deer and elk surveys??

[mfswallace]

When were the most recent deer and elk survey done by wdfw? Not hunter harvest, actual survey's like there wolf studies. Anyone have stats for the last 10-20 years?

[bobcat]

I don't believe they do any surveys, except possibly an occasional fly over of the wintering grounds in some of the north central mule deer areas.

[RG]

For some reason all that information seems to be confidential.  Those of us who pay for it aren't allowed to know what they found out.  I spoke last year to the Muckleshoot biologist who was using a helicopter to capture and collar mule deer near my home in Manastash.  He said they were working in cooperation with WDFW to study mule deer mortality and had tagged dozens of deer over a long period of time.  They tracked them all and the collar emailed him with coordinates when the deer died so they could investigate the cause of death.  Some had gone as far as Mt Adams or St Helens or someplace a long walk from here.  There have also been radio collar studies of the elk herds, wolves, and who knows what else.  There is a ton of very interesting information in their secret archives that no sportsman is ever allowed to know.  I think it would make all of us more informed and more interested in being involved in the comment/management process if we felt they had any interest in working with us.  At this point we hear what they say and have no basis to believe or disbelieve it.  More often than not we find out they are manipulating us.

It doesn't have to be us vs them but they make sure it stays that way.  The only people who have ever had access to WDFW information are those who could be manipulated or controlled.

[mfswallace]

Maybe someone like idahohunter or even a leo with intimate knowledge of the inner workings of wdfw will enlighten us??

[Colville]

Try making a F.O.I.A. request.  I see no reason those reports would be protected from release. They may not be published, but unpublished and protected are not the same thing.

[bobcat]

Have you looked at the 2014 Game Status and Trends Report?

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01667/wdfw01667.pdf

[mfswallace]

Have you looked at the 2014 Game Status and Trends Report?

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01667/wdfw01667.pdf

Yes but that is more harvest based with a tiny inference from limited "surveying"... Seems more effort/money should be put into getting more accurate numbers on the game animals that they depend on for funding. They put the effort/money into wolves so why not the prey base that supports them 

"A reliable estimate of deer population size is out of reach due to limited staff and funding."
What are wdfw's priorities??

[Dhoey07]

I thought the state did helicopter surveys of a couple elk herds. I think I read that in the game trends article they put out

[RG]

I know for a fact they are radio tracking the mule deer and keep mortality stats. The Muck biologist said they do and said they are jointly working with WDFW.  You'd think a conscientious customer oriented agency would just put the info out on their site under a heading "mule deer study results to date".  I know then we'd expect them to be customer oriented all the time.

[Man Tracker]

You can always file a PDR (Public Disclosure Request) for any all info related to deer elk surveys for the years you are interested in.

[kentrek]

I know somebody survey the st hellens herd back first of march....they didn't miss a single spot....i felt really bad for the elk

[mfswallace]

You can always file a PDR (Public Disclosure Request) for any all info related to deer elk surveys for the years you are interested in.

Yep still wouldn't be that useful or accurate as wdfw says in the game starts and trends report, "A reliable estimate of deer population size is out of reach due to limited staff and funding."

I guess I'm just thinking about HB 1676 and the need for it to be signed into law now more than ever. Hopefully it will force some accountability on wdfw and they will do real accurate state wide surveys.