Steve Rinella's Quality WA Elk

[Dan-o]

Let’s do $50, it’s sort of a lose lose for me and I have a baby on the way 

 

Congrats on the baby.    They're more important than elk (dare I say that on Hunt wa    )

And now to let this ferment for 10 months so we can see.

[Mr Mykiss]

I'm betting this is a tempest in a teapot and that applications for that unit don't go up next year......

There.   You have it in writing.

You can ridicule me next year.... If I'm wrong.

I want a piece of that action!! Archery/Muzzy/Rifle apps combined...more next year than this year. What’s the wager?

Loser pays $100 to the charitable organization of the winners choice?

Spit and shake. Done deal.

[jstone]

Next year.! Hi. I got drawn for the my. View unit. Never hunted eastern Washington before. I know it’s August 25th but I have not been able to find any elk. Can someone help me. I’m not in the best shape, used to hunting flat ground.!!  just kidding not trying to get in trouble. Just thought I needed a laugh 

[Fullabull]

It almost looks like he was photo shopped into the picture the way his feet look.

[elkrack]

It almost looks like he was photo shopped into the picture the way his feet look.

It is an awkward stance   maybe he has been working on his levitation skills

[Odell]

There will likley be an across the board 10%+- increase in all applications due to the robust economy, every state is seeing increases.

Well, that won't help my bet(s)!   

I didn't really think of that.

I still don't think permit apps there will go up compared other units, but I took the bet straight up and will honor either or both offers on the table.

I’ll take that action! I like the charity idea. Also I reached out to Steve and shared my disappointment, he wrote me back last night and said he regrets over-divulging. At least he acknowledged it.

Having now listened to the podcast, the more I think about it, the less I like it. Steve did the same thing twice last summer talking about a specific wilderness area in WA for the high buck hunt. They won't even mention the mountain range on some of their other hunts but when it comes to WA, a state where public land grows increasingly crowded, it seems they feel free to share all the info.

I also wonder about the legality of having an unlicensed paid guide with him. I know Janis is a full time employee of Meateater and has more responsibilities than just calling elk, but it sure sounded like his role on this hunt was to be an elk guide. Unless I'm wrong, (which could be very possible) you cannot have a paid guide in that area unless you use the outfitter licensed for that area.

Filming your hunts with a production crew on public land is already a bit of an intrusion. Broadcasting the specific details of that hunt to the whole world is even more intrusive. Bringing a private elk guide with you as part of that crew seems like an unfair advantage over the rest. Still love the show and respect who they are and what they are doing but this whole thing leaves me feeling a little bit less excited about it all. Just my .02.

[2MANY]

It's all about the money and fame.
The collateral damage isn't considered because he doesn't need to worry about the next couple years there.

Any guesses which side Steve is on??

[Stein]

It's all about the money and fame.
The collateral damage isn't considered because he doesn't need to worry about the next couple years there.

Any guesses which side Steve is on??

How much money and fame will he get vs. if he talked about it generically? 

I wouldn't likely have made the same choices, but it's a draw hunt and the pressure in that unit is managed and won't change.  I do feel for anyone who draws planning on using that access, but that's got to be a pretty small odds.  On the other side of the coin, a guy could hunt elsewhere hoping to get some of the tag holders to congregate there.

My guess is that a few more people would apply for that one knowing they have at least some type of Plan A, but probably not many.  My prediction is no more than 10% increase (assuming same general number of applicants overall in all units).

It's one elk in one unit and it's now in his freezer.

[CaNINE]

It will be interesting to see how much disclosure is made on the TV episode once it airs next year.  There are a lot of podcast listeners but I'll speculate many more will be exposed via the TV show.  Whether they take action by applying for special permits remains to be seen.

On a side note, I'm surprised how much attention Steve gives to Prince of Wales Island...a place where he has vested interest in protecting the relative anonymity of (his family owns a cabin there).  He's doesn't hold back on what a sportsman's paradise the POW is.  I'm sure the locals are just thrilled.   

[2MANY]

Ridiculous.

If his predecessors would have bragged it up 30 years ago it would suck now.

He doesn't care.
It's all about Steve.

[Odell]

It will be interesting to see how much disclosure is made on the TV episode once it airs next year.  There are a lot of podcast listeners but I'll speculate many more will be exposed via the TV show.  Whether they take action by applying for special permits remains to be seen.

On a side note, I'm surprised how much attention Steve gives to Prince of Wales Island...a place where he has vested interest in protecting the relative anonymity of (his family owns a cabin there).  He's doesn't hold back on what a sportsman's paradise the POW is.  I'm sure the locals are just thrilled.

You're probably right but how many people live there? 2-3K? It has over 1,000 miles of shoreline with a foreign country between it and the lower 48. Pretty far from being crowded

[Jpmiller]

I've seen trail heads, roads and units named on this site. When I finally figured out the search function I looked at a couple of spots I frequent and found info on them I could verify as accurate. I'm pretty sure I've seen pictures posted on here from spots I've stood. This forum isn't broadcast over the radio or television but it's still out there for anyone to see. Guys on here, myself included, do the same stuff he did on his podcast. The information is out there if you want to look for it, while I wouldn't have named names like he did I'm not going to get upset about it either.

[idaho guy]

I was surprised and a little disappointed at how specific he got in his podcast, he usually doesn’t do that when he’s talking about huntin spots. Makes me wonder what they’ll say on the tv episode. Needless to say draw odds just got a whole lot tougher next year.

*******************
ya they go from .3% to .29% he screwed that up. With the terrible odds on better tags who cares can you really make them worse?

[BULLBLASTER]

I was surprised and a little disappointed at how specific he got in his podcast, he usually doesn’t do that when he’s talking about huntin spots. Makes me wonder what they’ll say on the tv episode. Needless to say draw odds just got a whole lot tougher next year.

*******************
ya they go from .3% to .29% he screwed that up. With the terrible odds on better tags who cares can you really make them worse?

Last year the hunt he drew and podcasted all about was 10+% odds (ignoring points)
It wouldn’t take much to bring that down a bunch. 

[yorketransport]

I also wonder about the legality of having an unlicensed paid guide with him. I know Janis is a full time employee of Meateater and has more responsibilities than just calling elk, but it sure sounded like his role on this hunt was to be an elk guide. Unless I'm wrong, (which could be very possible) you cannot have a paid guide in that area unless you use the outfitter licensed for that area.

So I can't go hunting with one of my employees if he's more familiar with an area?  Are you saying that an employer shouldn't be able to hunt with anyone that's on the payroll? Years ago I took my boss out elk hunting, brought him to an area, showed him where to go, told him what time to be there and he shot bull right where I said he would. That doesn't make me a guide just a hunter who was on the company payroll. I've had the reverse happen when I went hunting with one of my employees in an area he knew and I didn't.

I don't really understand why anyone would be mad about this. I've never hunted that part of the state, but even I know that there's some excellent spots over there. I can give somebody GPS coordinates to a spot but that doesn't guarantee success. The individual hunter still has to put in the work to get in, find the animal, and then get it out. Is Rinella giving out a location any different than BearPaw's hunt maps that he sells?