Suggestions for the new WDFW director Susewind

[Special T]

We have a New Director as of Aug 1st and I think you guys are a great brainstorming resource. Since most sportsmen are unwilling to agree to a 5% proposed price hike with out increased opportunity...  Here is the question...

What specific, tangible changes would you encourage the New Director to make or pursue that could convince you to sign off a price hike? Perhaps it can Happen in Short order perhaps not. Extra style points awarded for easily executed changes that should have already been done for the list of reasons you provide.

Now before you guys start spewing stuff like start issuing wolf tags, which we would all love but aint going to happen, i will give one ive been yammering on.  Change the Waterfowl bag limit on Mergansers to a separate limit. 2, 4,6 dont matter to me... the down side is this is likely a longer term project as it requires a bunch of states to agree and involves the feds.

Brain Storm away!

[idahohuntr]

Focus heavily on improving hunting access.  It is so critical to retention, recruitment and the future of hunting it should be the highest priority program in WDFW. 

Some specifics:
1. Get rid of the hunt by permission scam...and any loopholes that allow people to enroll in programs that don't actually give average sportsmen much benefit.     
2. Substantially increase funding to pay for access agreements.  Prioritize long term agreements to large land tracts.
3. Incentivize landowners to provide access...tax breaks, habitat work, patrols, maybe even limited numbers of tags.
4.  Setup a committee of sportsmen to prioritize how access funding is spent.

Frankly, if wdfw said they needed 30 million to open up all the private western wa timberlands and a bunch of other areas in this state, I'd drive to Olympia to advocate on their behalf.  30 million to pay a bunch of wolf facilitators, management positions etc...they can pound sand.

[Alan K]

Remove cougar quotas.
Year around cougar seasons.
April 1 - November 30th general bear season (west side anyway, don't know that it'd work on the east side).

I don't want to see increased opportunity in the form of longer seasons etc. I want to see it in the form or predator reduction which will in turn boost game populations and increase success rate.  Additional success on top of continually declining populations doesn't help anything.

[HntnFsh]

Stand up to the tribes. Skoks come to mind. WDFW has a hatchery that feeds the Skok river but the Skoks lay claim to the river and I see them run nets all the way across it within 100 yards of the hatchery. And I don't even fish it!

[JimmyHoffa]

Year round cougar and bobcat, no tags (like coyotes).  Year round bear.

[GBoyd]

Here's an easy one: year round rabbits.

We can hunt them year round in Oregon and it's not like they all get shot out. Hunting is best in June when all the really stupid ones are hopping around and are the perfect age for eating. They're good introductory game and perfect for kids, but I'm definitely not going out for them during Washington's season because there's too many other things to hunt at that time of year.

[Special T]

Here's an easy one: year round rabbits.

We can hunt them year round in Oregon and it's not like they all get shot out. Hunting is best in June when all the really stupid ones are hopping around and are the perfect age for eating. They're good introductory game and perfect for kids, but I'm definitely not going out for them during Washington's season because there's too many other things to hunt at that time of year.

Please expand on your experience in Oregon... We dont have the jackrabbits like Easter Oregon has... Certainly not in any numbers that ive heard of...

[CAMPMEAT]

I thought some of you thought Unsworthlessness was the cats meow. I told you he was a wolf lover from Idaho........

[Dhoey07]

OTC spring bear
Remove cougar quotas
Restrict second deer/elk tags to private lands only.
Ban gill netting for everyone
Stop rotetone-ing lakes
Make commercial pay for their enforcement

[GBoyd]

Here's an easy one: year round rabbits.

We can hunt them year round in Oregon and it's not like they all get shot out. Hunting is best in June when all the really stupid ones are hopping around and are the perfect age for eating. They're good introductory game and perfect for kids, but I'm definitely not going out for them during Washington's season because there's too many other things to hunt at that time of year.

Please expand on your experience in Oregon... We dont have the jackrabbits like Easter Oregon has... Certainly not in any numbers that ive heard of...

I don't do the jackrabbit shoots, but we have a good and stable population of cottontails over the whole state. I can't think of any reason that Washington would need a closed season. I believe that rabbits are able to withstand enormous amounts of pressure without problems. Anyone that has tried to clear a farm of them can attest to that.

Basically, there's no biological reason that it closes in Washington, just tradition and not enough rabbit hunters out there anymore to bring it up at the meetings.

[ctwiggs1]

Stop rotetone-ing lakes
Make commercial pay for their enforcement

Interesting thought

[j_h_nimrod]

Here's an easy one: year round rabbits.

We can hunt them year round in Oregon and it's not like they all get shot out. Hunting is best in June when all the really stupid ones are hopping around and are the perfect age for eating. They're good introductory game and perfect for kids, but I'm definitely not going out for them during Washington's season because there's too many other things to hunt at that time of year.

Please expand on your experience in Oregon... We dont have the jackrabbits like Easter Oregon has... Certainly not in any numbers that ive heard of...

I don't do the jackrabbit shoots, but we have a good and stable population of cottontails over the whole state. I can't think of any reason that Washington would need a closed season. I believe that rabbits are able to withstand enormous amounts of pressure without problems. Anyone that has tried to clear a farm of them can attest to that.

Basically, there's no biological reason that it closes in Washington, just tradition and not enough rabbit hunters out there anymore to bring it up at the meetings.

   rabbits are a tough game to hunt and are excellent for kids. I loved hunting them and had some great experiences while “rabbit hunting”.  Got us out and paying attention to our surroundings n nature. Had a good lesson in shooting as well.

 

Stop rotetone-ing lakes. there are sound biological reasons for this in many circumstances, but agree it is abused by “purist” WDFW bios to return a minimally viable native species to a great mixed “non-native” fishing area
Make commercial pay for their enforcement “IIRC states are only minimally responsible for commercial enforcement and reimbursed through taxes already assessed.

Interesting thought

[bigtex]

Make commercial pay for their enforcement

They do

[bigtex]

Stand up to the tribes. Skoks come to mind. WDFW has a hatchery that feeds the Skok river but the Skoks lay claim to the river and I see them run nets all the way across it within 100 yards of the hatchery. And I don't even fish it!

It's not just the Skokomish Tribe in this case it's the federal government. In 2016 the Department of Interior Solicitor's Office (legal counsel) issued an opinion that the actual river/riverbed of the Skokomish River itself is part of the reservation. This was not a new ruling but rather one that was affirming a decision made in the 1970s and essentially ignored by WA.

When Trump took office the new DOI Solicitor revoked some of the latter opinions issued under the Obama Admin but they did not revoke this ruling. Quite honestly with Ryan Zinke (who loves tribes) as the Secretary of Interior I don't think we will see any movement on that Obama era ruling.

[lokidog]

Open Copper and Quillback Rockfish fishing.  There are no population issues on these two species.
Remove cougar quotas.
Offer third deer doe tags in the San Juans.