Wdfw survey

[Spuddieselwwu]

Plenty of 4pts up there. I don’t have a problem with an antler restriction... as long as they pair it with aggressive predator control. Those two things could do wonder for that herd.

[stlusn30-06]

Any thoughts on the idea that these white tails are expanding their range into Muley territory and out competing an already pressured population? I'm not in the know about any of it. Just have heard a few guys throw that out there. These guys are legit Muley freaks, and frankly they want the White tails gone. Curious what people who live there, and/or really know what's going on have to say.

[Bango skank]

Any thoughts on the idea that these white tails are expanding their range into Muley territory and out competing an already pressured population? I'm not in the know about any of it. Just have heard a few guys throw that out there. These guys are legit Muley freaks, and frankly they want the White tails gone. Curious what people who live there, and/or really know what's going on have to say.

Its not like theres a lack of available browse that the mule deer are competing for.  I dont see how it would help mule numbers if the whitetail disappeared.  In fact the whitetails are probably taking some of the heat from predators off the muleys backs 

[huntnnw]

Plenty of 4pts up there. I don’t have a problem with an antler restriction... as long as they pair it with aggressive predator control. Those two things could do wonder for that herd.

pair with aggressive predator management? as with WDFW doing it? bears are 2 a season now and if you are not helping you are part of the problem. Thats the biggest problem is guys complain about deer and elk herds yet less than 10% get out and hunt predators.

[Bango skank]

Plenty of 4pts up there. I don’t have a problem with an antler restriction... as long as they pair it with aggressive predator control. Those two things could do wonder for that herd.

pair with aggressive predator management? as with WDFW doing it? bears are 2 a season now and if you are not helping you are part of the problem. Thats the biggest problem is guys complain about deer and elk herds yet less than 10% get out and hunt predators.

Less than 10% even buy tags.  Less than 10% of those probably actually hunt predators.

[huntnnw]

I saw some numbers a while back on hunters who hunt deer and elk and how many actually hunt predators it was extremely low. Yet they are the ones screaming and yelling about fixing predator issues or why dont they do something about our herds.

[nwwanderer]

Apologize for getting off subject, any buck take restriction would improve ratios as APRs have, but a plan that would let bucks mature, not killing those high potential youngsters, would help with many herd problems.

[wolfbait]

I saw some numbers a while back on hunters who hunt deer and elk and how many actually hunt predators it was extremely low. Yet they are the ones screaming and yelling about fixing predator issues or why dont they do something about our herds.

 

Predation is the number one cause for the ungulate damage, but then we knew this after watching the wolves decimate the Yellowstone herd.

WDFW could shut the season down completely, deer, elk etc. would still continue to decline. 

[Pegasus]

Survey asked nothing about predator control. All about point restrictions and season changes. Nothing about controlling predators. How convenient to design a survey and ignore the elephant in the room. Designed to produce only politically correct answers that that restrict the hunters but not the predators.

[BULLBLASTER]

Survey asked nothing about predator control. All about point restrictions and season changes. Nothing about controlling predators. How convenient to design a survey and ignore the elephant in the room. Designed to produce only politically correct answers that that restrict the hunters but not the predators.

The survey wasnt about predators or predator control. It was about apr.

[BreezyBear]

Survey asked nothing about predator control. All about point restrictions and season changes. Nothing about controlling predators. How convenient to design a survey and ignore the elephant in the room. Designed to produce only politically correct answers that that restrict the hunters but not the predators.

Perfectly stated!

[Fishmaker57]

I hope you all realize that WDFW puts out these surveys in an attempt to appease the hunters, and helping them feel like their opinion matters...….which it doesn't! When is the last time a hunter / fisher survey changed anything? WDFW will do whatever it wants with regards to wildlife management, usually to save money or make their job easier, not for the benefit of wildlife. If they did, they would actually do things that made sense, like banning clear-cut spraying of 2-4-D. This had decimated Blacktail Deer, and they know it, but are too afraid of the political blowback. The list goes on and on, no need to list the useless and counterproductive decisions they have made over the years, Our big game management in the joke of all western states. Just don't get too riled up about this survey....it will go in the dumpster like all the rest......

[idahohuntr]

Survey asked nothing about predator control. All about point restrictions and season changes. Nothing about controlling predators. How convenient to design a survey and ignore the elephant in the room. Designed to produce only politically correct answers that that restrict the hunters but not the predators.

The survey wasnt about predators or predator control. It was about apr.

Although, I suppose if one believes hunting has no real effect on the population because predators are simply eating all the deer, then I suppose you could make the argument that APR is just rearranging some deck chairs on the Titanic.

I don't believe this, as even with predators, hunting is often the leading or among the leading causes of mortality - so modifications to hunter harvest will often have real and near-immediate population level effects.

[Pegasus]

Survey asked nothing about predator control. All about point restrictions and season changes. Nothing about controlling predators. How convenient to design a survey and ignore the elephant in the room. Designed to produce only politically correct answers that that restrict the hunters but not the predators.

The survey wasnt about predators or predator control. It was about apr.

Although, I suppose if one believes hunting has no real effect on the population because predators are simply eating all the deer, then I suppose you could make the argument that APR is just rearranging some deck chairs on the Titanic.

I don't believe this, as even with predators, hunting is often the leading or among the leading causes of mortality - so modifications to hunter harvest will often have real and near-immediate population level effects.

The numbers prove that most of the killing is done by the predators by a large amount over the kills by hunters. I agree that changing the hunter rules impacts the herds somewhat but why let the predators go unchecked while you control the hunters only? The WDFW is supposed to manage our game for us, the hunters. They are not. They are managing for the liberal non-hunters. Why do you think Washington state was the only state in the union that shut down hunting over Covid? It is all about appeasing the anti-hunting crowd that rules this state.

[TriggerMike]

I voted for a 2 pt minimum and no loss of opportunity for youth and 65+. There's no doubt that if we don't make drastic steps toward killing predators that in the next 10 years it will probably be draw only in the NE corner (which was a question on the survey), which is hard to even comprehend considering what it used to be.