What Elk Management Change Proposals do you Support

[Skillet]

id rather hunt every year than worry about joe blow podcast needing to kill a big bull once so he can blow up his Instagram.

Per his main argument for taking away the OTC hunts, you can go camping and just learn to be happy with that.

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,249904.msg3372517/topicseen.html#new

[Karl Blanchard]

That's a bit unfair guys. I'm VERY critical about losing hunting rights always and I myself have been a big advocate of moving to draw systems for mule deer. Nothing wrong with having an open dialog about management and the status quo. Where I draw the line is when it is not for the betterment of the herd and habitat.

I think a better route is to widely increase tag allotments from current levels and drop the categories crap. Go back to the old way of drawing tags. Make the individual priorities what they want. Do you want to fill freezers burn your points on antlerless tags. Want a big bull? Drop your cow choices off your app and hold out for a bull tag.

[vandeman17]

That's a bit unfair guys. I'm VERY critical about losing hunting rights always and I myself have been a big advocate of moving to draw systems for mule deer. Nothing wrong with having an open dialog about management and the status quo. Where I draw the line is when it is not for the betterment of the herd and habitat.

I think a better route is to widely increase tag allotments from current levels and drop the categories crap. Go back to the old way of drawing tags. Make the individual priorities what they want. Do you want to fill freezers burn your points on antlerless tags. Want a big bull? Drop your cow choices off your app and hold out for a bull tag.

These are my feelings too. If draw only is done solely because it is needed to maintain and hopefully improve herd health and numbers then I can get behind it.

The categories are such a joke and need to be taken away yesterday. I would also be fine going as far as only being able to apply for deer or elk and not both each year. For the species you don't choose to apply in, you can still get ghost point so you don't fall as far behind.

[idahohuntr]

The extra categories fund all the new access hunters have, so if you take them away and limit choices we'd surely lose all that additional access.

[Buckhunter24]

What access is funded by those categories?

[Jonathan_S]

That's a bit unfair guys. I'm VERY critical about losing hunting rights always and I myself have been a big advocate of moving to draw systems for mule deer. Nothing wrong with having an open dialog about management and the status quo. Where I draw the line is when it is not for the betterment of the herd and habitat.

I think a better route is to widely increase tag allotments from current levels and drop the categories crap. Go back to the old way of drawing tags. Make the individual priorities what they want. Do you want to fill freezers burn your points on antlerless tags. Want a big bull? Drop your cow choices off your app and hold out for a bull tag.

These are my feelings too. If draw only is done solely because it is needed to maintain and hopefully improve herd health and numbers then I can get behind it.

The categories are such a joke and need to be taken away yesterday. I would also be fine going as far as only being able to apply for deer or elk and not both each year. For the species you don't choose to apply in, you can still get ghost point so you don't fall as far behind.

Indeed at some point we have to care more about elk than elk hunting.

[vandeman17]

What access is funded by those categories?

Beat me to it. I know the extra categories did help them hire some more wolf experts for an insane amount of money.

[Buckhunter24]

Kinda what I was thinking. I'd like to see how much is spent on grading and brushing roads vs administrative

[TriggerMike]

I like the way Idaho does it. No points and you have to choose between putting in for deer/elk or OIL tags.

[vandeman17]

I like the way Idaho does it. No points and you have to choose between putting in for deer/elk or OIL tags.

but but but, I have been applying for years and I DESERVE to draw a tag...

[Skillet]

That's a bit unfair guys. I'm VERY critical about losing hunting rights always and I myself have been a big advocate of moving to draw systems for mule deer. Nothing wrong with having an open dialog about management and the status quo. Where I draw the line is when it is not for the betterment of the herd and habitat.

I think a better route is to widely increase tag allotments from current levels and drop the categories crap. Go back to the old way of drawing tags. Make the individual priorities what they want. Do you want to fill freezers burn your points on antlerless tags. Want a big bull? Drop your cow choices off your app and hold out for a bull tag.

Point taken, Karl.  I suppose I am being pretty hard on him.  But he's just another guy that comes along with a scheme to improve the odds for him to enjoy his way of hunting at the expense of everybody else's.  My main issue is probably more with his barreling on here with biased polls and ideas about what everybody's interpretation of "quality" is than the meat of his argument.

And I've long been a vocal opponent to the "big split" of points and increased categories that happened a while back.  I saw the writing on the wall, and quit the points game then and there. OTC for me from there on out.

[Karl Blanchard]

That's a bit unfair guys. I'm VERY critical about losing hunting rights always and I myself have been a big advocate of moving to draw systems for mule deer. Nothing wrong with having an open dialog about management and the status quo. Where I draw the line is when it is not for the betterment of the herd and habitat.

I think a better route is to widely increase tag allotments from current levels and drop the categories crap. Go back to the old way of drawing tags. Make the individual priorities what they want. Do you want to fill freezers burn your points on antlerless tags. Want a big bull? Drop your cow choices off your app and hold out for a bull tag.

Point taken, Karl.  I suppose I am being pretty hard on him.  But he's just another guy that comes along with a scheme to improve the odds for him to enjoy his way of hunting at the expense of everybody else's.  My main issue is probably more with his barreling on here with biased polls and ideas about what everybody's interpretation of "quality" is than the meat of his argument.

And I've long been a vocal opponent to the "big split" of points and increased categories that happened a while back.  I saw the writing on the wall, and quit the points game then and there. OTC for me from there on out.

I don't disagree my friend

[idahohuntr]

What access is funded by those categories?

Good question!  My post was tongue in cheek...more hunting access was a selling point the con-men at WDFW used to push for all these categories. Personally, I think it was something to benefit a few upper management folks who were either con artists with lots of points or truly ignorant/incapable of math and draw odds. Based on conversations I had with some of them at the time I honestly can't rule out the latter.    

[Buckhunter24]

What access is funded by those categories?

Good question!  My post was tongue in cheek...more hunting access was a selling point the con-men at WDFW used to push for all these categories. Personally, I think it was something to benefit a few upper management folks who were either con artists with lots of points or truly ignorant/incapable of math and draw odds. Based on conversations I had with some of them at the time I honestly can't rule out the latter.   

Lol, I thought that may have been the case with your post 

[trophyhunt]

I like the way Idaho does it. No points and you have to choose between putting in for deer/elk or OIL tags.

but but but, I have been applying for years and I DESERVE to draw a tag...

lol, actually after 24 years, I kinda feel I do deserve a tag in my home state. Just saying,