Spike only units

[Jimmy33]

You liberal Washington hunters have got it all wrong. I feel sorry for you.


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[jackelope]

You liberal Washington hunters have got it all wrong. I feel sorry for you.


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Great post. Thanks for contributing.

[Jimmy33]

Jackelope....I've been posting great posts, it's a logical conclusion that I've come up with. Do you have a different conclusion? It's the liberalism that we have in this state that contributes to this line of thinking and the willingness to allow the government to control our lives.


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[JLS]

Vote for Hilary and continue to shoot spikes. I'm certainly not.

WTF does political affiliation have to do with elk management?  It's pretty hard to take you very seriously when you try to draw these parallels.

All that said, you raise some valid points yet you miss some.

I agree that Washington could certain expand its bear hunting opportunities.  Interestingly enough though, Oregon allows spring bear as an OTC hunt but issues special permits for fall bears.  I would be interested to see how their harvest rates compare to ours.  Do we have east side units that could support two bears per year?  I think so, but I'm not overly convinced that we could boost bear harvest numbers much above where they are at right now.

Which further begs the question, how much bang for your buck is there if bear harvest WERE to increase?  I don't know the answer, but I think some folks might be disappointed.

I can remember the days before spike only.  I think it has done great things for improving the bull:cow ratios.  I DO think that a trophy mentality has become entrenched in the state's elk management that is limiting opportunity.  We certainly could go to a 4 or 5 point minimum on elk that would allow much more opportunity.  Special permits would become essentially meaningless (fine with me), and trophy quality would plummet (also fine with me). 

The real question here is could you do this and maintain bull:cow ratios?  I think it would be a close call here.  It might not be something you could pull off unit wide.  Maybe in the harder to access units like the Wenaha, Mountain View, Tucannon?

Be careful not to overlook the effect that agricultural interests have in limiting elk opportunity.  Much of north central Washington could support a LOT of elk, but it wouldn't be very compatible with vineyards and orchards.  All you need to do is look to the feed grounds around Yakima to see how limiting the agricultural community is to elk in Washington.  I don't really think this aspect could/should change either, it is what it is.

The best thing Washington could do for elk hunting is to really focus on the access issue with west side timber companies, because this is going to shift pressure to an already over-burdened east side.  Eastern Washington has some great elk habitat, but it pales in comparison to Idaho, or Oregon for that matter in terms of quantity and continuity.

[jackelope]

Jackelope....I've been posting great posts, it's a logical conclusion that I've come up with. Do you have a different conclusion? It's the liberalism that we have in this state that contributes to this line of thinking and the willingness to allow the government to control our lives.


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How's about sound management practices? Or we could just eliminate any sense of quality bull elk hunting we have here and kill them all.  Enjoy the raghorns 4x3 Bulls. Should be plenty of them.  A better permit system would be a start. Open season on branch antlered bulls across the Eastside is just asking for herd decimation.

[jackelope]

PS I'm with you regarding the Bears. Plenty of bears here for open spring seasons.

[JLS]

How's about sound management practices? Or we could just eliminate any sense of quality bull elk hunting we have here and kill them all.  Enjoy the raghorns 4x3 Bulls. Should be plenty of them.  A better permit system would be a start. Open season on branch antlered bulls across the Eastside is just asking for herd decimation.

It wouldn't necessarily decimate them, but your right in that you would see primarily raghorns.  Big bulls would be a 280-290 6 point that is 3-4 years old, for the most part.  Is this bad?  I don't necessarily think so.

At the very minimum we should be issuing more permits.  When 370-390 bulls are the expectation, I think you have really reached a point of diminishing returns when balancing opportunity vs. quality.

[jackelope]

I don't need 380 bulls. I do want something to look forward to though when it takes 10-20 years to draw a quality permit. If I want 270" bulls I'll just hunt the westside. Not sure if I would find them there either but at least I don't have to wait 15 years to draw. 

[bobcat]

I really dislike the spike only seasons. My preference would be to do away with all general elk seasons and go to either a permit only elk hunting or over the counter tags with a quota per GMU, or region. This state just has too many people and not enough elk to allow for the unlimited elk tags that we now have, in my opinion.

[Jimmy33]

We will just agree to disagree


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[Jonathan_S]

Jonathan...all you're trying to do is making this about something it's not. Oh by the way, my game packages were done by me not some butcher I take my meat in to. This whole discussion is about freedoms we legitimately should have. Bugle brush....absolutely we should have an OTC spring bear hunt. Or do you guys also believe what the state tells you that we don't have enough bears? I will say it again, you guys who think we don't have an elk population in Washington that supports OTC branch antlered hunting trust their government too much and roll over way too easily. Vote for Hilary and continue to shoot spikes. I'm certainly not.


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I wrapped that myself too. It's called a stamp and anybody can buy and operate one.

I agree about OTC Spring Bear.

[Jimmy33]

I have to apologize as I was just driving home from a week of hanging out with family fishing and it appears that I have been a major menacing contributor to this post. It comes as a surprise to me because I hadn't commented anything personally but it appears that some family members, being the jokesters that hey are, had. I apologize for their comments and won't be letting anyone watch "videos" on my phone during get togethers again. Again, I apologize.
Jimmy33


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[Don_D]

I have to apologize as I was just driving home from a week of hanging out with family fishing and it appears that I have been a major menacing contributor to this post. It comes as a surprise to me because I hadn't commented anything personally but it appears that some family members, being the jokesters that hey are, had. I apologize for their comments and won't be letting anyone watch "videos" on my phone during get togethers again. Again, I apologize.
Jimmy33


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I was thinking about asking a mod to lock this dang thing lol. Didn't mean to open such a huge can of worms, I certainly know better now.

It's funny though, I have been going through the Elk University online course and WA is the only state of all the Elk hunting states where he basically tells people (mainly out of staters I think) not to bother as they have other and better options available to them. I guess that says it all there.

I think that next year I may try the wet side for a change of pace if I don't draw anything. Putting some meat on the table would be good and if I can up my chances of doing that I should do it. Plus it's closer to home so more time in the woods.

[hughjorgan]

I have to apologize as I was just driving home from a week of hanging out with family fishing and it appears that I have been a major menacing contributor to this post. It comes as a surprise to me because I hadn't commented anything personally but it appears that some family members, being the jokesters that hey are, had. I apologize for their comments and won't be letting anyone watch "videos" on my phone during get togethers again. Again, I apologize.
Jimmy33


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I was thinking about asking a mod to lock this dang thing lol. Didn't mean to open such a huge can of worms, I certainly know better now.

It's funny though, I have been going through the Elk University online course and WA is the only state of all the Elk hunting states where he basically tells people (mainly out of staters I think) not to bother as they have other and better options available to them. I guess that says it all there.

I think that next year I may try the wet side for a change of pace if I don't draw anything. Putting some meat on the table would be good and if I can up my chances of doing that I should do it. Plus it's closer to home so more time in the woods.

To draw a tag on the eastside means you have an eastside tag, they won't let you switch tags after the fact... Plus the Westside has lots of private and it is now pay to play on most of it. Buy your tags and permit for a tree farm and you could probably hunt out of state at that point for how much it costs.

[Jimmy33]

That's how I found out. I looked in messages and noticed one of the moderators had already been "contacted" by me sometime yesterday. It is kind of funny except for I'm not sure how many people have read all the very tactful comments I made.


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