Free: Contests & Raffles.
Be careful what you wish for! I know for me I didnt invest 20k dollars to MAYBE draw a tag and go hunting!!!I invested to go every year!Here is a problem that never gets addressed! Since when do you have to go out and shoot a 200" inch muley? You dont but everyone seems to want to change rules just so they can go shoot bigger and bigger and bigger deer! Its getting to the point where I just dont care to hear a score anymore! If we keep going the way were headed, hunting will only be a rich mans game. What a disgrace. No way will I ever agree to a draw only hunting.
It's pretty clear to me you are all wrong You fools keep thinking this is about the deer. This IS about the money.Just let multi season tags sink into your heads. It does the opposite of what you are all talking about. Adds people, adds pressure, adds harvest.
First of all I think last year more trophy mulies hit the dirt than I have seen ever. Limit opportunity this sounds anti hunting. Let's focus on non anti hunting proposals that improve hunting like predator management or tribal management.
Looks like I'm in the minority here.The only other state I've hunted is CA when I was stationed down there so my experience is limited. I've hunted more there than here due to being stationed there for quite a while and getting a late start hunting. I prefer CA seasons over WA seasons and they do big game hunting by permit. I saw less people in the woods (granted the good areas were crowded) and there was less pressure to harvest. If I saw something the first day I could pass on it because I knew I still had 3 months to hunt.I loved it because I could typically get two deer and hunt from Labor Day to New Years Day if I drew Modern and bought Archery OTC. Archery season was Labor Day for 44-ish days then it was modern for about 30-ish days (end of Oct to end of Nov) and then late archery season from Mid November to New Years Day. They set a quota per zone (GMU) for each season (archery, modern, ML, special permits). When I was there, for San Diego (A22/D16/M6/G13) it was about 1000 archery permits/3000 modern/80 ML/300 anterless. You submitted your application with 3 choices. After the draw the left over tags were OTC. After I left they started hauling in some huge bucks that had good food areas after the wildfires so A22 went to a premium zone and you couldn't get it as a second choice or OTC.
Hasn't deer hunting participation dropped 27% in this state since 2007.
QuoteHasn't deer hunting participation dropped 27% in this state since 2007.Year Hunters Harvest2007 139,241 32,9992008 144,514 35,118 2009 136,859 33,7782010 131,133 33,3912011 125,537 29,1542012 120,082 33,9172013 123,928 33,6572014 120,488 35,216
Hasn't deer hunting participation dropped 27% in this state since 2007. Making hunting in this state more difficult will likely reduce that participation even further. I see no benefit to our hunting heritage by going permit only. Look at the states that have done this already. Sure the buck quality increases, but we lose our youth hunters, we lose participation and in large part we lose our voting strength. I haven't seen any case where it has been beneficial to the states or the future of hunting in those states. But heck, I might shoot a bigger buck, so who cares if your kids are the last generation of American hunters! It's all about the me and now, right?
Oops, I must have pulled the "Tags Purchased" number from 2007. I apologies. Still shows a decrees in participation. Increasing that rate of decline is dangerous, IMO.
So...it seems like every day I read on here how someone is going to quit hunting in Washington. I read about people who live in Washington "pledging" to recommit to hunting here, where they live. It makes no sense to me that you wouldn't hunt where you live. Anyway, my point is what needs to be done to get those people back and happy about hunting here in Washington. So, what's it going to take??
Year Hunters Harvest1997 134,199 28,0622000 149,971 37,411 2007 139,241 32,9992008 144,514 35,118 2009 136,859 33,7782010 131,133 33,3912011 125,537 29,1542012 120,082 33,9172013 123,928 33,6572014 120,488 35,216