Harlequin shutdown

[frazierw]

I heard the state shut down harlequin hunts but can’t find anything online about it. Anyone else heard this?

[Special T]

I heard the state shut down harlequin hunts but can’t find anything online about it. Anyone else heard this?

Yes it was voted on in the comissioners meeting yesterday afternoon. probably get a press release next weeekor you can watch it on TVW

[Grousehunter19]

What was the commissions reason for the shutdown?

[Special T]

What was the commissions reason for the shutdown?

The Waterfowl advisory group recommended it. To much harvest. not enough reporting. Especially out of state hunters which were a lot. Complaints about guides whacking the hell out of them.

probably could have been avoided if more hunters with Sea duck cards reported but it had only a 30 ish % reporting rate, and the out of state reporting was horrible very low.

They will investigate how to manage harvest tighters and get better reporting. im imagining some kind of a draw tag.

Lots of folks didnt know that WA was one of only a couple of states that you can kill one  in the lower 48 over the counter.

[full choke]

IMO this is a good thing.

Maybe when it opens up again it can be as a OIL tag. The only reason to shoot one is for a mount. Period.

[metlhead]

Kiss that opportunity goodbye. Probably the fault of our own though. Funny the state never published a harvest guideline quota. Sounds kinda kneejerk to me with little science to back it. Maybe some rare sea eagle feeds on the things. Guarantee if a harli ever drops into our dry cornfield in Ephrata, it's gonna get smoked regardless😯

[metlhead]

Serious side, anyone ever get to see see them in the summer? I run into them on the Tieton and Wynoochee, and am just amazed how gorgeous they are in full dress.

[Grousehunter19]

Serious side, anyone ever get to see see them in the summer? I run into them on the Tieton and Wynoochee, and am just amazed how gorgeous they are in full dress.

It’s a rare treat but I always love to see them

[ASHQUACK]

Kiss that opportunity goodbye. Probably the fault of our own though. Funny the state never published a harvest guideline quota. Sounds kinda kneejerk to me with little science to back it. Maybe some rare sea eagle feeds on the things. Guarantee if a harli ever drops into our dry cornfield in Ephrata, it's gonna get smoked regardless😯

They have a 5% harvest rate and the number was well above 10%. Making the hunt unsustainable. If you listened to Kyle Spragens in the meeting he spells it out quite nicely. There were a couple newish guides the last 2 or so years that boasted about one killing 150 Harli"s alone. This guide alone brought much unwanted attention to the issue, which prompted the issue and hence the closure. It'll be back but it'll be much much more regulated.

[Jake Dogfish]

Money making opportunity for wdfw.  Sell a limited number of tags. 

[metlhead]

If there was such concern with overharvest, why was the state not open about the numbers. Very easily a dated season similar to brant would have been viable to begin with.

[ASHQUACK]

If there was such concern with overharvest, why was the state not open about the numbers. Very easily a dated season similar to brant would have been viable to begin with.
[/quote

The concern didn't come until one of the guide services started advertising "150 birds" already this year, kind of stuff all.over the internet. This brought a lot of attention to them since the projected population is 5000 birds and there's a 5% harvest rate quota. And that one guide service would have harvested the allowed quota solely. Add in other harvests and we were easily over 10% of the total population.  The numbers have never been secret, Kyle Spragens is very open to putting out information to the public. In fact it's actually in the meeting video where he spells out exactly why they asked for the closure for this coming season.

[metlhead]

By these numbers I'm reading, the state was allowing for 250 birds to be harvested during a season which, in reality, could have legally allowed every license holder to kill one, far surpassing the total number avaiable. Sounds like their fault for not having a system in place beforehand to avoid that.These guides that were successful should not be faulted for seizing the opportunity to legally direct clients to trophy birds. Hopefully the shutdown is repealed and next season opens with specific dates. Thst will allow anyone the opportunity without another stupid punchcard while keeping total harvest reasonable. Along with harlis, I'd like to see scaup reduced to January only, but increased daily limits. I think annual take would remain the same while making the opportunity better.

[ellensburgpo]

I guess my take in the guide thing is a little different. Yeah, you can burn it down for a year or two and make money but screw your supply chain up and be done. Or you can work with it and make it a sustainable source of income. Really short sighted business practice in my opinion.

Harlequin were the draw to me to set us apart from other states in the lower 48 for divers and sea ducks. They now have to compete with every other coast state with no advantage.

[Stein]

Sounds like they could have shut it down for out of state and upped the penalty for not reporting and turning in your card.  Once you shut it down, it's really hard to open it again.

It's a problem of overharvest, not a problem of no sustainable harvest.