Letter Regarding Colockum Elk - The Reel News "The Tribes Killed Elk"

[bowhuntin]

I went ahead and read the treaty last night. It is a bunch of BS. It states they only have a privilege to hunt but the the courts had ruled that when reading the treaty that privilege means the same as right. WTF how are those words even similar?  Everything I know about the indians in Washington is they mostly subsisted off of fish, such as salmon. The tribes would come from all over to fish the columbia and the salmon runs. You never read about them hunting mule deer or the elk that were brought here by sportsman. Issaac Stevens knew that indians in the PNW relied on salmon runs rather than hunting or else the treaty would have been worded differently.

[NCWCracker]

That's a lame attitude Doublelung.
Media exposure.  Catch them on film enough & expose it to the mass media along w/the stories of what they've been doing.  Look what happened w/the whale hunting - people freaked.  Try it w/a beautiful, furry elk or deer, & watch the public outcry...

[groundhog]

I think the only way we will get anything to change is if we can convince the Indians to self regulate themselves. The Feds and State will not do anything.
Unfortunately, I believe the only way the Indians will self regulate is to address a safety problem. In other words I think it well take a "shoot out" before things change. I am not saying it should happen but I think that it WELL HAPPEN! Folks are fed up (rightly so) and sooner or later someone is going to loose it and bullets will fly.
If the Indians were really "stewards of the land" they would establish cow only seasons, spike seasons and limit the mature bull harvest and work with the state to achieve healthy herds. Instead they rape the resource!
Mark my words. If nothing is done about this AN INDIAN WILL BE SHOT IN THE COLOCKUM! When it happens, and it well. I bet it slows em down. I am not recommending a cowboys and Indians shoot out. I am just predicting that it well come to that! just my 

[NWTFhunter]

?  If letters to the state are not going to do anything, who knows what Fed dept to start bombarding ?

[runamuk]

http://www.fws.gov/nativeamerican/

http://www.dnr.wa.gov/AboutDNR/Pages/commissioner.aspx

http://www.dnr.wa.gov/AboutDNR/TribalRelations/Pages/Home.aspx

Region 1 FWS

Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington

    Contact: Pat Gonzales-Rogers, (503) 231-6123

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
    Native American Liaison
    Eastside Federal Complex
    911 N.E. 11th Avenue
    Portland, Oregon 97232-4181

and all of your reps and senators are good people to write to.

Constituent lobbying does have an impact.  Short to the point letters that are not copied en-mass have a much better impact.  So using a letter someone posted here sent by 50 people may get read once or twice where 25 people each writing their own letter will all get read 

Also sending a letter off to the county offices where these problems are occurring is another good way to go. 

Media exposure has a habit of backfiring, people like peta and hsus pick it up and run with it, portraying all hunting and hunters in a bad light, so documenting is good but using proper channels is safer albeit slower. 

[firefighter4607]

I will try to write these people and see what comes from it. The problem is the Yakama tribe has done this for years except before they were on the Yakama Res now they have came off there res. and now shooting your guy's elk, Join the Club! They already distroyed the Simcoe Heard, which I used to hunt now it is like finding a needle in a haystack, for deer and elk.

[FrankDown]

Im interested ina ny photos or videos anyone has.  I am starting a website, even though it has been voiced that it is a waste of time, regardless I am in the process of colllecting information and contacts.

Closing acess to the roadsmay work, as well  as posting private land.

The treaty is not clear.  It states hunting "priviledge" and the fishing is "in common withthe people".  The Boldt decision stated that, but has it been reheard since the Boldt decision 30 years ago?

[colockumelk]

 Heres what the treaty says.

ARTICLE 3.
And provided, That, if necessary for the public convenience, roads may be run through the said reservation; and on the other hand, the right of way, with free access from the same to the nearest public highway, is secured to them; as also the right, in common with citizens of the United States, to travel upon all public highways.
The exclusive right of taking fish in all the streams, where running through or bordering said reservation, is further secured to said confederated tribes and bands of Indians, as also the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places, in common with the citizens of the Territory, and of erecting temporary buildings for curing them; together with the privilege of hunting, gathering roots and berries, and pasturing their horses and cattle upon open and unclaimed land.
 

What we are trying to do is not change the treaty.  This is what everyone has tried in the past.  Our goals are to launch a Public Relations campaign against the tribes.  We will use their unwillingness and inability to police their own members unethical hunting practises.  Utilizing volunteers with video cameras we will video their hunting camps and get pictures of their poaching and their kills.  Game camera's will help out alot as well.  In any case we will launch a PR campaign against them and also get a petition so that we can get on the 2010 state wide ballot in order to enact new laws that prohibit the unrestricted havesting of big game animals by the tribe.  With all the bad PR they will get this bill is bound to pass.  We already have a website we just don't know what to call it.  We need everyones help in getting some pics of poached animals or video anything we can put on our website.  We plan on having meetings within two months. 

