Should ALL general season Elk hunts be canceled in favor of permit only hunting?

[T Pearce]

 

[dscubame]

Each his own on a subject such as this and no need to feel compelled to convince others either way.  And permit Eastern Wa would be great.

Manage for quality rather than opportunity and have some beautiful majestic examples of Rocky's and Rosie's.  Non hunters would get increased enjoyment as well, with photo and viewing opportunities to mention a couple.

Makes a good deal of sense if you go down the rabbit hole far enough.

[blackveltbowhunter]

Theres plenty of area "managed" for quality. Take a drive through the ONP or RNP or any of the other "off limit" areas and theres plenty of specimens for viewing pleasure.

Im not against a statewide draw system from a fundamental standpoint. And think some areas need it badly. That said I do think managing for trophy hunting across the state is foolish, any big bull state AZ, UT,NV, alot of NM  that is managed for big bulls is not managed for the "average" hunter. I also have trouble supporting most ideas that place further restrictions to licensed tagholders, with out addressing  the other variables of tribal harvest and predators.

[buglebrush]

This is ridiculous.  If we want to actually help increase the herds we need to unite and put unrelenting pressure on WDFW to allow us to aggressively manage predators.  Don't allow them to take away more freedom, because their whole strategy is to make big money off permits while allowing predators to take our place in the woods.

[BUTTER]

From what I understand there will be a change of some magnitude in the next few years. Sounds like they are going to try and make it so we can only put in for one category of special permits. Also there is talk about getting rid of multi season permits. But all in all who knows what will happen. I personally hope we don't get rid of OTC general hunting. But I wouldn't be against maybe limiting a few more areas which in turn is kind of happening with the access permits from the timber companies pay to play it's becoming

[trophyhunt]

NO, NO, NO. You can't have this image of managing our deer and elk by permit only and have ideas of big bucks, bulls running all over the place on the east side...............UNTIL you get the tribes on the same page, end of discussion.   And they have no reason to sit down and talk with us, Yakama's have no limit to buck deer and bull elk they can kill, you tell me how the hell your going to get the mucks, yakamas and the colvilles to restrict their hunting by some of their bad apples???   Just blow up this thread, it's useless, it only gives wdfw ideas to restrict non native hunting.   

[bobcat]

We could have permit only elk hunting and still keep our harvest numbers the same in certain units. Where does this idea come from that permit only hunting is about creating trophy elk units? Permit only hunting would simply allow the WDFW to manage elk harvest by GMU, and on the east side would allow more permits for branch antlered bulls by eliminating the harvest of spikes that occurs during the general season. In the units that the Yakama tribe hunts, I agree, we should not substantially decrease our harvest of bull elk, but simply eliminate general spike only seasons so that we can increase our harvest of branch antler bulls.

And by the way, the Yakama tribe also has no limit to how many female deer and elk their members may kill. They do have a restriction though, they can only kill female deer and elk four months out of the year, whereas bucks and bulls can be killed 12 months.

[ribka]

NO, NO, NO. You can't have this image of managing our deer and elk by permit only and have ideas of big bucks, bulls running all over the place on the east side...............UNTIL you get the tribes on the same page, end of discussion.   And they have no reason to sit down and talk with us, Yakama's have no limit to buck deer and bull elk they can kill, you tell me how the hell your going to get the mucks, yakamas and the colvilles to restrict their hunting by some of their bad apples???   Just blow up this thread, it's useless, it only gives wdfw ideas to restrict non native hunting.   

It is really naive to think the tribes will come together to manage a natural resource if we go to permit only. Look at the tribal nets across the rivers where salmon and steelhead are trying to spawn. And  would be amazed at all the game waste by the tribes. Permit only would result in more big bulls and bucks for the tribes and lesser opportunities for the average hunter.

[ribka]

Take the tribal hunting  out of the equation and we could possibly discuss a system like in Utah or Arizona until then pointless. Look at the fishing opportunities the last 2 years. Have they improved for the average sportsmen or the tribe?

[trophyhunt]

NO, NO, NO. You can't have this image of managing our deer and elk by permit only and have ideas of big bucks, bulls running all over the place on the east side...............UNTIL you get the tribes on the same page, end of discussion.   And they have no reason to sit down and talk with us, Yakama's have no limit to buck deer and bull elk they can kill, you tell me how the hell your going to get the mucks, yakamas and the colvilles to restrict their hunting by some of their bad apples???   Just blow up this thread, it's useless, it only gives wdfw ideas to restrict non native hunting.   

It is really naive to think the tribes will come together to manage a natural resource if we go to permit only. Look at the tribal nets across the rivers where salmon and steelhead are trying to spawn. And  would be amazed at all the game waste by the tribes. Permit only would result in more big bulls and bucks for the tribes and lesser opportunities for the average hunter.

exactly, that what I'm saying. 

[Jpmiller]

I'm not in favor of draw only seasons but I keep seeing NV and UT being held up as examples of successes and I thought they had significant tribal hunting there as well? Am I misinformed or is something going on here that's not going on elsewhere?

[sumpnz]

I'm not in favor of draw only seasons but I keep seeing NV and UT being held up as examples of successes and I thought they had significant tribal hunting there as well? Am I misinformed or is something going on here that's not going on elsewhere?

I think the Boldt decision gives the tribes a vastly greater ability to do whatever they want here vs. those other states.  Both in terms of fishing and hunting.

Look at halibut fishing as one example.  Sport fishermen in Oregon and BC get WAY more days to fish halibut and are able to harvest more per person than WA.  It's the same populations of halibut.  Why do you think we get so screwed compared to them?  It's not just the tribes, but that is a big part of it.

[WAcoueshunter]

We could have permit only elk hunting and still keep our harvest numbers the same in certain units. Where does this idea come from that permit only hunting is about creating trophy elk units? Permit only hunting would simply allow the WDFW to manage elk harvest by GMU.

 

By itself, permit only doesn't mean you won't be able to hunt every year.  They can still manage for opportunity.  Heck, they could give 50,000 tags for the Colockum or Margret if they wanted, so you could still draw and hunt every year.  But it gives them a tool to spread out demand and better respond to the needs of an individual herd. 

[dscubame]

Now this thread is coming around.    

[JimmyHoffa]

Might get better spread of animals to all users than current resource allocation.