Elk area question

[nw_bowhunter]

Last weekend I did some scouting over by Blewitt Pass, Teanaway, and Haney Meadows and found what I feel is a hot spot for elk. Elevation was around 4000 ft based on the GPS. The area is really thick and heavily treed. There was sing of elk everywhere, pretty much tore up. The area stunk like elk had been just laying there.
My question though is when I came out of the woods I ran in Native American who was setting up camp very close to the elk area I was scouting.  Would you guy’s persue the area knowing that? The reason I ask is I was under the impression they can hunt as of August 1st and if so I assume if that is the case they blown them out of there. I have never hunted this far up the pass before and normally stay closer to Teanaway but can’t seem to locate the elk closer to Teanaway.  Also is the Teanway more of a transition area for the elk coming down from the pass?

[cabin308]

If you saw a Native Am setting up camp nearby to do some    'hunting', try to get in touch with this member, pendoreilleadventures, on this site.  He may be able to help?  The local GW would probably like to know where, too, if he doesn't know  already.   
Quote from pendoreilleadventures,---"someone should contact there tribe and have this stopped this is bull *censored*  I work for an Indian tribe an this is not the way they all are by any means. One of my best friends is an indain and my hunting partner. If anyone gets what tribe they are from and there names I would be happy to contact there tribe and try and put a stop to this. this is a down right discusting thing there is no need to kill that many animals period. I could understand 2- maybe 3 to feed their famileys but 16 is just crazy. no wonder the elk were gone by 1900!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm still at a loss and frustrated how some indians are able to get away with these actions.   

[nw_bowhunter]

Are they able to hunt from Ag 1st going forward? if that is the case then I would be incline to report. Otherwise not sure what I would be reporting other then I saw him setting up camp and what I believe to be an area which I believe is likley that the elk are in there. Thanks for the info

[cabin308]

Sorry, I don't know if Aug. 1 is the start of their 'hunting season' or not.  I recall some other member's posts here about seeing them out in August with many big bulls already taken.  Read through this thread...
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,8937.0.html

[Ridgerunner]

Why don't you put up the location of the camp on this website, then the woods might be a little louder adn the elk will get spooked and leave the country and thus not taken by "substance hunters"

[bobcat]

Well here is the hunting seasons and rules for the Yakama Nation:

http://www.ynwildlife.org/tribalhunting.php

[hard hunter]

Maybee its just me but I could not find the bag limit for deer and elk each day in the Yakima hunting regulations.  Is it one a day or more? 

I would also like to know what the guys from the other thread did with all the meat since they cant sell it to the public and can't waste it without being in violation of their own laws

[andrew_12gauge]

yeah and i dont see anything that says they cant hunt till after aug 1st just says no antlerless deer or elk hunting from january to july or whatever

[pendoreilleadventures]

This is the email I just sent to the Yakama Nation. Tell me what you think?


To Whom it may Concern,

   My name is Brian Benham I work for the Kalispel Tribe. This email has Noting to with the tribe just so you know just giving you a little background of myself. I have grown up adjacent to the Kalispel Reservation all my life I fully understand Native American Culture. I respect the Members of the Yakama Nation and your Culture and I am not in any way trying to disrespect The Members of The Yakama Nation.  It has come to my attention that There are two Brother from the Yakama Nation That have been grossly over harvesting mature herd bulls from the Clockum Area. In the last Three years it is my understanding that they have been harvesting close to 20+ Bulls a year. I understand That The said land was your Land long before. The government came and took it away and it is your right to hunt The Ceded Area. This Is a Quote from your website.

“Members of the Yakama Nation, and other tribes, hunt throughout their ancestral lands in Washington State for the purpose of gathering meat for sustenance and ceremonial purposes. It is not the custom of tribal people to hunt or gather food for sport or leisure, but is instead a traditional and cultural activity that is needed to provide food for funerals, memorials, name giving’s, food feasts, and family dinners. On the reservation and ceded areas, these laws and rights override the jurisdiction of the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife.”

            I can understand and support The members Of the Yakama Nations to gather meat for sustenance and ceremonial Purposes. In contrary I was told that a local hunter talk to a Washington State Fish and Wildlife Officer last archery season and he told the hunter that the Brothers had killed 16 branch antlered bulls so far that year and all of this in just the month of August.  In the past few year many hunters in the area have been noticing a drastic decline in large herd bulls. As I am sure you know if too many mature bulls are taking out of a herd it will have a impact on the overall population of the herd. Which in turn means less bulls to bred the cows which mean less calves. If this trend of killing far more bulls then are need continues then it is my belief that the Clockum herd could face population issues in the near future. 


Thank you,

Brian Benham

[American Rattlesnake]

pendoreilleadventures,
Did you send that letter yet?  The substance of the message is great, but if you haven't sent it, I might have some spelling/grammar edits for you to make your point more clear.

