2020 spring bear apps

[trophyhunt]

So self admittedly, I pay little attention to bear stuff. Here is my question. Say you shoot a bear that is rubbed out pretty bad and decide to not salvage the hide. Is this now illegal or can you still leave the hide and just check the skull with the state?

From what I’m reading you now have to pack out the hide, I have met hunters who don’t care to keep the hide or head, this new rule sucks!  What is their point? More violations to write???

[KFhunter]

I didn't see anywhere that said you had to keep 100% of the hide,  why couldn't you cut off a ball bag (evidence of sex) and a small patch of hide and toss it in a ziplock baggy and pack that out?


and of course that tooth they want

[Ghost Hunter]

https://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=220-415-080
[/quote]

Harvest Check, Submitting Biological Samples and Bear Teeth: All successful bear hunters must validate (notch) their bear tag, notify the department within 72 hours of kill (excluding legal state holidays), provide the hunter's name, date and location of kill, and sex of animal. The raw pelt, evidence of sex, and the first premolar must be presented to an authorized department employee for sealing within 5 days of notification of kill. All permit hunters must comply with harvest reporting and submission of biological samples as described above. Failure to comply with the submission of biological samples is a misdemeanor pursuant to RCW 77.15.280.

https://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=220-415-080

Doesn't say a portion of the pelt.    Interpretation? 

[KFhunter]

What's the legal definition of "raw pelt" ?

[Karl Blanchard]

Seems a bit unreasonable to me  what if you and a buddy are in the wenaha for 7 or 8 days and your buddy shoots a bear on day one? He now is supposed to hike out meat, head, and hide, then drive hours to go check his bear so he isn't a criminal, instead of continuing to help you find a bear, etc, etc?

[trophyhunt]

Seems a bit unreasonable to me  what if you and a buddy are in the wenaha for 7 or 8 days and your buddy shoots a bear on day one? He now is supposed to hike out meat, head, and hide, then drive hours to go check his bear so he isn't a criminal, instead of continuing to help you find a bear, etc, etc?

exactly!!  That’s what I was trying to say!    it’s just not going to happen!

[Special T]

If you want to see why they are doing this go to page 244 and read for yourself.

https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/01961/wdfw01961.pdf

There is only 1 unit that is consistently over harvesting female black bears and that is BBMU #2 which happens to overlay the majority of the population. Its over harvest  is also just slightly over objective.  BBMU #3 is only slightly over harvest 2 of the 10 years. Notice how the only 2 that show over harvest are in the Puget Sound and West slopes of the Cascades where it is thick.

[Bango skank]

Seems a bit unreasonable to me  what if you and a buddy are in the wenaha for 7 or 8 days and your buddy shoots a bear on day one? He now is supposed to hike out meat, head, and hide, then drive hours to go check his bear so he isn't a criminal, instead of continuing to help you find a bear, etc, etc?

Yup.  Better be a really damn nice bear, thats a hunt ender.

[boneaddict]

I think we need a meme.........   something along the line of  "Washington, where its easier to score free methadone than it is to report legal harvest of a bear."

[Bango skank]

Why doesn’t Okanogan have a few spring bear tags? My property is over run with bears in the spring. Wreak havoc on the fawns and then start to move on by hunting season. Doesn’t make sense to me why there aren’t a few tags.

Hopefully you brought thst up when the spring proposal was being drafted.  Wdfw says the majority of fall bear harvest is incidental to deer and elk hunting.  And 204 has a higher fall bear harvest than the highest northeast unit, 101.  That tells me there are a LOT of bears in 204, and there is no reason they couldnt support a spring permit season, and give their fawns some help.  Opening 204 and 113 to spring bear were the main things i was asking wdfw for, along with higher permit numbers for all spring hunts.  I emailed scott fitkin, the okanagan regional biologist, talking about the extremely high fall harvest rate and hunter success percentage in 204, and wdfws admission that its mostly incidental, and asked him since bear numbers were clearly very high if in his opinion 204 could support a spring permit hunt.  He did the very political, non committing non answer thing.  He knows damn good and well how high the bear numbers are there, and that a spring hunt would not be detrimental to the bear population.  But i believe he suspected, and rightly so, that if he openly admitted the state of things and took a stand in favor of a spring bear hunt, that i would be using his words in my pitch to wdfw, and he would rather just toe the line like a good boy, avoid rocking the boat and keep himself out of trouble.

[boneaddict]

I did.   I'm sitting on max points for spring bear waiting for them to open up a particular unit up there then will apply.

I emailed scott fitkin

   might disturb those baby wulfs.

[Bango skank]

I did.   I'm sitting on max points for spring bear waiting for them to open up a particular unit up there then will apply.

I think youll be waiting a long time.

[KFhunter]

113 is not going to have a spring bear season until the grizz are "fully recovered" state wide     

If anything as the grizz expands we'll loose more spring seasons in NE units.

[boneaddict]

I think youll be waiting a long time

I believe you are right......  Now that soccer is a done deal. I might rethink my strategy.   Anecdotally, maybe taking one for the team because you know as soon as I burn points.....

[Bango skank]

113 is not going to have a spring bear season until the grizz are "fully recovered" state wide     

If anything as the grizz expands we'll loose more spring seasons in NE units.

Which is ridiculous.  Wdfw says the majority of fall bear harvest is incidental to deer / elk hunting.  Deer hunters who have a bear tag "just in case."  So guys that arent dedicated bear hunters, but will take a pop shot at one they bump into.  Spring bear hunting is 100% intentional harvest.  Guys purposely hunting bear.  So we cant let dedicated bear hunters hunt spring bear in grizz areas out of the fear that they will mistakenly kill a grizzly.  But for some reason we can let deer hunters who dont actually target bears shoot bears in grizz zones in the fall.  It makes no sense.  Is it harder to determine grizz from blackie in the spring than it is in the fall?  No.  Are the guys that apply for spring hunts and go out specifically targeting bears more likely to suck at bear identification than the rifle deer hunter who never specifically hunts bears?  I really doubt it.  It is just completely illogical to say that a spring hunt would be s danger to grizzlies, yet think a fall hunt wont.  If anything, the dedicated bear hunters going out in the spring should be better at identifying bears than the casual deer hunter in the fall.  If anything, it would make sense to have a spring season, but no bear season in october / november when the rifle deer and elk hunters are out and about.