resultant influx of humans and damage to elk habitat also reduces hunting experience quality and opportunity.
Roads increase human use.
Actual numbers of elk are limited or decrease when logging reduces thermal cover on or near winter range. In 1995-'96 the Boise National Forest closed much of one of the State's largest hunting units, Unit 39, to hunting throughout the season to allow logging by private corporations to proceed. Both outfitters and resident hunters suffer from damage to elk habitat caused by logging on national forests. In both Idaho and Arizona hunting generates millions of dollars to the local and regional economies through guiding and outfitting services to non-residents and residents alike, and the sale of licenses and purchases of equipment and supplies. Many hunters, if not most, hunt for the spiritual and aesthetic aspects of hunting, of being out in nature while in the very serious pursuit of game.