Free: Contests & Raffles.
I would encourage any of you that have a free minute or two to go to our website and check out our IRS 990 forms. They show where every cent of our money is spent, and it will help you to understand how we operate. We won't hide anything, so if there is something you want to know, if I don't have the answer, I'll get it for you. We are forming new partnerships often, like the Master Stewardship Agreement we recently signed with the Forest Service in this region. It will enable us to procure more dollars, based on timber sales, for mgmt. of Mule Deer, and other partnerships we are getting with local companies, like energy companies and mining industry folks.BTW, just got an email today about a meeting I will be attending on Tuesday about the Methow fires. This meeting is to discuss strategy, teaming up to tackle the issues, etc. Those invited are: MDF, Colville Confederated Tribes, Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation, Okanogan Conservation District, Okanogan County, Okanogan County Cattleman, Okanogan County Farm Bureau, O.C. Health District, O.C. Horticulture Association, O.C. Noxious Weed Board, O.C. PUD, Trout Unlimited, Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board, USDA Forest Service, NRCS, Bureau of Reclamation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, WA State Conservation Commission, WA State Dept of Agriculture, WA State Dept of Ecology, WDFW, WA DNR, WA State, University Cooperative Extension, and the Yakama Nation.As you can see, they have invited basically everyone. This will be a great time for MDF to stress the importance of restoring the habitat for the herds, and offering ourselves to accomplish these goals, as well as form some partnerships with like-minded groups. I will make sure and post some results of the meeting so you all are in the loop on how things are progressing.
Split the state deer tag into three parts and have hunters declare their region. West, east, and northeast. This would help all three deer species. imho.
Draw only for modern, similar to Oregon.. Predators are next on the list.
I would like to see all Mule Deer hunting go to draw only. Let the Bio's and Science determine the number of permits in each separate unit, Buck and Doe tags. Leave Whitetail and Blacktail OTC. Just my 2 cents.
Theres a huge point being missed here....WHITETAILS. Whitetails have expanded and grown in population throughout eastern wa. What happens is this growing population helps support more predators. A study out of wazzu suggested that cats were selecting mule deer disproportionately over whitetails, maybe because theyre easier to catch. Anyways you get the point here- more whitetail encroachment= more predators=less mule deer. Trying to control the predators is a futile effort in this day and age, so i think we need to focus on more whitetail tags. Like mentioned before, the mule deer doe harvest is ridiculous, maybe we should be making those whitetail doe tags instead! And to be clear, on the cougar and wolf research out of wsu that has helped influence our new management plans...just realize these folks are passionate hunters that care about the resource as much as we do.
I'd like to see a way to cull some of the 20+ inch 2 points that I see every year. I personally like the 3 pt rule, i hunt in the SE part of the state. My only grief, is the increase in the large numbers of older, breeding 2 points that I see every year. How about a youth/senior tag for any buck, to include 2 points? or make it 2pt or larger draw option, just an idea. Maybe i'm wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time, but seeing multiple slick 2 points in an area that exceed 20-25" wide seems odd.
Quote from: Stizz on July 31, 2014, 07:27:25 AMTheres a huge point being missed here....WHITETAILS. Whitetails have expanded and grown in population throughout eastern wa. What happens is this growing population helps support more predators. A study out of wazzu suggested that cats were selecting mule deer disproportionately over whitetails, maybe because theyre easier to catch. Anyways you get the point here- more whitetail encroachment= more predators=less mule deer. Trying to control the predators is a futile effort in this day and age, so i think we need to focus on more whitetail tags. Like mentioned before, the mule deer doe harvest is ridiculous, maybe we should be making those whitetail doe tags instead! And to be clear, on the cougar and wolf research out of wsu that has helped influence our new management plans...just realize these folks are passionate hunters that care about the resource as much as we do.JEESH... WDFW is supporting the huge predator (cougar) population by having such low harvest quotas on cougar. Open up the cougar season and increase the cougar harvest, predator impacts on mule deer will go down without killing off all the whitetails.
