New Archery Season

[longwalker]

There damn near all open for early archery

[bobcat]

There damn near all open for early archery

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Muzzleloader is the season that's lacking in GMU's open to hunt.

[D-Rock425]

I wouldn't say near all but a lot for sure.  9 units in the yakima heard and 3 of the 9 are closed.  Still a lot of open units.

[D-Rock425]

I lied 4 dont have early seasons.

[D-Rock425]

There damn near all open for early archery

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Muzzleloader is the season that's lacking in GMU's open to hunt.

i will agree that muzzy guys should get some more units.

[bobcat]

I lied 4 dont have early seasons.

I can only think of three- Cowiche, Umtanum, Little Naches. What's the other?

[D-Rock425]

Bethel.

[Rainier10]

No way would I want to give up the late season.

[dreamingbig]

Why the hesitation by folks to give up 15 crappy days in nov/dec for 13 more good ones in sep?


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[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

Yeah the late season is for guys who can't shoot.

[Todd_ID]

There's no need to give up either the days in early or late seasons, so don't plant that thought into anybody's minds at WDFW.     The simple fact is that 90% of the elk will always be killed by 10% of the hunters no matter the season dates.  Changes in early season dates have previously not affected harvest rates significantly, and I wouldn't expect the new season changes to be any different. 

If we had all of September like the rest of the states, then we'd simply have more hunters in archery because of the "better" season.  The allocation formula harvest rates would not change much, if any.  The 10% who are going to kill animals with a bow are already doing it, and the newcomers would start out as part of the 90% who get the 10% of the harvest.  We'd harvest more animals total, but it would be fine as far as equitable allocation because we'd have more available to harvest because we have more hunters in our user group.

[elk247]

I'd guess its because some guys gave a hard time getting time off in September. Might be even harder to get the whole month off. For the record  I'd take the 1-25th in a heartbeat! It does surprise me that the muzzy guys think they might have their season moved up to Oct. 3rd. I thought Oct 6th last year was about as early as it was going to get for the muzzy folks.

[BABackcountryBwhntr]

I did Idaho last year because the season was so bad for dates here. I had a blast, was talking to elk every day from the 16h on. I think there are enough places to go on National Forest land here on the west side that will get you away from the hoof rot thing. That mostly seems to be concentrated where cattle are more prevalent. If they make the 12th the opener, I will be staying here to hunt for sure.

our season dates were fine, we killed 2 bulls opening morning.

[BABackcountryBwhntr]

Im fine with the amount of days we have in the seasons seasons.  Who needs more than 4 days anyway 

It's not about needing more days to kill a bull it's about spreading out the hunters and the pressure over a longer period of time. Once you get the ego stuff out of the way you can objectively look at what makes for an all around better hunting season

just hunt more remote areas.. I have seen 3 hunters  the last 5 years combined... killed bulls every year in our group.

[elk247]

Have the east side general season guys noticed an increase in hunter pressure/numbers in the last 5 years?