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

[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, the fact this topic is even discussed is a one sided view....and yes, this is a waste of discussion, great in theory but would be a failure in application. There would be zero cooperation in management with the Native American tribe/popluation, by their right and by our doing...Until both side can work together, waste of discussion.

exactly, waist of time.

[elksnout]

Lots of passion for this subject. I think that we all can agree that we all love to hunt elk. I have seen so many things go away that I took for granted since I started hunting in the early 70's. Makes me want to drop to my knees and cry like a little school girl. And I'll see more no doubt. Even as much as I love elk camp if I couldn't hunt elk each year I would use that vacation time and spend it hunting deer or hunt out of state ( which I already do ). At this point in my life it's more about the resource rather than my personnel gains and I want to leave behind something for my grandkids.

Elksnout

[snake]

Yes please, more regulation.   Cant believe there are people dumb enough to even entertain such an idea.

[Rainstorm Hunter]

I would never support making it permit only. I will admit that my group is somewhat successful, usually average one elk per year between 4 of us hunting rifle on the wetside. But killing an elk isn't the ultimate goal, it's time spent in the woods with my family that's important. As long as the herds aren't in danger from overhunting, (which they aren't in our area), then I see no reason to restrict hunting to permit draw 

[elksnout]

Yes please, more regulation.   Cant believe there are people dumb enough to even entertain such an idea.

So we as a group of sportsman on HW cannot even have a civil discussion without name calling? I should have known better...I've been following this subject since it started and finally wanted to add another perspective that hadn't been brought up. I mistakenly thought that my two cents was as valuable as others.  Shame on me Mr. Snake.  I bow to your vast knowledge and wisdom over us dumb people. Thanks for the encouragement. Over and out.

[buglebrush]

Lots of passion for this subject. I think that we all can agree that we all love to hunt elk. I have seen so many things go away that I took for granted since I started hunting in the early 70's. Makes me want to drop to my knees and cry like a little school girl. And I'll see more no doubt. Even as much as I love elk camp if I couldn't hunt elk each year I would use that vacation time and spend it hunting deer or hunt out of state ( which I already do ). At this point in my life it's more about the resource rather than my personnel gains and I want to leave behind something for my grandkids.

Elksnout

If you really care about the resource you should know that going permit only simply rewards WDFW with extra money while giving them a pass on their horrible management.  ( Predators, pressure increasing short seasons, etc...).  We need to address the real problems rather than give away more of our children's freedoms without actually doing anything to help. 

[jdb]

If this were about mule deer I would say absolutely 100% should have been done 5 years ago.  Elk on the other hand continue to thrive in this state.  There is ZERO reason to not have an otc season.

agreed

[Pinetar]

If this were about mule deer I would say absolutely 100% should have been done 5 years ago.  Elk on the other hand continue to thrive in this state.  There is ZERO reason to not have an otc season.

agreed

  Elk are doing great in Central WA, they should probably give more branch tags next season with all the spikes that made it through last season.

Don't know anything about Wetside or NE Elk.

[KFhunter]

I think we need a draw only in E/WA, especially in the 100 series GMU's.   

Antlerless Elk is mostly gone which is a good step (remove ALL anterless elk hunts) but lacking any predator control efforts     I'm not seeing the Elk I saw 3-4 years ago, especially not seeing the elk I saw 7 years ago 

[sumpnz]

I think we need a draw only in E/WA, especially in the 100 series GMU's.   

Antlerless Elk is mostly gone which is a good step (remove ALL anterless elk hunts) but lacking any predator control efforts     I'm not seeing the Elk I saw 3-4 years ago, especially not seeing the elk I saw 7 years ago 

Re: predator control - how much additional cougar (and coyote) would need to be removed to make a noticeable difference in deer and elk populations?  Double?  Quadruple?  How much are wolves really impacting deer/elk herds in WA right now?

I know some folks call for coyotes.  For cougar, if you wanted to try to bring them in, would you do similar calling?  Other than as a pure target of opportunity, how does one hunt cougar without dogs?

[Skyvalhunter]

I just found it interesting that WSU is going to do a study to see how wolves affect deer, etc. You cannot tell me that study hasn't been done before several times and we aren't just wasting out time and money to find out we already know the results.

[KFhunter]

Re: predator control - how much additional cougar (and coyote) would need to be removed to make a noticeable difference in deer and elk populations?  Double?  Quadruple?  How much are wolves really impacting deer/elk herds in WA right now?

I know some folks call for coyotes.  For cougar, if you wanted to try to bring them in, would you do similar calling?  Other than as a pure target of opportunity, how does one hunt cougar without dogs?

Cougar - They can be called in,  I've called 4 myself but due to setup errors on my part I haven't connected; I'm still fairly new to calling in cats but I'm getting a handle on it now. I think I've reached a point where I can be reasonably successful given the opportunity.  I planed to hunt this winter hard, but 101 and 105 reached their pathetic quota and closed Jan 1st.
GMU 113 stayed open but it's a bit of a drive.  We need to make cougar year round hunting, remove the quota's, and educate more hunters on bringing in cougars to vocals and distress sounds.  I prefer to hunt late winter but with 2-5 cougar quota's limits the opportunistic hunters are reaching the quota's before guys like me get out in later in the season to hit the winter deer ranges where the big cats converge.  Right now is prime cougar hunting and also when people are having the most conflict. 

Bear - Spring bear need to be OTC for a few years until their populations are brought down, it's not a super successful hunt in it's current form so I think the bear could withstand OTC spring tags for a while, when populations go down then reaccess.   WDFW doesn't react very fast so I would favor a 3-5 year spring OTC hunt then see how it's doing.

wolves - ya.

[snake]

Yes please, more regulation.   Cant believe there are people dumb enough to even entertain such an idea.

So we as a group of sportsman on HW cannot even have a civil discussion without name calling? I should have known better...I've been following this subject since it started and finally wanted to add another perspective that hadn't been brought up. I mistakenly thought that my two cents was as valuable as others.  Shame on me Mr. Snake.  I bow to your vast knowledge and wisdom over us dumb people. Thanks for the encouragement. Over and out.

Sorry snowflake,  don't over think it.  We don't need to go to a draw only.

[dscubame]

More name calling, real class.

[bobcat]

Yes please, more regulation.   Cant believe there are people dumb enough to even entertain such an idea.

So we as a group of sportsman on HW cannot even have a civil discussion without name calling? I should have known better...I've been following this subject since it started and finally wanted to add another perspective that hadn't been brought up. I mistakenly thought that my two cents was as valuable as others.  Shame on me Mr. Snake.  I bow to your vast knowledge and wisdom over us dumb people. Thanks for the encouragement. Over and out.

Sorry snowflake,  don't over think it.  We don't need to go to a draw only.

No, we don't NEED to, but it would allow for proper management of our state's elk, and it would make for much better hunting opportunities than what we have now. I'd actually start elk hunting in this state again if the WDFW would properly manage our elk herds using science rather than popular opinion.