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Author Topic: Eastside vs. Wetside management  (Read 1672 times)

Offline CAM38

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Eastside vs. Wetside management
« on: October 12, 2013, 09:33:14 AM »
I'm a wetside guy and I've been wondering about this for a while now.  When it comes to bulls does anyone know why the popular eastside units are spike or true spike only but 3 pt. on the westside? I understand the reasoning for the spike only, but why is it opposite over here? 

Offline snowpack

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Re: Eastside vs. Wetside management
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2013, 11:10:50 AM »
I think it has to do with terrain/cover and their escapement.  Northeast Washington has some thick cover and steep hills like the westside and parts of it are managed like westside.
For the popular east units the hills I've seen aren't as steep and they have lots of grassy areas (they still have some nasty holes--but the hunters could trap them in there because it would be surrounded by stuff easy for people to move through). 

Offline CAM38

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Re: Eastside vs. Wetside management
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2013, 11:25:29 AM »
True, that makes sense.  What really bugs me about the wetside i guess is the amount of raghorn/small antlered/weird antlered bulls there are.  Seems like i see 3 weirdos for every 1 nice rack.  Seems like there are more young bulls breeding over here, opposite on the eastside.  Not that I eat antlers, but I don't get what makes regs on one side of the state different from the other.

Offline snowpack

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Re: Eastside vs. Wetside management
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2013, 11:47:47 AM »
I don't think they manage for antlers as much as they do age classes through the herd.  W side had so much party hunting going on in the past that guys were taking out everything legal and once they got on a herd killed anything with antler, the older bulls were off on the fringes escaping in the jungle.  I think on the E side the guys would seek the bulls and were able to get on them because no rainy jungle, and ended up taking out the older class of bulls.  With their spike only/true spike it seems like they take out like half the young age class but the half that survive make up healthy older age classes.
I know what you mean about the spikes/two points/sub-legal three points on the W side, I saw probably twenty of those last season (east side it would be quite the find).

Offline STIKNSTRINGBOW

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Re: Eastside vs. Wetside management
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2013, 11:56:28 AM »
As far as I understand it,
Due to the open nature of the habitat and extensive road systems 90% of the harvest on the east side of the state was spikes already (any visible antler was legal) and few bulls survived their first few years. To increase bull to cow ratios, and allow more mature bulls to survive the spike only regulation went into effect, effectively increasing bull/cow ratios, and increasing branched bull (mature) numbers.
The ability to count Elk on the east-side by aerial survey and counts at winter feed areas, combined with harvest statistics provide the WDFW with the information to manipulate herd numbers by increasing or reducing permits while maintaining "opportunity" for non-permit holders. (spike hunters)

On the West-side...
They do not have the ability to get reliable counts from the air due to terrain and habitat, or winter feeding, so coming up with actual herd composition is dependent on harvest reports and a formula they developed to estimate (guess) on numbers using radio telemetry and fixed point observation counts.
 The restriction provides enough of a level of bull escapement to meet post-hunt bull objectives and allowing enough calf recruitment to maintain numbers.
The focus is on harvestable bulls, not "trophy"... as you are probably aware, even the West-side "quality" tags are all about numbers, not antlers.
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Offline hoytem

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Re: Eastside vs. Wetside management
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2013, 11:37:35 PM »
I don't think they manage for antlers as much as they do age classes through the herd.  W side had so much party hunting going on in the past that guys were taking out everything legal and once they got on a herd killed anything with antler, the older bulls were off on the fringes escaping in the jungle.  I think on the E side the guys would seek the bulls and were able to get on them because no rainy jungle, and ended up taking out the older class of bulls.  With their spike only/true spike it seems like they take out like half the young age class but the half that survive make up healthy older age classes.
I know what you mean about the spikes/two points/sub-legal three points on the W side, I saw probably twenty of those last season (east side it would be quite the find).

 


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