328 - 329 True Spike Question

[camanofishn]

Just asking, any ideas how long the game department will keep the true spike law on the books?  Rumor is that this is the last year for the "true spike", not sure how true the rumor is.  I find it hard to identify a true spike when they are running.

Wondering how many Elk are killed that are not legal? It's a shame to waste any Elk.

From all of the hunting camps I saw during the general season the state continues to sell many tags.  I suspect that they will not change the law true spike law until the Elk tag sales decline. 

Your thoughts?

[steeleywhopper]

Biggest crock of crap rule ever put on us hunters. Hopefully they dump the rule soon.

[time2hunt]

 But tell if this was not the best year in a long time for seeing multiple branched bulls in the herds


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[Bullmoose]

It has been nice seeing Cows and calves and large bulls

[JJJ]

I was on the Colockum road Sat. 11/4.... Three game warden pickups were driving out with a large bull in the 2nd truck. I couldn't tell how large, but could see his last two points sticking out of the bed of the pickup.-- They were both at least 10" long.... On the same day, I talked with another game warden on the Naneum ridge road, and he said they were investigating TEN different cases involving illegal bull kills; mainly 1x2's--- The true spike rule needs to go away; it seems like people are not identifying the elk properly, and hoping that its a true spike on the other antler, or......-- Regardless, there's 10 bulls that WE KNOW OF killed.

[vandeman17]

The spike rule is frustrating enough, and the true spike is just a little over the top. In a perfect world, it would be ok for a certain time frame if they truly felt it would improve herd health. The problem is, like stated, how many "hunters" out there shoot first and verify second. The elk that go to waste far outweighs the perceived benefits. 

[kball4]

We talked to a guy who had the time to count 158 head of elk 2 spikes only 1 true spike in the herd, on the south end of Colockum. 1/158 is not good odds. 

[BreezyBear]

The Colockum is definitely in need of a new elk management plan........but time2hunt is absolutely correct, plenty of big bulls around this year!

[Moe the Sleaze]

I was in 328, saw a group of 50 at 40 yards, one 3-point and 49 cows.  Saw a group of 30 not in shooting range, two 3-points and 28 cows.  I only heard of ONE true spike being shot.

I continue to feel that hunting the 328 with true spike in place and no cow tag SUCKS.

Face it, anything "general" sucks anymore.

[yakimanoob]

I've never been able to figure out the logic in the spike-only rule, except to simply reduce total harvest.  I don't really know the right answer though.

I can't accept the idea that since people don't follow the rules, we should dump the rules.  That seems nuts to me.  If we may it 3pt or better, we'll be telling stories of people shooting spikes.  If we make it any bull, I imagine we'll see a big drop in herd numbers. 

[Rainier10]

So the solution to a few people shooting 1x2's and getting ticketed or letting them waste is to open it up to everyone to shoot 1x2's?  With that logic we should open up hunting year round because the poachers are doing it.

I will say with the true spike rule in place I am seeing way more mature bulls in my area.

For my early archery bull hunt I was working a heard of 100 cows and 13 5pt or better bulls.  On the last day of the hunt I was in a herd of 200 elk and I counted 29 6x6 bulls go over the ridge.

When I was out the second weekend of muzzy season with my daughter we kept bumping solo bulls, they had left the cows already by the second weekend.

[GreggHunts2hard4u]

I talked to a Sergeant in the wind farm, brought up how long true spike will continue. Heck of a nice guy weve seen our fair share of Sergeants up there over the years. He explained that its up to the biologist that fly around and do their counts and if they dont see what they want they keep true spike and decide whether or not to give archer's free reign on cows or give out cow permits to the rifle hunters. Where we were camped for the season, we saw no sign of elk sat-tues. Wed and thurs we were into 200+ both days in our area i was close quarters pursuing a herd of 100+ that had a few small branched bulls and atleast 1 true spike which i sucessfully harvested after 16yrs of hunting my area hard and learning the area and where the elk tend to be. Its a tough area to hunt ive had a lot of years of discouraging years. The constant hunting pressure from September 1st till modern opener is pretty rough on the elk herd, they get no break. I personally saw 6 true spikes including mine that were hanging from meat poles over 7 days straight up there. Then only a couple of cows when we left Friday at noon. I gave up hoping it'll change from True Spike years ago.  It is what it is but its the biologist that decide what we get to hunt

[GreggHunts2hard4u]

According to wdfw officers ive talked with, true spikes aren't breeder bulls. They say the branched bulls are more likely to try to breed than the baby true spikes.  makes sense to me. Either way if we conserve the bulls they will be killed by the natives no matter what because their ancestors killed them many moons ago up there. Lets manage the herd by allowing the natives to only harvest cows and our bull to cow ratio will be golden in a few years

[bowhunterforever]

Tagging

[time2hunt]

Is the true spike is working perfectly the answer is no. But look at the bright side that unit went from 3-5 big bull tags a year to 21-23 tags a year so the system is working on getting the carry over they need.


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