PLease Forward this Letter!!! In regards to 346,352 and 356 Changes

[colockumelk]

I wrote this letter in regards to the closing of GMU's 352 (Nile) and GMU 356 (Bumping) to antlerless hunting and the opening of GMU 346 (Little Naches) to an early archery general season.  Please take the time to read the letter and then fill in your name at the bottom and send it to these two emails.  Last year proposals were changed because people like us spoke to the WDFW and if enough people plead their case then they ACTUALLY do make changes.  

Directors Office  director@dfw.wa.gov

Mr. Tayer Region 3 Director  TeamYakima@dfw.wa.gov

Dear Mr. Tayer,

This letter is in response to the new proposals for GMU’s 352, 356 and 346.  As you know in the proposals for the archery season in GMU’s 352 and 356 (Nile and Bumping) antlerless elk will no longer be legal to harvest.  In order to handle the large amount of hunters that will inevitably go elsewhere because of this new rule, GMU 346 (Little Naches) is now open to the archery general season.  These are the first two things that we would like to talk about.  

  Let’s first talk about the closure of the Goose Prairie to antlerless harvest to archers.  We also notice that the amount of antlerless permits issued to both Muzzle Loaders and Modern Rifleman has also decreased from last year.  This is the second year in a row that the amount of antlerless permits has decreased.  Our question is why is this?  Is it because in your aerial surveys there has been a marked decrease in the cow elk population?  If so then we completely understand and agree with what you are doing.  However consider this.  If it is based on your surveys then think about this.  The 2008-2009 was milder that normal so not as many elk as normal would be down in the winter range.  Furthermore this current winter of 2009-2010 is the mildest winter we have had in ten years so there are even fewer elk in the winter range.  Myself and many friends and acquaintances frequent all elevations in the mountains.  We all agree on one thing.  There are far more elk in the 5,000 foot and higher range than any year we can remember.  So if the aerial surveys are your only consideration we would urge you to think outside the box and consider why the numbers would be so low.  Maybe take into consideration the harvest reports more than usual.  Which if you look at the harvest report data at the top of the page you will notice we had by far the least amount of cow elk harvested in the last four years.

To end the first topic we urge you to reconsider the closure of these GMU’s to antlerless hunting.   If there is a dire need to shut down antlerless hunting to the archery hunters and dropping for the second year in a row the amount of antlerless permits given out to muzzle loaders and rifles, then we will fully support you.  But please take into consideration before making any drastic changes how mild the past couple of winters have been and the lower than average harvest rates in the past couple of years.  Also maybe instead of closing down both GMU’s to antlerless hunting try closing only one GMU down and then see if that did enough to help out.  We have all seen what happens when things become more restrictive and when we have fewer opportunities.  We NEVER get them back.  

The second topic we would like to talk about is the opening of GMU 346 to the early archery general season.  We believe and many other fellow archers believe that this will be a HUGE mistake.  We understand why you are doing this.  You are doing this to more evenly distribute the amount of hunters that will definitely go elsewhere if the fore mentioned restrictive rule takes place.  This is completely understandable; however, this is why we disagree with the opening of this GMU to the general season.  GMU 346 is the only GMU that does not offer a general season archery hunt and a general season muzzle loader hunt.  This is what makes this GMU so good.  It is the only place that you can draw a branch bull permit with a bow or a muzzle loader and not have to fight “the crowds” of general season hunters.   In short the “Peaches Ridge” tag for archery and muzzle loader and the “Little Naches” rut permit for the rifle are arguably the best tags to draw in the Yakima PMU’s.  What made this hunt the best tag to draw is because the only hunters in that GMU were ones with a special permit.  If GMU 346 is opened to the early season general archery season this will not be the case.  It will be just another permit.  

Why can’t the WDFW leave open one GMU that the only people that can hunt it are special permit holders?  Why can’t there be one Quality Hunt in the Yakima PMU’s?  I understand one GMU has to open for the archery guys to compensate for hunters leaving the Goose Prairie GMU’s.  But why can’t you open up GMU 360 (Bethel) or GMU 342 (Umtanum) Or GMU 368 (Cowiche) instead?  This way the Little Naches GMU would remain a quality permit only GMU to hunt keeping all three user groups happy.  If archers were allowed into GMU 360 or GMU 342 or GMU 368 during a general season (where they are not currently allowed) no one is going to complain.  After all these two GMU’s are not considered quality hunts like the Little Naches is.  

