Get ready for Washington State hunting licenses to skyrocket!!!!

[boneaddict]

I honestly think many are and are still harvesting game.   buying tags costs more than the fine if caught.

[h20hunter]

Fyi, regardless of how heated your opinion is profanity is not allowed. Feel free to repost any deleted comments without profanity.

[timberfaller]

Have no fear, according to WDFW the Methow herd is in great shape,  we need more wolves and grizzly bears and the purchase of more land is going great!!  KEEP buying those tags and licenses!! 

OH ya, don't forget we need to hire more "consultants"!!

[outdooraddict]

at this rate, before long it will be cheaper to take the chance at getting caught and paying the fine, rather then buy the tags and do it the right way

[Blacktail Sniper]

I think we have the right to see a list of budget expenditures.  I want to see where the cash is going exactly!!!  Pensions?  Wolf studies?  etc.  Let us see!!!  Cut the crap and prove why $ is needed...

You do and can, this is how if you are serious:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/public_disclosure/

[Humptulips]

I think we have the right to see a list of budget expenditures.  I want to see where the cash is going exactly!!!  Pensions?  Wolf studies?  etc.  Let us see!!!  Cut the crap and prove why $ is needed...

You do and can, this is how if you are serious:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/public_disclosure/

That is fine but in all honesty it does not get to the point of convincing sportsmen.
What people want is some kind of guide to see where the money goes. Big Tex has posted in the past where you could look at the budget but same problem. It is just so convoluted most don't get far until their eyes glaze over.
It is a difficult thing to ask because I know how complicated things get and how overlapped things are. Just in trapping which I keep an eye on I work with 4 different sections, soon to be 5 that have responsibilities involving trapping and these peoples jobs all overlap to other things so how much money is spent on the trapping program. Good question?
I do feel however DFW could put together a paper showing a little more in depth report on where the money goes short of a full analysis of the budget but better then the pie charts they put out. With that they need to show where the money comes from to pay for these programs. Again I know they have tried with the pie charts but I think that falls short.
In short they need to do a better job of selling this to the public.

[KB88]

I would rather take a year or two off, and go on a guided hunt out of state.

[Blacktail Sniper]

I think we have the right to see a list of budget expenditures.  I want to see where the cash is going exactly!!!  Pensions?  Wolf studies?  etc.  Let us see!!!  Cut the crap and prove why $ is needed...

You do and can, this is how if you are serious:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/public_disclosure/

That is fine but in all honesty it does not get to the point of convincing sportsmen.
What people want is some kind of guide to see where the money goes. Big Tex has posted in the past where you could look at the budget but same problem. It is just so convoluted most don't get far until their eyes glaze over.
It is a difficult thing to ask because I know how complicated things get and how overlapped things are. Just in trapping which I keep an eye on I work with 4 different sections, soon to be 5 that have responsibilities involving trapping and these peoples jobs all overlap to other things so how much money is spent on the trapping program. Good question?
I do feel however DFW could put together a paper showing a little more in depth report on where the money goes short of a full analysis of the budget but better then the pie charts they put out. With that they need to show where the money comes from to pay for these programs. Again I know they have tried with the pie charts but I think that falls short.
In short they need to do a better job of selling this to the public.

True, marketing and proper packaging can go a long way towards helping bring people on to your side.

I was just trying to help him by pointing him towards finding the information he was talking about, if he was really sincere about wanting to know those things.

At the very least, can get a better idea of what specific questions to follow-up with once you get the initial info from them.

Biggest challenge at times is knowing what the right questions are to ask are in order to get where you want to be. 

[ljsommer]

I would rather take a year or two off, and go on a guided hunt out of state.

I keep hearing good things about Idaho... road trip? =)

[Stein]

It's simple, we would just have to organize and show up in Olympia with pitchforks or don't buy a tag for a year.  Unfortunately, neither are likely.  With any other interest group, they organize and get what they need, with us, we just hope a few dudes don't buy next year so our odds of drawing go up.

Honestly, the fact that sportsmen don't run the show is pretty telling at how disorganized we are.

In Montana, if the hunting license goes up $3, every state legislator's phone is ringing off the hook and they fix it.

[KB88]

I would rather take a year or two off, and go on a guided hunt out of state.

I keep hearing good things about Idaho... road trip? =)

I drive to the se corner of the state already, may as well drive across the bridge...I’m down!

Unfortunately I don’t share wdfw’s opinion on saving the butterflies, turtles and wolves. We spend more money preserving animals than humans in this state

[bobcat]

https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/budget/development/

The department's proposals to avoid deep budget cuts and make targeted investments will total about $60 million.  In the current proposals, about two-thirds of the requests are identified as appropriate to be funded from the state general fund, while license fees would comprise the remaining third.

The department is exploring two concepts for recreational license fee increases:  either a 12-15 percent across-the-board increase on all license products, or a single annual $10 fee charged to each customer (with $3 fee charged for temporary licenses).  The final amount depends on the strategic investments and the amount provisioned by the state general fund.

The department's efforts now will be to refine the budget requests and align the fund sources and amounts based on feedback heard this summer.

 

I don't see the cost of licenses "skyrocketing." They are saying 12 to 15%. To me that would amount to roughly $30. I'll either cough up the extra money, or eliminate a couple things to help offset the extra cost. While I don't like having to pay more, I'm also not willing to give up hunting over a $30 increase.

[Bob33]

At the rate this is going, there will be more people hunting in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming than Washington...

[WSU]

Recreational fishers produce three-fourths of the fishing related jobs in Washington.  Recreational fishing creates over 11 times more economic value for the state than do commercial fisheries.  All this while commercial fisheries harvest far more of the finite resource than recreational fisheries do.  Someone is going to cry foul on the above, so here's the independent economic study: https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/pub.php?id=00464

If WDFW wants recreational folks to foot the bill, they need to prioritize the resource accordingly and give far more of the pie to recreational fishers.  If the commercials still want the bulk of the pie, they should pay the bulk of cost. 

[Stein]

Recreational fishers produce three-fourths of the fishing related jobs in Washington.  Recreational fishing creates over 11 times more economic value for the state than do commercial fisheries.  All this while commercial fisheries harvest far more of the finite resource than recreational fisheries do.  Someone is going to cry foul on the above, so here's the independent economic study: https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/pub.php?id=00464

If WDFW wants recreational folks to foot the bill, they need to prioritize the resource accordingly and give far more of the pie to recreational fishers.  If the commercials still want the bulk of the pie, they should pay the bulk of cost.

 

I would throw the non-fishing/hunting public in with them since they are the ultimate consumer of the fish.  It's pretty crazy that we pay the bill, the commercial fleet profits and much if not most of the fish ends up on an airplane somewhere so somebody can get quality stuff at a decent price (since they aren't paying the cost of managing the resource).

How about an initiative that says the WDFW commission is split by interest groups according to the percentage of revenue contributed with a minimum of a single seat for each interest group?  Call it "Protect our waters and woods" and it should pass.