My personal, unofficial meeting notes from this weekends GMAC meeting...several very interesting things were discussed in relation to future hunting seasons/opportunities...some great news, some odd news, and some terrible news...depending entirely on how you feel about baiting, the point system, tags, season length etc...
I-594: WDFW indicated that the Attorney General of WA has indicated that agencies with general LE Authority (which WDFW has) are exempt. The exemption applies to the agency and all staff (including volunteers) on official WDFW business/duty. The take away...I-594 will not impact hunter education courses being taught by official WDFW HE instructors in their official capacity. WDFW is very sensitive/concerned about this issue and will continue working it...they were very concerned about potential impacts to hunter education but seem to be getting reassurance from the AG that it won't really impact their program.
Baiting:This was the big topic...WDFW started the discussion by saying they were going to recommend elimination of baiting ungulates for hunting. They would include some minor exceptions like active ag operations, food plots, hunters with disabilities...but generally support a ban. There was substantial pushback from GMAC members uncomfortable with a ban and WDFW's recommendation. WDFW then seemed to back track a little and may suggest a more middle ground option that imposes some regulation but doesn't ban it out right. It was a little unclear to me exactly what they would recommend or present to the commission, but I believe they settled on backing off a solid recommendation for a ban...but who knows. They did acknowledge that they received a ton of feedback supporting baiting in the last round of comments and that 6 years ago they proposed a ban only to have it squashed in the public comment period before the commission meeting. So, folks like me that support baiting...keep the pressure up in respectful and intelligent communication and I think we still may have a shot at saving baiting...Many folks on GMAC really hammered away that if there are a few folks really abusing baiting (placing tons of apples, for example) that regulation would be reasonable and useful...a complete ban is not necessary to address the problem in many peoples minds. However, there are those that believe baiting is unethical and not fair chase and so no regulation other than a ban is acceptable. Most folks agreed that perhaps regulating quantity of bait would address some of the most serious complaints.
They will be recommending the following for
2015-17 seasons:
-Early archery elk will start the first saturday after labor day, and run for 13 days
-They will be adding at least 24 GMU's to early muzzleloader elk seasons...not certain which ones.
-Modern generalmule deer season will be extended 2 days, start 1st saturday after the 10th and go 11 days, ending on a tuesday
-Adding 14 new quality deer hunts in Region 5&6
-Eliminating 2pt restriction in the deer GMU's on the westide that have them (something like 4?)
Equipment-Crossbows (including ones with scopes) will be allowed during modern firearm seasons, but not archery or muzzleloader seasons (except disabled archers can still use them)
-Mechanical broadheads will be allowed...although reps for the archery groups spoke up about issues with mechanicals and referenced studies where penetration was poor for mechanical broadheads shot at angles...after some discussion it sounds like WDFW may consider not recommending mechanical broadheads or possibly not allowing them for elk but allowing them on smaller game like deer.
-Allow semi-auto handguns (9mm or larger) in firearm restriction areas for big game hunting
Tags/Point System:
-They are going to revise the point system so approximately 25% of all quality tags will be set aside for the highest point holders. They are not sure what the point cutoff will be...they originally thought maybe 10 pts or higher, but are now suggesting it may be a higher point total. Because of logistics with license system it will not be implemented in 2015, but likely 2016.
-They are restoring antlerless whitetail opportunity in NE Wa for youth, senior, disabled and early archery and muzzleloader seasons.
-WDFW was very neutral on continuation of the 4pt restriction in GMU 117/121. At minimum I think they will recommend any buck for youth in those GMU's, and really leave it up to the commission to decide.
-Cougar seasons likely extended a month, into April...quite a bit of discussion on harvest guidelines, sub-adult harvest, ability of wdfw staff to recognize sub-adult cougars etc. You cougar hunters may have great interest and understanding of the issues but I dozed off a bit on this part
-Spring bear permits in NE Wa will be doubled
OIL Species-Goat permits will increase by 1 or 2 in 2015, including a new hunt in Darrington area if I recall correctly
-Moose populations appear to be large, possibly seeing some evidence of habitat limitation in WA. Bull:cow ratios very good etc. They are proposing several new hunt areas, they will create more hunt choices by splitting some seasons into October and November as opposed to one hunt choice with a 2 month season...but the biggest news is they will be increasing Moose tags by about 20% from a total of 130ish to 160ish tags (this includes antlerless tags too). So everybodys odds of drawing a Moose tag will increase 20% in 2015!
-For Bighorn sheep/Mt. Goat Auction and Raffle tags, they are going to increase the number of areas with 2 or more permits and they will manage the herds on something like a 3 year harvest plan and so if in 1 year all the auction/raffle guys hit one unit then they will close it down for a couple years...but if the harvest doesn't congregate in 1 unit then it will allow more opportunity at different units for the auction/raffle guys. Until now, many biologists have been reluctant to add a 2nd tag to units with only 1 tag because going from 1 to 2 tags could actually in theory increase harvest to 5 sheep if the auction and raffle guys hunted the same area. (*Thank you wingshooter for correcting this...I think I have it a little more accurate now)
-The Swakane Bighorn Herd will be managed a little differently...it will be allowed in an auction one year and the raffle the following year, always alternating years...kind of similar to how IDFG manages the Craig Mountain bighorn sheep tag.
