Baiting on the chopping block

[jasnt]

Baiting: no new "rules" but a set of proper baiting guidelines might help educate hunters on some of the problems bad practices can create.  An education campaign.  Real messes probably could be charged with something already on the books.

Tags/Draw: I would like to be able to transfer a special tag to a youth and also expand youth to age 18 or 19.  The kids only have a couple years to be classified as youth.  People have proposed restrictions on an age that is too young to hunt, and are encouraging kids to wait until 14 to hunt, so the window of youth opportunity is small since by 16 they are "adults". With school most kids can only hunt weekends or a "sick" day anyway.  My kid at 17 has been an adult hunter for a couple years now!  With timber company permits required at age 18 and adult license/tags at 16 you can see why we are loosing hunters.   Spouse Drew a late buck tag that would have been great to transfer to one of the kids.  Opportunity at a nice late buck could have made them hunters for life.

i support that!

[pianoman9701]

I have never baited and don't think that the baiting regulations should change at all. I like the idea of an education campaign to make sure hunters are doing right by the environment.

I have no opinion on changing the draw system. I rarely participate in special draws and am not familiar enough to make changes.

[westsidehntr]

Baiting: no new "rules" but a set of proper baiting guidelines might help educate hunters on some of the problems bad practices can create.  An education campaign.  Real messes probably could be charged with something already on the books.

Tags/Draw: I would like to be able to transfer a special tag to a youth and also expand youth to age 18 or 19.  The kids only have a couple years to be classified as youth.  People have proposed restrictions on an age that is too young to hunt, and are encouraging kids to wait until 14 to hunt, so the window of youth opportunity is small since by 16 they are "adults". With school most kids can only hunt weekends or a "sick" day anyway.  My kid at 17 has been an adult hunter for a couple years now!  With timber company permits required at age 18 and adult license/tags at 16 you can see why we are loosing hunters.   Spouse Drew a late buck tag that would have been great to transfer to one of the kids.  Opportunity at a nice late buck could have made them hunters for life.

I don't support tag transfer. You could potentially have multiple applications that would all be for one persons tag.

[buglebrush]

Baiting is a fabulous way to start a youngster of with success.  Don't limit other's freedom just because you choose not to participate.

Success maybe? But does baiting teach a kid the life long skills of actual hunting?

The main concern of baiting is the spread of desease.

This kind of comment makes me laugh every time.  So exactly who is it that decides what "actual hunting" is?  You?   

Different strokes for different folks just because you don't agree with another style of hunting doesn't make that style wrong.  Let others hunt in the style they want, lawfully of course.
Too darn many people thinking they need to tell others how and what to do these days IMHO.

To be clear.  I've never baited myself.  However, I have a 9 year old I am planning to use bait for next year.  It is very very important to get a youngster to have early success.  I will definitely be teaching them spot and stalk, etc... too.  As I said I have never put out or hunted over bait, but why would I limit others ability to do so just because I don't personally like to hunt that way?  I suppose if you were a fly fisherman you would be in favor of eliminating bobber and worm?

[Bango skank]

So that meeting was today, yes?

[winshooter88]

Yes the meeting was on Saturday.

Baiting was discussed but no definite recommendations were made, there will be another subcommittee meeting and a conference call before the commission meeting in March in Moses Lake.

Since this thread was also discussing preference or bonus points, you might be interested in what was talked about, the idea of setting a percentage of tags aside for high point holders was discussed and what the research shows is that it really would not solve anything. There are to many people with lots of points for any long term benefits, the pool would just keep getting bigger each year and it would also be unfair to the rest of the applicants since it would reduce their chances of drawing a tag. The only way to improve draw odds is to have more tags available and that only happens if the are more animals available in the herds, so no action was taken.

We got an update on wolves and the new pack in Okanogan county.

And we heard an update on the WDFW budget, and Pittman-Robertson funds, nothing really new.

Talked about the cougar quotas and what happened, It was changed by request of the governor supposedly due to a procedural error and they are working on righting the problem, but at this time there is no change in the adjusted quota till 1/1/2016.

We talked about vehicle killed wildlife salvage and possible rules that might allow that in the future for certain species.

And we had an update on hoof disease research, nothing major to report on that front.

