2020 Archery Elk....fact or fiction

[MtnMuley]

I heard from a reliable source that the commission did not vote to take any tribal slaughter away in the Yakima and Colockum.

[trophyhunt]

I heard from a reliable source that the commission did not vote to take any tribal slaughter away in the Yakima and Colockum.

not sure exactly what you mean, but they can’t vote to limit tribal hunting, can’t do a thing except match our hunting season/limits (lack there of) with theirs! 

[jrebel]

I heard from a reliable source that the commission did not vote to take any tribal slaughter away in the Yakima and Colockum.

That is a very valid point!!!  They only care about stripping our hunting privileges.  I see what you did there and I like it. 

Until I read the regs I will remain optimistic....though I am of the mindset our new director, his crew and the commision don't give two craps about Washington hunters.   Until they grow a set and make the tough decisions to stop tribal slaughters, actively and efficiently hunt predators and bring down cost to residents to hunt their own state....they are not to be trusted in my books. 

[Special T]

But the herd numbers aren't down...and I would put money on that.

And archery guys kill very few cow's comparatively.  Success is still single digits. And if you see the numbers of tags they are going to offer it's still enough tags to have similar harvest numbers..

Nailed It!!!   

$6.50 x 5000 people....conservatively is $32,500.  That seems like a sizeable amount of money to me.  Especially when paired with all the other draws that offer almost no chance given our screwed up point system.  To top it all off.....they take away any opportunity for youth.  Tell me our WDFW gives two craps about our hunting heritage. 

Of that 5k who hunt that area, how many are going to buy the draw vs quit hunting elk? Greatly reduce thier tag purchases, or dont buy at all.




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[jrebel]

But the herd numbers aren't down...and I would put money on that.

And archery guys kill very few cow's comparatively.  Success is still single digits. And if you see the numbers of tags they are going to offer it's still enough tags to have similar harvest numbers..

Nailed It!!!   

$6.50 x 5000 people....conservatively is $32,500.  That seems like a sizeable amount of money to me.  Especially when paired with all the other draws that offer almost no chance given our screwed up point system.  To top it all off.....they take away any opportunity for youth.  Tell me our WDFW gives two craps about our hunting heritage. 

Of that 5k who hunt that area, how many are going to buy the draw vs quit hunting elk? Greatly reduce thier tag purchases, or dont buy at all.




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If they are smart.....A LOT!!  Think about it, if you don't draw with horrible odds you are stuck with an spike or true spike only hunt.  For archery hunters it is not worth getting out bed to find and chase a unicorn.  Better off spending their money to hunt other states or the just hunt the west side where they can chase big bulls. 

Just imagine.....all the colockum archery hunters converting to the west side!!!  LOL  Instead of addressing the problem, they just created another.  Our state would make horrible chess players, they fail to think three or four steps ahead.   

[ballpark]

Sounds correct. Here's the presentation from the meeting on Saturday:

https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/5_elk_general_seasons_and_special_permits_aprilmeeting.pdf

I see eliminating Damage Harvest’s did not make it on there final recommendation memo.  I would think that would or should be first. 

[riflehunter]

To try to change the tribal rights for this state would take and act of Congress and be career suicide for anyone that pushed the point for it. It’s not like the edge director can just snap his fingers and fix the issue a lot more parties must be involved and guess what it won’t happen. It’s sad that people would take advantage of something this but it happens.


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[RobinHoodlum]

You're late to the party. The run up to this has been going on for months. Unfortunately, it's now a done deal. Not smart enough to link a different thread on this that started in early February. But here's a paraphrased version of my post:


I'm afraid we are seeing the die being cast for ALL future antlerless archey opportunity becoming draw only.

If you look at the graphs on page 8 & 12 of the commission presentation, the biologist is projecting even limited cow harvest will keep these 2 populations under objective over the next few years (is it a coincidence his graph spans next 3-year package?). Given the base population sizes, there's something not right about this and I'd be interested to know what assumptions were used. Regardless, expect draw only for the next 3 years as well.

