wdfw To slaughter mt saint helens elk herd

[bucklucky]

i think st helens will only get worse.there was some land sold to developers  just north of hwy 504. by all those little lakes.  i am not sure if anything has gone in yet , but i cant see it helping the elk.

You had to go and remind me annout that, that really pisses me off.

[bbarnes]

THEY have been developing on the south side for about 2 years now ,and by the sounds of things it going to get worse.There proposing a hotel like skaminia lodge off the 10 road,about 4000 acres to be exact.We were instrumental in getting the Columbia land trust,to buy the other 20,000 acres above swift creek.

[bucklucky]

Would you guys quit with all the great news 

[KillzElk]

What the heck is going on now Rally to slaughter Mt Saint Helens Elk Herd..

Went to Rally last year WOW over 5000 ATV's and people there it was amazing, I will be there...

So what the Blank or these clowns trying to do now?

Why do The Hunters get to hunt Federal land and we don't?
 
 ***I think everyone should have a opportunity to hunt the pumas plains at Mt Saint Helens we are all equal right?
 ***I think this is discriminating against all hunters why should 1280 people out of 277 thousand get all the opportunity's are they special have some VIP card?
 *** Lets talk about this I want to hear more of how we are about to get screwed Again on another issue...

WDFW Proposing to Kill 79 More Cow elk Annually Read it here, If you are ready to do something now is your chance.
Support of this petition Let them know what you think  Click Here   
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/wdfw-proposing-to-kill-79-more-cow-elk-annually-in-the-packwood-area

PRELIMINARY AGENDA Meeting Minutes
FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION MEETING
March 6-7, 2009
http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/meetings/2009/03/agenda_mar0609.html

If they want to slaughter Mt Saint Helens Elk Herd lets get are guns out ...   Oh sorry .. I think who is in charge needs to speak up , STOP hiding behind your desk, tell everyone what the real deal is .. Why, What, Who   

[SHANE(WA)]

79 cow elk is nothing

[jackelope]

wow....

[Guns4Fun]

What the heck is going on now Rally to slaughter Mt Saint Helens Elk Herd..

Went to Rally last year WOW over 5000 ATV's and people there it was amazing, I will be there...

So what the Blank or these clowns trying to do now?

Why do The Hunters get to hunt Federal land and we don't?
 
 ***I think everyone should have a opportunity to hunt the pumas plains at Mt Saint Helens we are all equal right?
 ***I think this is discriminating against all hunters why should 1280 people out of 277 thousand get all the opportunity's are they special have some VIP card?
 *** Lets talk about this I want to hear more of how we are about to get screwed Again on another issue...

WDFW Proposing to Kill 79 More Cow elk Annually Read it here, If you are ready to do something now is your chance.
Support of this petition Let them know what you think  Click Here   
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/wdfw-proposing-to-kill-79-more-cow-elk-annually-in-the-packwood-area

PRELIMINARY AGENDA Meeting Minutes
FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION MEETING
March 6-7, 2009
http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/meetings/2009/03/agenda_mar0609.html

If they want to slaughter Mt Saint Helens Elk Herd lets get are guns out ...   Oh sorry .. I think who is in charge needs to speak up , STOP hiding behind your desk, tell everyone what the real deal is .. Why, What, Who   

WTF??
So you are Pro ATV and Anti Hunting??

[180-GRAIN]

 I've hunted saint helens elk 14 years straight and there is not that many elk up there. Sure when you get down lower in the feeding stations and draw only areas there is a ton of elk because they are getting hand outs and are not pressured as much. So of course in winter your going to have die off in those areas because thats where all the elk go, they are not stupid they know where to find food. When you get that many elk in one area there is going to always be winter kill just like in other states and yep a few old elk starving to. I dont believe a couple winter killed elk justifies killing hundreds of elk off every year, do something else like transplanting in other parts of the state.

[bbarnes]

180 grain since you have been hunting st Helen's what units are you hunting in?Have you noticed the huge increase in tags over the last 3 years,in units not effected by starvation? But the units that have the problems they haven't increased tags.

[Buckrub]

Ok...here it is.
THE WDFW CREATES REVENUE FROM PERMITS AND PERMIT STYLE MANAGEMENT BASED ON REVENUE WILL NEVER WORK.

