Free: Contests & Raffles.
I think that's the gist.If this state is truly in financial need, they should concentrate on their abundance of predators. Think how much money they could make selling wolf raffle tickets.
I think it has to stay permit only in spring, they are just too easy to find that time of year. That said they should open most if not all gmus to permit hunting. I have never heard a good reason why there is no spring season on the east slopes of the cascades.Since they don't announce spring bear until the previous years season is over they could really target harvest in areas where not enough bears were harvested the previous season. Spring seasons on the edge of winter ranges would really save a lot of fawns / calves as well.
I'm not really interested in the quality of bear hunting anyway, I'm interested in the management of predators in general and spring bear in particular.I'm not going to prioritize the 1/7 years that I have a Sherman bear tag over the mule deer, whitetail, elk, moose, and caribou
I have no idea why certain areas do not have spring bear opportunities (Monroe comes to mind as well as many others). A statewide spring season with different quotas in specific areas seems to make sense, as does a combination of a spring general season in some areas and a draw in others. Either of these would generate some quality revenue. All I know is that we seem to have too many bears ( and cougars & wolves) and not enough harvesting to control their numbers.