State lawmakers are considering bills that would eliminate the motorized vehicle hunting rule (MVR) in all Idaho Department of Fish and Game units and limit the rule-making powers of the IDFG Commission.

The MVR is currently in place in 31 IDFG management units, all south of the Salmon River.

According to Fish and Game officials, the rule prohibits sportsmen from using an off-highway vehicle (OHV) to hunt game animals. However, in those units where the MVR applies, OHVs may be used to transport camping equipment or downed game.

Working with members of the Mountain Home ATV Club and the Idaho ATV Association, Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, drafted Senate bills 1015 and 1016. The former would dispose of the MVR; the latter would limit the ability of the IDFG Commission to regulate OHV usage.

The bills were printed by the Resources and Environment Committee, which will evaluate the legislation in a hearing this week.

The MVR serves multiple purposes, Fish and Game officials say. The rule helps control conflicts between OHV hunters and those who do not use vehicles, and cuts down on the spread of noxious weeds. It also protects big game populations in remote country, particularly bucks and bulls, and helps reduce vehicle erosion in open, arid units down south, officials said.

"I think that the MVR is great for (the department) to reduce conflict, reduce erosion, reduce noxious weeds. All the things that are troublesome to our game populations," said IDFG Wildlife Biologist Laura Wolf.

If the bills passes, "It's going to cause high vulnerability" for big game animals, she added.

Because the Panhandle is heavily forested, wet, and crisscrossed by old logging roads, an MVR is not necessary in North Idaho, Wolf explained. In the southern MVR units, where the country is open and exposed, hunters can use OHVs to locate and pursue game animals.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that motorized access to formerly remote areas has greatly increased the exposure of mule deer bucks and bull elk to hunter harvest, making it harder for Fish and Game wildlife managers to provide general hunting opportunity for Idahoans," Mark Gamblin, regional supervisor for the Southeast Region, wrote in a newsletter.

Additionally, the sand-covered terrain in those areas is easily eroded by heavy vehicle tires, Wolf said.

"Up here you could create a road, and it's going to grow back a lot quicker (than in the south)," she said.

Corder and the ATV groups are concerned with misidentification. In a unit where the Motor Vehicle Rule applies, IDFG can stop anyone who is riding an OHV, carrying a firearm and looks like a hunter, Corder said. Often recreational riders will wear camouflage or carry a gun while in the woods; they could be mistaken for hunters, he added.

"We have dealt with that (situation), and obviously, as with any of our rules, that is up to officer training and discretion," said Sharon Kiefer, assistant director of policy for IDFG. "That's going to be according to the circumstance of each individual traveler."

Corder said Fish and Game should not have the authority to bar OHV users from public roadways.

"If a trail is open, then it's open to everybody," he said. "If it's closed, then it's closed to anyone."