Why is the population to large for the habitat?
Could it be the wdfw tried to create a hunt that would sell thousands of permit applications for a small area.

Elk starving is not my idea of management and this permit system bs is catching up to the wdfw.

Why is the Margret different than Ryderwood?
Elk numbers are good in the Ryderwood and if the antler restriction were 5 point instead of 3 point you would have a much higher quality of hunt FOR ALL!

Permit hunts for revenue is not the same as permit hunts for management.....if the St. Helens herd permit system was truly management would elk be starving?

Just my $.02, I know plenty of you believe permit style management is the way to go but that is not how it works....it is about money.

I would rather pay more for a license and see the entire state go to five point or better and manage the herd with hunting days per unit/herd rather than permits.

Cow hunting should be controlled by permit for every weapon.

[lokidog]

I drew a Margaret archery tag back in 2001.  Tons of elk, bulls bugling everywhere, but little coming in as every raghorn three-point had four or five cows.  TOO MANY COWS!  There needs to be more cow tags.  This would actually increase the "trophy" bull hunt as they would be more aggressive as well as having healthier elk. 

It is a simple matter of biological processes, remove all trees, grass grows great, grass-eaters increase, new trees grow in and produce more shade, grass production goes down, food supply for grass eaters goes down, health of huge grass-eating population of animals (elk), goes down.  Solution - allow hunters to remove more cow elk.

And yes, I do have a BS in Zoology and Wldlife Ecology......

OR Bring wolves into the St. Helen's area.  Oh yeah, 

Seriously though, no hunter should have a problem with hunting being used to manage population levels to fit the habitat available.

As far as funding, we need to figure out more ways the wildlife watchers can help support the wildlife they "love".

[Buckrub]

Lokidog,
A classic example of how the wdfw has destroyed hunting in an effort to create permit sales.

The permits for Margerat or permit hunting in general are a failure to the herd and to the hunter.

[Snapshot]

Lokidog,

Your "biological processes" paragraph is right on the spot. Nature (in this case, the eruption) giveth, nature taketh away. Artificial feeding is not the solution. Increased predation is; and that is where we come in.

[CastleRocker]

i think st helens will only get worse.there was some land sold to developers  just north of hwy 504. by all those little lakes.  i am not sure if anything has gone in yet , but i cant see it helping the elk.

One more thing about this that really gets me going.  Do you know who the "developer" is that bought that 4100 acres from Weyerhaeuser? Does the name Cabela's ring a bell?  Yep, just like they did in Montana.  Bought a bunch of land, sold enough to show a profit and started charging a fee to hunt on the rest of it.  Don't think it won't happen up at the High Lakes.  They already sold a quarter of the land they bought and made enough to pay for the entire thing.  Only one step left.

Yes there are too many elk in the Loowit.  There are also too many in the Margret and Toutle.  As far as hoof-rot goes....they seem to get it when they spend all their time in pastures eating grass.  We have a herd behind our house that has it bad.  They spend nearly all their time in the fields.  Found 9 carcasses this past spring and summer, and it wasn't because there is too many for the habitat.  Their was 23 head in the herd this morning, and they have many square miles of lowland field, clearcuts, etc. to run on.  I'm no biologist, so I don't know why they are dying of hoof-rot down here, but they most certainly are.

The Toutle High School FFA used to help the WDFW up in the Loowit, but apparently no longer wants the extra bodies, as they are no longer "letting" them help with the tree planting, scotchbroom cutting, carcass counts in the spring, relocation set-ups, etc.  Guess our WDFW is so good they don't even need the help.  Too bad, the kids seemed to like it.

[lokidog]

WDFW could serve themselves (with permit $$) and the herd by allowing more cow permits.  They could even do a seperate cow season to keep the overall number of hunters down (quality hut with less people to see) during the bull hunts.

Even better would also be to split the unit as there is very little pressure from the north, east, or west sides.  I met all of the other 8 hunters in the field when I had my permit.  By spreading the hunting pressure in this area out they could also increase the number of bull permits while still maintaining a "trophy" quality hunt.

My   and then some.  

PS  Yeah, I'm glad Cabelas is here, not.  Now we have to pay sales tax as well as their high prices if we choose to shop there.