In closing what we would like to see is that instead of closing both of the Goose Prairie GMU’s to antlerless hunting for archers, instead try closing only one of those GMU’s to antlerless hunting and see if that solves the problem of a low cow elk population.  And instead of opening GMU 346 (Little Naches) to the archery general season please keep this GMU closed and instead open GMU 360 (Bethel) or GMU 342 (Umtanum) or GMU 368 (Cowiche) to a general season archery hunt, to help curb the displacement of hunters leaving the Goose Prairie GMU closing of antlerless hunting.  

Gentleman thank-you for your time in reading this letter and we hope that you think about what we have said and take it into serious consideration.  We support you in your decisions and goals but we obviously disagree slightly in how to go about this.  

Respectfully Members from www.hunting-washington.com

[bobcat]

Good letter, very well written, and considerate instead of insulting to the WDFW. So they're more likely to actually pay attention to what you are saying.

My personal opinion is they should eliminate all general season elk hunts, at least in the Yakima units. Then we'd have several quality units, instead of only the Little Naches. A guy might only be able to hunt every other year, but who wants to hunt a spike only general season anyway

[Rick]

Done

[colockumelk]

Couldn't agree with you more bobcat.  I think we both see eye to eye on that point.  However the WDFW would never do it.  They'd lose way too much money. 

[colockumelk]

Again please take the few minutes to email my letter off to the WDFW.  Even if you not an archery hunter this will still impact the Muzzle Loader and Rifle Rut hunts in the Little Naches.  Please don't let the WDFW ruin one of the best elk hunts in the state. 

[WACATHUNTER]

Great letter, THanks!  Forwarded as of 2/24
WACAT

[DoubleJ]

Done

[Turkeyman]

DONE

[colockumelk]

Thankyou gentleman for taking the time to send out that letter.  If we stand by and do nothing eventually we wont have any hunting left. 

[brianmtsinc]

Done.  Thanks for taking time to write the letter.

I have been hunting these areas for more than 18 years and I believe there are MORE elk now than anytime in the past.  I get into elk just about every day of my hunt and so do the 6+ guys I hunt with.  We also have been waiting YEARS for the Peaches draw, which could now get totally screwed up

IMHO this is all about money.  I wish they would just leave the areas alone, leave the draw system alone, and if they "need" more money, charge me more - but don't mess up the one thing I spend all year looking forward too!   

[colockumelk]

Your welcome brian.  I don't want to lose anything either which is why I wrote the letter.

To be honest in regards to the WDFW.  I don't think they put much thought into this.  I think they saw a decrease in cow numbers in Goose Prairie.  THey cut cow tags and the archery antlerless hunts because most cows are harvested by the archers.  This solved problem #1.  Then to fix problem #2 they glanced on the map and opened the closest GMU closed to archers.  Bam solved problem #2.   Probably took about .2 seconds of thought.  If we send enough letters like the one I wrote then they WILL change it.

[Rick]

Here is their email response -



Thank you for contacting the Wildlife Program regarding the upcoming big game hunting season proposals.  Your comments are appreciated and have been forwarded to the appropriate staff for consideration.


Thank you,


Wildlife Program Olympia

[colockumelk]

Yeah they always send that one back.  In their defense they probably do have limited time and I'm sure they receive about a million emails a day so it's hard for them to respond to every single one.  But I have received emails back from them before.  If you sent it to Jeff Tayer alot of times he'll respond back.  He's the one we have to convince anyways. 

[johnsc6]

Not bad......But we have to remember, these are the same managers that purposely decreased the elk poulation by 35% by giving out more cow tags, now they seem to be reversing past decisions.  It is always the same you, The game needs tobe managed Proactively not reactively when they get that things might get better

[Rick]

Here is a reply from Jeff Tayer. Hopefully they'll come through with the phone call.


Thank you for your e mail regarding GMU 346. 

I would like our Regional Wildlife Biologist Ted Clausing  to respond to your concerns.

We triangulate a number of data points to assess whether the population is stable or trending up or down.

Ted can provide more detail and we can have a phone conversation as well.