Let me know if this would be helpful. 

Regards,
AR

[pendoreilleadventures]

nope didn't send it yet. go ahead

[American Rattlesnake]

This is the email I just sent to the Yakama Nation. Tell me what you think?


To Whom it may Concern,

   My name is Brian Benham; I work for the Kalispel Tribe. This email has nothing to with the tribe just so you know just giving you a little background of myself. I have grown grew up adjacent to the Kalispel Reservation, have lived here all my life, and I fully understand Native American Culture. I respect the members of the Yakama Nation and your culture and I am not in any way trying to disrespect the members of the Yakama Nation.  It has come to my attention that there are two Brothers from the Yakama Nation that have been grossly over-harvesting mature herd bulls from the Clockum Area. In the last three years it is my understanding that they have been harvesting close to 20+ Bulls a year. I understand that the said land was yours Land long before the government came and took it away and it is your right to hunt the Ceded Area. This is a Quote from your website:

“Members of the Yakama Nation, and other tribes, hunt throughout their ancestral lands in Washington State for the purpose of gathering meat for sustenance and ceremonial purposes. It is not the custom of tribal people to hunt or gather food for sport or leisure, but is instead a traditional and cultural activity that is needed to provide food for funerals, memorials, name giving’s, food feasts, and family dinners. On the reservation and ceded areas, these laws and rights override the jurisdiction of the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife.”

            I can understand and support the members of the Yakama Nations to who gather meat for sustenance and ceremonial purposes. In contrary However, I was told that by a local hunter who talked to a Washington State Fish and Wildlife Officer last archery season and he told the hunter that the Brothers had killed 16 branch antlered bulls so far that year and all of this in just in the month of August.  In the past few years many hunters in the area have been noticing a drastic decline in the numbers of large herd bulls. As I am sure you know, if too many mature bulls are taken out of a herd it will have a negative impact on the overall population of the herd. Which This in turn means less fewer bulls to breed the cows, which means less fewer calves. If this trend of killing far more bulls than are need necessary continues, then it is my belief that the Clockum herd could face underpopulation issues in the near future. 


Thank you,

Brian Benham

These edits are just meant to be helpful.  It is clearly your letter, though, so use what you want and feel free to discard the rest.

For what it's worth, you might want to close with some sort of call to action.  Your first section talks about the problem (the dudes who are overharvesting) then why it's a problem (elk population problems) but then the letter just ends.  It might be better somehow to close with a plea to halt the overharvesting.

Just my 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree it needs a call to action to hold their members accountable to what their own laws are.

[Ridgerunner]

NW hunter= You really do need to give the location of this campsite away, not to us hunters but to one of the major media outlets over here in the cesspool called Seattle.  LEt them shoot some video, run a little feature story on the "substance" hunting of only large mature herd bulls and see if that gets the tribes attention.  I think it would.  With all the uproar going on about hunting now this might be the best time to shed some light on this situation.  Something needs to be done and although I think letters are good I don't think they have the effect that some major news coverage would get.

[Bean Counter]

I don't know the complete history but I think I've heard something abotu how a federal court simply told the WDFW or states that they have to let the alcoholic Indians poach as many animals as they want/can.  Does that just apply to the area under the 9th Circuit or other areas as well?  May keep that in mind when considering a move to a state where people and animals are both accorded the appropriate rights and responsibilities.

[cabin308]

nope didn't send it yet. go ahead

One more error, it is spelled Colockum.   

[Slider]

Look's like the spelling Nazi's got a hold of that one...............

[Bean Counter]

Look's like the spelling Nazi's got a hold of that one...............

I've been told to focus on what's being said rather than how its being said.  Nevertheless, the more eloquent, proper English/grammar one uses, the more seriously they are taken. 

[cabin308]

Look's like the spelling Nazi's got a hold of that one...............

I've been told to focus on what's being said rather than how its being said.  Nevertheless, the more eloquent, proper English/grammar one uses, the more seriously they are taken. 

Sawrree ubowt dat Sliydur.  Eye ownlee poott thu cawment inn thayr ubowt hauw thu Koelokumm wuz spelt cuz hee wontud 2 ryt uh ledder and eye thot et wud luk nd sownd beddur f et wer spelt kowrekllee...   

[American Rattlesnake]

 

Seriously, just trying to help.  He can accept or reject the advice with no hard feelings from me.

[Bean Counter]

Seriously, just trying to help.  He can accept or reject the advice with no hard feelings from me.

Yep. I don't think it was over the line.  Hounding people relentlessly about posts is one thing, but when a fellow hunter contacts the outside public and asks "what do you think" about the comment, I think its okay to point out some areas for improvement. I appreciate hunters trying to stick up for hunters and by and large I think that's what's going on here.   

[Hindtit]

Near Future....meaning now?

