Cougar Archery Poll

[saylean]

I just wanted to see how much this now lowers my chances of bagging a coug...

[Alan K]

This whole thing is a joke. . . This doesn't do anything as far as people saying 'Oh I was hunting for cougar/bear' when they are approached by an officer when they're packing a gun during archery season. . . Bear season still overlaps the seasons and people will just say 'I'm hunting bear'.

This doesn't mean we'd better change bear to specific weapons too, that would be equally rediculous, if not more.

It's just classic Washington politics.  Penalize everyone for the poor actions of a few.  Hunting is really just the honor system.  There is nowhere near enough enforcement out there to stop everyone who violates a game law.  Either get the enforcement out there or you're just going to have to live with the fact that there are a few bad apples out of the thousands of good ones.

It burns me up that they keep limiting me due to the actions of a select few!    I can't believe they even considered closing the bear season due to the hiker being shot.  It's tragic but it's an isolated incident.  Why the hell would you even consider penalizing everyone for it!?!?!

 

Sorry got a bit off topic, just had a vent moment. . .

[whacker1]

This whole thing is a joke. . . This doesn't do anything as far as people saying 'Oh I was hunting for cougar/bear' when they are approached by an officer when they're packing a gun during archery season. . . Bear season still overlaps the seasons and people will just say 'I'm hunting bear'.

This doesn't mean we'd better change bear to specific weapons too, that would be equally rediculous, if not more.

It's just classic Washington politics.  Penalize everyone for the poor actions of a few.  Hunting is really just the honor system.  There is nowhere near enough enforcement out there to stop everyone who violates a game law.  Either get the enforcement out there or you're just going to have to live with the fact that there are a few bad apples out of the thousands of good ones.

It burns me up that they keep limiting me due to the actions of a select few!    I can't believe they even considered closing the bear season due to the hiker being shot.  It's tragic but it's an isolated incident.  Why the hell would you even consider penalizing everyone for it!?!?!

   

Sorry got a bit off topic, just had a vent moment. . .

 

[matlockmike]

I think the whole cougar season thing now is a joke.

Got to buy a differnet permit to hunt the second half of the season... ...just another way to discourage the common hunter from hunting.

[Ray]

I think there are more cougars out there than any biolgist team can count and estimate.

[mossback91]

That anneoakleaf (sp) lady has killed a cougar with her bow!! I saw a pic on here somewhere

[bobcat]

The new law won't protect any cougars. They will just have to be left in the woods. At least that's what I will do. That is, if I am lucky enough to see one, while carrying a rifle, and am forced to defend myself.  

[7mag.]

I used to think that my chances of seeing and shooting a cougar during the 7 1/2 month season was pretty slim, but I was allways hopeful. Now with a 1 1/2 month season, well I guess I will probably never have that full body cougar mount.

[Pathfinder101]

Agree with everybody.  THis new law looks like they had a problem (some guys caught running around with a rifle during deer/elk season after they filled thier tag), and they got a room full of lawyers (that were paid by the hour) to come up with a solution.
Tards.

WDFW

             

[lamar_hunter]

I think there are more cougars out there than any biolgist team can count and estimate.

+1

[jmx369]

There are definitely more cougars out there that the biologists are saying. I think as a whole there are more of every species than the bios claim. I have been hunting in Washington for 20 years and up until 4 years ago I had never seen a cougar in the wild. Since then, I have seen 5. Same thing goes for the Mt. Goats. I live near Mt Baker and last summer I spotted more that 80 goats in separate locations throughout the summer. One group alone there were 18 together. But the biologists claim that the numbers weren't making substantial gains during all the time the season was closed up there until a few years ago. I remember when I was younger 50 tags were given in the area and there never was nor never has been a shortage of goats.

[mhadix]

I think there are more cougars out there than any biolgist team can count and estimate.

with that being said, i remember a few years back i was visiting a certain wildlife park near eatonville and we came to the cougar pen.  the cougars were hiding pretty good that day and the "cougar expert" that was there couldn't find them, finally we found them and my wife commented about how small they were. the "expert" says you won't find any bigger than this. so i told him just a few days ago i saw one that was probably twice the size of the big tom they have. he indirectly called me a liar, so i showed him the picture on the digital camera of me holding him(cougar season was in), he looked at me and says to me.......YOU'VE SEEN A WILD COUGAR? I WISH I WOULD SEE ONE............ i thought this guy was a "expert"

[TeacherMan]

The new law won't protect any cougars. They will just have to be left in the woods. At least that's what I will do. That is, if I am lucky enough to see one, while carrying a rifle, and am forced to defend myself.  

 

I know in the Curlew area bear doesn't open until around the 8th of Sept. but after that you can carry a gun for bear so if they are trying to stop archery guys from being unethical and not true hunters it will only work for about a week. It wont stop a guy from carrying a gun in the late season because they will just carry one for bobcats and yotes. Stupid new law.

[littlebuf]

this whole thing cant be for guys "carrying guns" in the woods, that doesn't make sense. especially since thees no law that says you cant carry a riffle in the woods, even if you don't have a hunting license you can carry a riffle in the woods. you can only get busted for poaching if you get caught poaching. im not sure what the motivations are behind this but i suspect its some sort of test run to making more stringent regs for all species, if they start with a species that has a low success rate to begin with they can then slowly sneak the rest of them in the same restrictions. it is my firm belief that the majority (not all) of Washington fish and game doesn't want us to be able to hunt at all. we need to make sure they hear us on this cougar issue. any suggestions on how we do that?     

[littlebuf]

oh ya and this