My personal, unofficial notes of the meeting March 9 in Ellensburg:
An overview of hunting access programs was provided by WDFW staff. Most notably, the new hunt by reservation program was discussed. This will allow hunters to reserve property access for a specific time online and reduce crowding and ensure you have a place to hunt. There have been complications but it should definitely be ready to go for fall hunting seasons. No guiding or scouting will be allowed on these reservation properties and for the more popular ones it may become a draw system. Hunters will be limited to no more than 3 active reservations and group sizes will vary by property. About 50 properties are enrolled now and landowners previously unwilling to allow access are considering this program so they can control when and how many people have access. Landowners will be able to reserve slots on their own property as well. Ultimately, they will link it to the WILD ID system to make sure you have correct tags/license to hunt there and may charge a small fee to administer the program
The GoHunt program has been updated and should be faster and more user friendly than previous versions.
There was an update on the true spike rule for the Colockum elk herd. In general they are seeing higher survival of yearling bulls because of the rule but bull:cow ratios are still lower than objectives. Some discussion occurred regarding whether WDFW was actually looking/counting where the big bulls are when they estimate these bull:cow ratios. Some members felt that WDFW's estimate of the bull:cow ratio was biased very low. A radio collar study is planned to identify where mature bulls that may be missed during counts are wintering.
Preliminary results of the four point restrictions in GMU 117 and 121 were provided by WDFW staff. The data were very preliminary and staff were not willing to provide recommendation or thoughts on whether the restriction should continue. They did report that buck to doe ratios in GMUs 105-113 dropped from 25:100 in 2011 to 8:100 in 2012. In GMUs 117 and 121 the ratio was 26:100 in 2011 and 25:100 in 2012 and the number of 3 point bucks doubled from 2011 to 2012 in GMU 117 and 121. Staff also discussed that from 2003-2012 WT deer numbers have decreased in NE Washington, particularly after the bad winters in 2007 and 2008. 2012 was the first survey where survey numbers increased slightly from previous years. Discussion occurred about the background of the 4 point restriction and several members from NE Wa were adamant that the rule was supported as a way to restore deer numbers, not to create some kind of trophy units in the state. Several of these members reported seeing very good numbers of bucks and rut activity in 2012 relative to previous years.
There was an update on wolf status and monitoring in WA state. Several members discussed how and when hunting or control measures could be initiated and discussed significant concern about wolf predation effects on moose, elk, and deer herds in WA state. WDFW is using online wolf reporting data to help direct them to where trapping and tagging efforts should be allocated and they are providing ranchers nearly real-time wolf location data to help them protect their livestock from predation losses. WDFW estimates there are a minimum of 51 wolves in WA and likely somewhere around 100. GMAC members urged WDFW to increase monitoring efforts (particularly for moose) so that any potential wolf impacts to game herds could be observed early and result in more immediate action. WDFW reiterated that if they see a 25% reduction in ungulate numbers for a particular herd they will initiate research to identify causes and solutions. WDFW noted that identifying causes of population declines is difficult and many subtle things such as weather, forage, habitat changes etc. can play a large role that is difficult to evaluate. $679,000 was spent on wolf management in 2012 and WDFW expects they need 1.15 million for the upcoming year. Some funding options were discussed including wolf license plate sales.
New business planned for the June 8 meeting will include:
Game management plan (2016-2021) development
Wolf status update
Blacktail deer research results
Cougar harvest management
Reporting actual draw odds by point total for controlled hunts