[3dsheetmetal]

I would sure like to know where they're camping. I really need to go there. I can't think of anything more fun than to just walk through the woods all day long saving as many elk as I can from the poachers. I get so tired of this *censored*. They go out and shoot the biggest bulls instead of cows. They're probably selling the horns to the Asian market.
Most of the indians I have seen are just road hunters. If the herd is spooked and spread out a little they may have to get out of their trucks and actually go out into the woods and  hunt for once, kind of like the old days.The way I see it they won't be happy until they kill everything they think they are entitiled to.The game dept. isn't allowed to do anything about it so it's up to concerned sportsmen to try and get things right. I say chase every animal you can as far from the roads as possible that way maybe ten years from now there might still be a hunting season

[Jburke]

I may be wrong here, but I was under the impression that tribal members still need a state license to hunt off of the reservations.  From talking to people I know, they are free to hunt on their reservations, but must have a license like everyone else to legally hunt on public land.

[bobcat]

I may be wrong here, but I was under the impression that tribal members still need a state license to hunt off of the reservations.  From talking to people I know, they are free to hunt on their reservations, but must have a license like everyone else to legally hunt on public land.

 no they don't need a license or a tag.

[ThePascoKid]

No of course not they are handed every other f&cking thing, why should they give any back.

[pendoreilleadventures]

hey guys got a reply


Thank you for your email. We've been told the same thing from other Sportsman in the area. They've also contacted our Congressional Representatives and it has come back to us through the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Portland by way of their Central Office in Washington, DC. 
So your concern isn't new to us and we appreciate your concerns Whether its two brothers or 50 tribal members practicing our right to gather and use our traditional foods, we feel it will always be an issue regardless.  There are thousands of nonnative hunters that hunt the Clockum and take a considerable amount of animals, including Big Bulls. 
There are probably even more non-Native poachers there than they wish to compare wish or even mention. Mind you, I am not defending these individuals if they are taking animals and not using them for our traditional and ceremonial intended purposes. We have laws against wasting as well as the selling of wild game. And in addition we have the same problem and even more so on our own reservation with the taking of excess bulls.  For some reason, modern society with all the emphasis on trophy racks, horns, and the world record books have also crossed over into the minds of some of our people which is unfortunate.  Some of or Native people have forgotten the true meaning of the taking of our sacred foods and now only practice hunting and even fishing for the sport of it.
One thing we've encouraged concerned people such as yourself is to provide either my office or our Law Enforcement office with the names of these individuals or other evidence so that our enforcement people can at least notify these tribal members and let them know there are concerns. I would also like to suggest that you send an article to our Yakama Nation Review (Editor Ronn Washines, P.O. Box 151, Toppenish, WA
98948) and voice your concerns. Sometimes when people and especially those not from our tribe do this it calls attention to the issue and people tend to back off. But, as you know there are people out there with attitudes of not caring or not giving a you know what and will or may do it even more just to make those who have concerns even more angry.  Which is a point I try to make and that is the safety of anyone out there who may try to take matters into their own hands, then no one wins or nothing gets resolved other than someone going to prison or even worst!  I'll write to our paper as well with my own article. I am the manager of our wildlife program as well as a avid hunter and ceremonial hunter for our traditional feasts/funerals/name givings, etc.  And I share your concerns of over harvesting or taking of animals solely for their trophy antlers or just because they can.
E. Arlen Washines, Yakama Enrolled Member Manager, Yakama Nation Wildlife Program

[bobcat]

Well it was nice of him to take the time to reply to your letter, and it's good to know that somebody from the tribe actually cares. Now if only our law enforcement officers would/could do something about it!   

[pendoreilleadventures]

all i can say is if anyone has a run in with them. swing by there camp and *censored* with them act like you just think thats its great that they get to kill all animals and see what they do with all the meat. once you get there names let me know and I will notify the tribe. and if an7y one has the location of there camp let me know that and i will give that information to there wildlife dept.

[Ridgerunner]

KOMO 4, KING 5, KIRO 7, Pick one and send the info to them.  Better yet have some video, enough heat and we can probably get the impact reduced, it will never be eliminated unfortunately.

[turbo]

all i can say is if anyone has a run in with them. swing by there camp and *censored* with them act like you just think thats its great that they get to kill all animals and see what they do with all the meat. once you get there names let me know and I will notify the tribe. and if an7y one has the location of there camp let me know that and i will give that information to there wildlife dept.

Thank you for your efforts, I thought you would get nowhere with the tribe.

[ThePascoKid]

It almost sounds like to me there is a little bit of a threat in there not to do anything about it or the situation may get worse. My guess is this person knows who the poachers are and chooses to do nothing about it because he feels non-natives poach so why shouldn't they.  But I could be reading to much into it because this topic pisses me off so bad that I am looking for something negative.

[MountainWalk]

........Get Jesse!