I do understand the issue. I also think 2 weeks is excessive. We only have a 7 day ML season, why 2 weeks at the end of the year???
My guess is that they want lots of elk killed.
Bobcat, I fully suspect you are more right than we will ever know. WDFW was talking of bartering a deal with Wyco for access for the extended hunt. I'm much more inclined to believe Wyco bartered the deal with WDFW for the extended hunt to make sure a high percentage of them 70 muzzy cow tags and 14 bull tags get filled. Or WDFW themselves wanted the cow tags filled for their herd reduction plans.
Hunters have complained for years of fire closures and WDFW hasnt budged. Now this year they pull this. I'm betting it wasnt complaining hunters that swayed the panel.
All this herd reduction work in the SW corner seems to really be working good. The units I hunt seem to have much less elk than even 3 years ago. I'm guessing the 2012 harvest reports will tell the tale. Probably not too many more years left of this freezer filling herd reduction plan.
That is exactly what its about guys. Just look at the coweeman and Lewis River and the decline in population. They even pointed out to you where they want you to hunt. Weyco. Its about knocking the herd down and due to the land being shut down that didnt happen early on. Weyco makes the desicions on the elk hunting in the SW portion of the state. Just my thought.
Yeah, I got the access packet in the mail much like the first one. It had the Wyco access map showing areas where Wyco see's the most elk damage, some stuff about what gates, and a placard to place on my dash when I'm in there hunting. Not that I'll be in there hunting....
I'm all for these access partnerships and such. Logging land access is pretty well a requirement of hunting the SW corner. We hunters are in a position where we need the timber companies. I'm just not sure I'm in line with the political clout, methods used to reduce tree farm crop loss, herbacides, ect...... I suspect if I was a tree farm owner I'd feel different though. I certainly agree with them locking gates to keep trash dumpers out. I actualy quite like the logging companies. I've been out east and to other states. When land goes to privae individuals and gets split up for ranchets and subdivisions hunting acces goes away and habitat is all but destroyed by being split up to the point of being unusable as large game habitat. These logging outfits with vast holdings do us much more good than harm. Lord knows their lands hold far better game numbers than the stuff the state manages.
