Is Eastern Washington Elk Hunting dying?

[7mmfan]

Can i ask a hopefully not too derailing question?

Are things to the point where people who usually hunt E. WA for elk are now opting to hunt W. WA elk? Or are the east siders just planning on going to Idaho?

Speaking for myself here. I live in Puget Sound, always hunted east side elk, and now would rather go to Idaho than hunt locally. I think west side elk hunting can actually be pretty good if you have time to scout and pattern, but I don’t like hunting in a rain forest.

[Rainier10]

I went to Montana this year thinking it would be better.  I was surrounded by hunters, I was shocked.  I came back here and saw more elk in 4 hours in the woods here than I did in 9 days there.  I am sure the learning curve is steep in a new area and hopefully with time I will find more elk in Montana.

[stlusn30-06]

Just doing some quick internet research:

1.) Hoof disease has taken a heavy toll over the last decade
2.) Winter of 2016 took out 30-35% of the St. Helens heard. Assume winter 2016 had impact on most of the eastside heards
3.) Natives take ~8% of the annual deer and elk harvest state wide. According to facts, they are not out slaughtering entire heards as other have indicated.
4.) Increased predator pressure is impacting elk numbers, and maybe more importantly, changing heard behavior. They are moving into heavier cover, more remote, and rugged country.
5.) While some areas are hurting, others are complaining about how big the Colockum herd is and how much damage it is causing.

Montana and Idaho have more wolves, bears, and around as many cats as Washington. Their Elk/deer pops are doing alright. It's fairly consistent on here that the same people that hate the idea of predators talk of going to hunt states with larger predator populations. Just an observation. It's ironic.

Thanks for that, although I think the wolves in Idaho (panhandle) are destroying game herds they worked 50 years to restore

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Comment wasn't that Wolves weren't having an impact on game populations, or even that Idaho Fish & Wildlife aren't looking to drop those numbers and use hunting as a solid management tool to do so. It was that for all the talk here, we always look east to Idaho and Montana for the better hunting. Which it is, and it is with higher predator numbers. There is a consistent trend as predators have expanded about how they're going to ruin and kill off all the game, yet in places where they are established the hunting is still solid. I'm not saying it won't have an impact, it obviously will. They are going to kill lots of ungulates. What I'm getting at is that for all the freaking out, there isn't one state where they have reestablished that has had their entire game pops destroyed, which seems to be the way we lean here. There is obviously something seriously wrong in WA. Deer and Elk pops are dropping. Others have pointed to habitat loss, disease, fires etc... These things have been shown in real life to destroy pop numbers over night. If we were all as fired up about slowing development or funding disease research as we are about stopping wolves, we might make some headway. I might be way wrong, cuz I don't feel like internet sleuthing for more numbers right now. If someone can point me to research that shows where a state's hunting was devastated by wolf reintroduction, I'm all ears and will change my opinion in a heart beat. This guy asked what was going on in Eastern Wa. I just laid a few things out that aren't hearsay.

[borntoslay]

Amen to that, wasnt trying to get off the thread topic. This stuff gets me fired up

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[vandeman17]

Can i ask a hopefully not too derailing question?

Are things to the point where people who usually hunt E. WA for elk are now opting to hunt W. WA elk? Or are the east siders just planning on going to Idaho?

Speaking for myself here. I live in Puget Sound, always hunted east side elk, and now would rather go to Idaho than hunt locally. I think west side elk hunting can actually be pretty good if you have time to scout and pattern, but I don’t like hunting in a rain forest.

I do/will still hunt e wa elk but only for archery. You couldn't pay me to go out for modern unless it was with a permit in my pocket.

[trophyhunt]

The Yakima area elk hunting is hopeless in my opinion, due to a certain group of people who are allowed to kill an unlimited number of bull elk year around, AND an unlimited number of cow elk from September 1 to December 31. Yes, you read that right. YEAR AROUND SEASON AND NO LIMITS.

You must be talking about white poachers, cause they are in fact killing way more than the indians. Spoke to a local gamey in yakima, they busted a whole bunch of them white poachers this year, and had only 1 interaction with indians when I spoke to them.

I don’t believe that for a second, how many non natives are poaching in the ytc ?  One native has at least 6 bull kills in that unit alone!  Respectfully disagree

[elkchaser54]

Couple bad winters and suddenly the sky is falling . I'm with the guy that said control what you can.  The wdfw sucks but there jobs suck, they get blamed for everything . Doesnt matter if they do good, they are always the biggest scapegoat. I'd blame winters and predators more then racist propaganda.

[trophyhunt]

Couple bad winters and suddenly the sky is falling . I'm with the guy that said control what you can.  The wdfw sucks but there jobs suck, they get blamed for everything . Doesnt matter if they do good, they are always the biggest scapegoat. I'd blame winters and predators more then racist propaganda.

racist propaganda? Now your sounding like a lefty? Just because some of us disagree with the treaty makes us a racist, smh

[fishngamereaper]

There's elk in them woods...I've seen it with my own eyes..

Weird thing is when someone is chasing you with a weapon you tend to hide really good...

Numbers may be down a little but it's a cycle...always happens...

Carry on.

[idaho guy]

Just doing some quick internet research:

1.) Hoof disease has taken a heavy toll over the last decade
2.) Winter of 2016 took out 30-35% of the St. Helens heard. Assume winter 2016 had impact on most of the eastside heards
3.) Natives take ~8% of the annual deer and elk harvest state wide. According to facts, they are not out slaughtering entire heards as other have indicated.
4.) Increased predator pressure is impacting elk numbers, and maybe more importantly, changing heard behavior. They are moving into heavier cover, more remote, and rugged country.
5.) While some areas are hurting, others are complaining about how big the Colockum herd is and how much damage it is causing.

Montana and Idaho have more wolves, bears, and around as many cats as Washington. Their Elk/deer pops are doing alright. It's fairly consistent on here that the same people that hate the idea of predators talk of going to hunt states with larger predator populations. Just an observation. It's ironic.

Thanks for that, although I think the wolves in Idaho (panhandle) are destroying game herds they worked 50 years to restore

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

and that's with open wolf season

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

   

  correct with a year round open season on wolves(private land) and a liberal trapping season. I think its helping the elk with the wolf seasons but still no where like it was before wolves . NO WAY Idaho has even as many cats and bears as Washington, to suggest we have more cats and bears is crazy

[Scheindogg]

Can i ask a hopefully not too derailing question?

Are things to the point where people who usually hunt E. WA for elk are now opting to hunt W. WA elk? Or are the east siders just planning on going to Idaho?

I have a friend who hinted and applied for tags for elk for 15+ years and got tired of not getting drawn (Among many other things) and has officially stopped hunting WA and makes the trek from W WA to Idaho each year.
This was his first year doing solely Idaho and he already got a nice whitetail buck to show for it 

[steeleywhopper]

WDFW now manage the elk for other user groups to shoot big bulls in Eastern Washington. I have quit hunting East side and now hunt West side of Washington and Montana.

[TriggerMike]

The number of cow permits in 2016 and before had a huge influence of where we are now.

And the years before 2016 the cow tag numbers were even higher. Manastash, Umtanum, etc were all 400 tags.

[bigdub257]

Have hunted the same area for over 20 years.  This was the last time.  Most of the other camps have disappeared and moved on over the last 5 years or so.  Basically a ghost town.  Very few sightings of elk or deer in areas that used to be very productive.  This is in an area where I've witnessed the slaughter of deer and elk many times during the various seasons.  It's a cycle alright...downward and straight into the crapper and I don't believe it has anything to do with the weather. 

[bowhunterforever]

Tag