Picking a side of the state for deer hunting

[MtnMuley]

I think It would reduce pressure across the board. Look how many guys hunt mule deer for a week then back to the west side for late oct. then whitetail late. If a guy were to choose he could t pressure all 3 in a season. 

Very true. With that thought, we should eliminate or reduce the multi-season tags to 100.

That would take about $120,000 from wdfw's pockets.  Not gonna happen.  Francine Madden might starve.

Lose your logic!

[Bango skank]

Oh wow, its 8500 multi deer and 1000 elk available.  I thought it was 1000 / 100.  My math was way off.  $1,168,440 is what they would lose if they sold 100 multi deer tags instead of 8500.  Of course i know not all 8500 sell, but lots of money either way. 

[JWEBB]

I don’t pick any side honestly. I always hunt both. Have had great luck too

[ljsommer]

Do most hunters go after muleys? Is there an area or species that are hunted more heavily than others?

[huntnnw]

Im all for picking a specie.

[JakeLand]

Either or east/ west or pick a species would benefit and the way it should be

[Skyvalhunter]

No picking, better management. Picking is ok for some of those that only hunt one side anyhow.

[3nails]

 I'd like to see picking a county. You can buy an over the counter deer tag for the county you live in but have to apply for a limited amount of out of county tags to hunt another.

[JakeLand]

I'd like to see picking a county. You can buy an over the counter deer tag for the county you live in but have to apply for a limited amount of out of county tags to hunt another.

i think that it would have to be more of a GMU pick on that idea

[huntnnw]

  I live there is only a general 2 week whitey season... that idea would never go

[HntnFsh]

Couple of things I could see happening with this. People are already complaining about the cost of licenses, permits, fees, etc. Compared to the product we get for it. I think this will open the door for the state to make more money by having more permit fees etc. especially if you have to pick a species. While doing nothing to improve the hunting experience. The cost of hunting will go up once again. I also think that you will have a lot of people that hunt a few days for blacktail, or white tail, until they head over for their weekend or long weekend of mule deer hunting. I think if people have to choose they will just go all in on the mule deer, adding more hunter days to those hunts. I also think that by forcing people that apply for mule deer tags to hunt mule deer, they wont have the option of hunting other species if they don't get drawn. So once again they go all in on mule deer and once again add more hunter days to those hunts. Both of these will put more pressure on the mule deer herds.

 

[fishngamereaper]

Cant imagine how many benchlegs would get mis-identified if tags where species specific.  East/West would be much easier to create rules for.


Unfortunalty I dont think either option will ever be adopted. We already have to pick a weapon, some with very limited seasons, pick a side for elk, with very limited seasons, and we still have really low success rates. Why?...management.

Or you can go to Idaho, but a tag and pretty much hunt any weapon of choice, 3 months out of the year, and in some areas shoot anything that moves.

Does WA really need more rules, or just better management.

[bobcat]

Does WA really need more rules, or just better management.

That's exactly what management is- rules and regulations.

[fishngamereaper]

Does WA really need more rules, or just better management.

That's exactly what management is- rules and regulations.

Its only a part of it.

[bobcat]

Does WA really need more rules, or just better management.

That's exactly what management is- rules and regulations.

Its only a part of it.

What's the other part? I don't know of anything else they do to manage big game other than to have rules and regulations to limit the harvest to a sustainable amount.