Then, think to yourself, will they actually return to OTC tags after that or just keep enjoying the extra revenue coming from antlerless draw fees? Further, staying with draw only allows game managers (and others) to feel like populations are being managed with more "precision". Which is farce when there are other unknown/unanticipated significant mortality sources (tribal, damage, predators).

I generally try to be optimistic, but we dont seem to be living in an era of liberalizing harvest opportunity. So, archers better be prepared to rally or kiss OTC cow tags goodbye for good.

Some of these have already been pointed out, but a few things that really suck about this:
Virtually no data to support this decision for Yakima herd (and no plan to improve survey methods)
Level of cow harvest by tribes unknown and will continue unabated if not increase
Proportion of cow harvest under the auspices of "damage" is at an all time high (27% for the Clock) and will soon be the primary source of cow mortality
Between 2015 & 2017, the department issued hundreds of modern and muzzy cow tags EVERY year in EACH GMU for many of these same GMUs, which is how we got here in the first place
Most other weapon users (and even some archers for Pete's sake!) either ignore or choose not to consider these facts and support these changes

[MAVsled]

now, what about YAK tribal "hunters" ??

last year hunting late general archery, I came across several of these "rifle hunters" after Thanksgiving thru 1st weekend of December. Always saw then on the roads, driving/road huntin as I was hiking back to my vehicle. Bet some of those rifles were loaded in their truck cabs too.

[kball4]

Don't you wish at your job you could say "well we didn't really count but I think we should change everything."  Solid fact driven advice there.

[HillHound]

Yeah there really is no hope especially leaving one major Apex predator unchecked completely, that being Native American hunting. String me up if you want to, delete my comment if you want but you know it is a fact. If you had a  herd of goats and had a grizzly bear a cougar and a wolf attacking them nightly and you took measures to ensure that the grizzly bear and cougar could only get in when you had time to watch and deter them, but the wolf could come and go as he pleased how many goats do you think he would have left? Can’t really break it down any simpler than that.  All predator/harvest numbers need to be monitored so they can be increase/decrease as herds allow. Why should we take the time to call our tag Xander send teeth back when they’re getting no information from the majority of what is killed. I sure hope our 2020 season is not in jeopardy. But the one thing I know is that there’s is not

[trophyhunt]

Yeah there really is no hope especially leaving one major Apex predator unchecked completely, that being Native American hunting. String me up if you want to, delete my comment if you want but you know it is a fact. If you had a  herd of goats and had a grizzly bear a cougar and a wolf attacking them nightly and you took measures to ensure that the grizzly bear and cougar could only get in when you had time to watch and deter them, but the wolf could come and go as he pleased how many goats do you think he would have left? Can’t really break it down any simpler than that.  All predator/harvest numbers need to be monitored so they can be increase/decrease as herds allow. Why should we take the time to call our tag Xander send teeth back when they’re getting no information from the majority of what is killed. I sure hope our 2020 season is not in jeopardy. But the one thing I know is that there’s is not

There is really no ability to manage the clockum or the yakima herds, only adjust non tribal numbers.  Gets really old. 

[Special T]

An awful lot of you focus on things you cannot change. Do you enjoy spinning yourself and others up? Or do you just do that because it's easier than seeking out solutions?

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[trophyhunt]

Huh, solutions?  We are all ears! If what’s happening doesn't piss you off than you’re missing it completely or you’re a saint.  I’m leaning more towards you are more passive than some of us, which is a good thing, don’t take that wrong.  But, I’ll never get past actions that are just plain wrong, no matter how long it goes on it never gets to be numb to me.

[NOCK NOCK]

I might be selfish here, but I feel this is a good thing. Archery hunting has become a zoo. Camps with big "Rainier" signs up, rigs running the roads with guys in beds of trucks, people everywhere, etc. 
I am looking forward to having less people in some of the areas I hunt, spikes are not ghosts they are out there in decent numbers, and they grill up just fine for me. 

I do feel it should be spike, not true spike rules though.