We are not talking about taking away the right to hunt from the Native Tribes.  OUr new law would require them while hunting off their reservation to abide by the same rules and regulations that we must abide by. They would be given free licenses and could have their own special permits drawings.  This would be just like their program that allows them to hunt sheep.  They still get to hunt but they just wont be allowed to continue to decimate our big game herds. 

We are also looking at helping to close off the roads that are already closed.  I am not interested at this time about closing more roads just putting physical barriers in front of the ones that are already closed.  This would go along ways in preventing poaching. 

[FrankDown]

I am catching up with the treaty related arguments that have been brought up.  We all know that he antis didnt immediately take something to court and win everything at once.  Im not trying to say we as sportsmen should resort to their tactics by any means either.  Its just strange that the way th etreaty is worded.  That the fishing is a right in common with the people.  Now, in this day and age, the people have to abide by best management practices, and in common withthe ceople, the tribes should also have to.  The treatys are worded alike fo rthe most part.  The hunting says "privilege" and not rights.  I understand that they have brought religion into it as part of their argument.  I think that had become the hard part.  However without management they wont even have any fo rtheir religion whether or not its legal or not.  As the mismanagement of them has already put them in a steady decline.  I see nothing that says the "Indians" have a right to any and all of anything.  THe unclaimed and ceded part appears to be not meaning everything that isnt nailed down.  Each tribe has a treaty with different parts of the territory, that originally included parts of other states.

[colockumelk]

Does anyone know how to get ahold of this guy.  I've been trying to find an email address or something.  I think he would be interested in our group.  Plus he has alot of info that he could help us out with. 

[Wenatcheejay]

Contact "The Reel News" see if the magazine will do an article on your site.

[colockumelk]

THanks for the advice.  I tried that but their website is down for maintenance so hopefully they fix that.  That would be cool if they did a story on us.  Be good to get the PR ball rolling. 

[InsideWDFW]

Thought I might chime in.

To start with, I have haven't seen the link to our tribal hunting site at http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/tribal/ yet. 

I'll wait for you to browse....

Done?

To summarize WDFW's position on tribal hunting:

We can't do jack #&$*.

What a lot of people don't understand is that the treaties that give the tribes the right to hunt on public land where with the US Government before Washington became a state.  Washington - and especially WDFW - have absolutely no control on tribal hunting.  This includes State Legislators.  Washington State public agencies have absolutly no say or jurisdiction when it comes to tribal rights.  Technically we could sue the tribe in a federal court, but we haven't had much luck going that route, and we are dealing with a slighly light wallet.  Litigation would most likely last years, cost millions of dollars, and end up going no where.

So why doesn't WDFW come out and say that?  It has to do with politics.  The Yakima tribe could kill every single bull, cow, and calf of the colockum herd and all WDFW could do is sit back and watch with the rest of you.   This is the last thing we ever want to see.  So for us to be able to work with the tribes regarding wildlife management (something they are not obligated to do) we have to play nice.  Also known as kissing ass.  This frustrates us even more then it does you due to the fact that our job at WDFW is managing Washington's wildlife, and we can't.

I do want to say that a majority of the tribes in Washington go the extra mile in assisting WDFW in managing wildlife.  A lot of good has come from tribal/state agreements.  Not all tribal members out to take advantage of their treaty rights.  Tribal partnerships have been some of the most rewarding that WDFW has had.

While I'm cloaked in anonymity, a few comments on Mr. Fulwiler's article.  Take another look at the article.  The first paragraph is regarding "secret meetings" WDFW held with the tribe, while the rest is a rant against tribal hunting.  Notice how he fails to mention the fact that tribal hunting rights are between the tribes and the US Government and that the state has nothing to do with them?  Mr. Fulwiler may have a personal vendetta against WDFW that for legal reasons I can not get into.  Also for the record, Arthur Coffin did not donate the land, but sold it.  Also according to Pete Lopushinski, the Wildlife Manager for the area, there are no areas of the Wildlife Area that are "Absolutely no trespassing" to "Non-tribal hunters".

Regarding that first paragraph.  Just as the State of Washington can not restrict treaty rights, we can't add anything to them.  All we can do is work with the tribes on how to best interpret them.  Again this is solely at the discretion of the tribe, remember what the Yakima tribe could do to the herd if they wanted?  These "secret" meetings that where held were open to public, the notes of which are available for anyone who asks.

O yea the purpose of the meeting?  The Yakima tribe basically told the state to f*^% off, and that they were going to do what they wanted to do with the herd, which by federal treaty the could.  There was alot of begging and pleading on our part.. about the only thing we could do.

So what can you do?  Contact your US rep or senator.  The US Government is the only one who can do anything about it.

Standard Disclaimer:  These are not the view of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.  These are the thoughts of one person written off the clock who works for WDFW.

[runamuk]

  Inside..... thank you for that input.

[MichaelJ]

Great to know WDFW... Interesting to see what we can get accomplished!

Michael