Washington moose Gov tag 2018

[X-Force]

Is it me or did wdfw open up a bunch of new areas for the auction moose permit?
215, 218, 224, 233, 239...

Does this mean they will open up some new moose units this year?

https://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/permits/raffles/bighorn_mountain_goat_moose_auction_raffle_herds_2018_wdfw.pdf

[jackelope]

I think at least some of them were open last year.
  Can't recall to say for sure.

Negative...those are new this year.

[Pathfinder101]

That would be nice

[Tbar]

I think at least some of them were open last year.
  Can't recall to say for sure.

Negative...those are new this year.

They were open last year.  There was a harvest there.

[jackelope]

Yeah...just re-read my message from a buddy. Was new as of last year.
 

[Bob33]

I don't see them listed as being open laat year.

[jackelope]

I don't see them listed as being open laat year.

They were only open for the auction tags

[grundy53]

Hopefully they start putting out permits for those areas. The moose in my avatar is from one of those units.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[X-Force]

I think at least some of them were open last year.
  Can't recall to say for sure.

Negative...those are new this year.

They were open last year.  There was a harvest there.

Any photo of the bull?

[hunterofelk]

Again, the rich hunter gets the privilege.  Sorry to be cynical, I think some animals should be  off limits if the average hunter can't hunt them.  In the fall of 2015, in the area we deer hunt, we saw many moose.   We called it the year of the moose.  Maybe so many moved in because of some wildfires that late summer.  I don't know if it is the same one from grundy53 avatar, but one big, old bull was very visible to just about everyone hunting there.  Big for a shiras.  My guess word got out and next bidder had to kill it so a little nudging and a little dangling of dollars and those units where opened.
I was at an auction in Bellevue and the moose tag was on the list.  Someone said it wouldn't go for much because the dollar amount for successful bid could get you a moose hunt in Canada or Alaska where an average mature bull is bigger.

[huntnphool]

Again, the rich hunter gets the privilege.  Sorry to be cynical, I think some animals should be able off limits if the average hunter can't hunt them.  In the fall of 2015, in the area we deer hunt, we saw many moose.   We called it the year of the moose.  Maybe so many moved in because of some wildfires that late summer.  I don't know if it is the same one from grundy53 avatar, but one big, old bull was very visible to just about everyone hunting there.  Big for a shiras.  My guess word got out and next bidder had to kill it so a little nudging and a little dangling of dollars and those units where opened.
I was at an auction in Bellevue and the moose tag was on the list.  Someone said it wouldn't go for much because the dollar amount for successful bid could get you a moose hunt in Canada or Alaska where an average mature bull is bigger.

 Some of the bidders/winners are not necessarily doing it because they are focused on getting the biggest bull/buck out there, but rather for the ability to be able to go hunt anytime, most anywhere they want.

 Can you imagine being able to take 2 days here, 3 days there, grab your gear and go......today to unit 101......maybe tomorrow 224.......maybe next week 117.

 There is more appeal to those tags than antler size for a lot of these guys.

[bearpaw]

Again, the rich hunter gets the privilege.  Sorry to be cynical, I think some animals should be able off limits if the average hunter can't hunt them.  In the fall of 2015, in the area we deer hunt, we saw many moose.   We called it the year of the moose.  Maybe so many moved in because of some wildfires that late summer.  I don't know if it is the same one from grundy53 avatar, but one big, old bull was very visible to just about everyone hunting there.  Big for a shiras.  My guess word got out and next bidder had to kill it so a little nudging and a little dangling of dollars and those units where opened.
I was at an auction in Bellevue and the moose tag was on the list.  Someone said it wouldn't go for much because the dollar amount for successful bid could get you a moose hunt in Canada or Alaska where an average mature bull is bigger.

 Some of the bidders/winners are not necessarily doing it because they are focused on getting the biggest bull/buck out there, but rather for the ability to be able to go hunt anytime, most anywhere they want.

 Can you imagine being able to take 2 days here, 3 days there, grab your gear and go......today to unit 101......maybe tomorrow 224.......maybe next week 117.

 There is more appeal to those tags than antler size for a lot of these guys.

  And just to be able to go hunt a moose in WA, many of us will never draw a tag in our lifetime.

[jackelope]

Again, the rich hunter gets the privilege.  Sorry to be cynical, I think some animals should be able off limits if the average hunter can't hunt them.  In the fall of 2015, in the area we deer hunt, we saw many moose.   We called it the year of the moose.  Maybe so many moved in because of some wildfires that late summer.  I don't know if it is the same one from grundy53 avatar, but one big, old bull was very visible to just about everyone hunting there.  Big for a shiras.  My guess word got out and next bidder had to kill it so a little nudging and a little dangling of dollars and those units where opened.
I was at an auction in Bellevue and the moose tag was on the list.  Someone said it wouldn't go for much because the dollar amount for successful bid could get you a moose hunt in Canada or Alaska where an average mature bull is bigger.

I know the guy who worked to get those units opened up. I will tell you with 100% certainty that it had nothing to do with money. Had everything to do with more hunter opportunity. The auction money goes to the species so the moose populations in WA will benefit from the money these auctions raise.
In terms of moose here vs. Canada or Alaska, I'm not sure what you heard was accurate either. That or the person saying it maybe wasn't too familiar with moose. You're talking about 2 different subspecies of moose. It's like saying you shouldn't hunt Coues whitetails because there are huge whitetail bucks in Iowa. If you want a big Shiras bull, Washington has some of the biggest Shiras bulls in the country. The mountain goat tag sold here for ~$25k. You can do a couple BC mountain goat hunts for that money and hunt the biggest goats in the world. These guys have more reasons than just killing giant animals when buying these tags.

 

[bobcat]

So how exactly do moose benefit from the money raised?

[jackelope]

So how exactly do moose benefit from the money raised?

Don't know and don't have the time to figure it out. Just mentioning what is stated here:
https://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/permits/raffles/faq.html