We also heard a little about the plans to make the website for WDFW more accessible for everyone.

And an update on sage and sharp-tailed grouse.

[boneaddict]

Thanks for the update Winshooter

[Skyvalhunter]

Thanks for the info

[lokidog]

Thanks for the info

 

[Wacenturion]

Yes the meeting was on Saturday.

Baiting was discussed but no definite recommendations were made, there will be another subcommittee meeting and a conference call before the commission meeting in March in Moses Lake.

Since this thread was also discussing preference or bonus points, you might be interested in what was talked about, the idea of setting a percentage of tags aside for high point holders was discussed and what the research shows is that it really would not solve anything. There are to many people with lots of points for any long term benefits, the pool would just keep getting bigger each year and it would also be unfair to the rest of the applicants since it would reduce their chances of drawing a tag. The only way to improve draw odds is to have more tags available and that only happens if the are more animals available in the herds, so no action was taken.

We got an update on wolves and the new pack in Okanogan county.

And we heard an update on the WDFW budget, and Pittman-Robertson funds, nothing really new.

Talked about the cougar quotas and what happened, It was changed by request of the governor supposedly due to a procedural error and they are working on righting the problem, but at this time there is no change in the adjusted quota till 1/1/2016.

We talked about vehicle killed wildlife salvage and possible rules that might allow that in the future for certain species.

And we had an update on hoof disease research, nothing major to report on that front.

We also heard a little about the plans to make the website for WDFW more accessible for everyone.

And an update on sage and sharp-tailed grouse.

Or......limit applications to one choice, the one hunt you actually prefer to draw in permit drawings.  You reduce the total number of applicants theoretically by as much as 75% if everyone now puts in for four choices.  The reason for so many applicants is that the same initial applicants are added back into the pool another three times again without any additional tags.

Perhaps that individual with a high point total might just draw his or her dream moose, elk or sheep hunt if he wasn't competing with an additional 75% in the hopper.

Food for thought.............

[Rainier10]

Thanks for the update.  Hopefully no change will be made to baiting, I just hate to see any more restrictions without back up that there is an issue with overharvest or impact on herd health.

Points system is a mess, hopefully they don't change that as I think they would only make it more difficult.  More animals is the only way to get more tags and more opportunity.  Until then it is what it is.

Thanks again for the update.

[724wd]

From Ren via the WSAA facebook page:

AS many of you know I am the GMAC rep, and baiting has become a hot issue over the past few years. The move to outlaw this, as they did hound hunting is on. Whether you bait or not, or consider it ethical or not, this is the "enviros' or anti hunters taking steps to slowly erode our hunting. I am also on the committee that was working as directed by a commissioner (Mr. Kehne) to come up with options to a new baiting rule, or to seek a compromise. Just when we thought a common sense compromise was going to be reached, a measure to just limit the amount of bait at each bait site, the anti's decided to send out an email to everyone on the committee stating we needed to start over and push for an outright ban on all baiting. I have responded to that email, and replied to the whole committee that I no longer could support any compromise, that if the group started over to even consider outright banning, then the discussion was over. So what I am asking here from those of you who hunt or support hunting in our State to please call, email and make phone calls to the Wildlife Commission and let them know you are against any new regulations that would take away from our hunting heritage. We must stop this now, as I said this is another step towards taking away hunting in our state. Here is contact info:

Mailing Address
600 Capitol Way N.
Olympia, WA 98501-1091

Phone: 360-902-2267
Fax: 360-902-2448
commission@dfw.wa.gov

Bradley Smith, Ph.D., Chair
Larry Carpenter, Vice Chair

http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/members.html

[pianoman9701]

Called and left a detailed message with Tammy.

[Jonathan_S]

Email sent

[lokidog]

Email sent:

There is no documented negative impact on the health of Washington's deer or elk herds due to the use of baiting techniques. 

Many of Washington's hunters are limited to hunting on small pieces of private land and baiting can be an effective technique to help these hunters ensure quick ethical harvests while not disturbing their neighbors.

Please consider the scientific/logical arguments over the emotional rhetoric of the anti hunting crowd that has no vested interest in the tradition of harvesting high quality natural food from Washington's abundant resources.

Do not support a baiting ban!

Thank you,