No 2023 Chelan Goat????

[grade-creek-rd]

Looks like they did away with both Lake Chelan North and South goat opportunities this year...not sure exactly why, as both units are big and the goat population is stable...I am sure it has nothing to do with the Navarre wolf pack or that Slide Ridge is about to get a wolf pack now that private trail cams have shown wolves to be there (at the same time as the Navarre Pack across the lake...which means it can't be the Navarre Pack, which a WDFW staffer tried to say that it was a wolf that swam the lake and the Navarre Pack's home range included the south shore...I laughed, and laughed...and then cried as they were serious).

Grade

[teanawayslayer]

It’s sad really! Doesn’t surprise me. All Wdfw does is take our money and take away opportunities that should be taken away. Beginning of the end! Wdfw

[Parkern]

Looks like they did away with both Lake Chelan North and South goat opportunities this year...not sure exactly why, as both units are big and the goat population is stable...I am sure it has nothing to do with the Navarre wolf pack or that Slide Ridge is about to get a wolf pack now that private trail cams have shown wolves to be there (at the same time as the Navarre Pack across the lake...which means it can't be the Navarre Pack, which a WDFW staffer tried to say that it was a wolf that swam the lake and the Navarre Pack's home range included the south shore...I laughed, and laughed...and then cried as they were serious).

Grade

Wolves do swim the lake, but probably another pack also. Im sure its a over reaction from the one survey done a year. Usually on a windy day,  from a boat... Based on how much our tags cost, they should be able to afford doing actual surveys multiple times a year. But that doesn't fit the agenda!! Its strange the over reaction to close all the opportunities, especially since they still have 2 north shore ram tags, most of those sheep are cougar *censored*... That tag actual should go down to one for a couple years. But the WDFW has no idea whats going on, and actually doesn't care!

[Jpmiller]

Don't we have the largest population of goats in the lower 48?

[jackelope]

Don't we have the largest population of goats in the lower 48?

Probably up there at least.

And you can’t really survey those goats from a boat unless you’re doing it in the winter I don’t think.

[cem3434]

They transplant over 300 goats from the Olympics to the North Cascades. Where are the extra tags for the goats in those areas? Even if they only give out 1 tag per 100 goats, it sounds like we are also being shorted at least 3 more tags.

Furthermore, they were going to kill them all since they were a non native nuisance in the Olympics so why not give hunters a few extra tags?

[Jpmiller]

They transplant over 300 goats from the Olympics to the North Cascades. Where are the extra tags for the goats in those areas? Even if they only give out 1 tag per 100 goats, it sounds like we are also being shorted at least 3 more tags.

Furthermore, they were going to kill them all since they were a non native nuisance in the Olympics so why not give hunters a few extra tags?

In fairness I thought I remember them putting slot of those goats inside the park where they, in theory,, wouldn't be huntable. But I thought the Olympic population wouldn't be huntable too until they were.

[Parkern]

Don't we have the largest population of goats in the lower 48?

Probably up there at least.

And you can’t really survey those goats from a boat unless you’re doing it in the winter I don’t think.

Thats when they conduct the survey, but i question the guys doing it and their results. We pay plenty of money for them to do multiple surveys a year!!
The WDFW is so lazy and incoherent they have no idea what's actually going on in our units. OR listen to hunters... We are screwed until we get a new governor.

[Born2late]

They transplant over 300 goats from the Olympics to the North Cascades. Where are the extra tags for the goats in those areas? Even if they only give out 1 tag per 100 goats, it sounds like we are also being shorted at least 3 more tags.

Furthermore, they were going to kill them all since they were a non native nuisance in the Olympics so why not give hunters a few extra tags?

I heard that the majority of the ones that got transplanted died.

[cem3434]

Interesting, I had not heard that and thought they were doing okay. Do you know the cause?

[Born2late]

Interesting, I had not heard that and thought they were doing okay. Do you know the cause?

The guy I talked to said they could tell when they died by the radio collars and fish and game wouldn’t hike in right away to see the cause so I don’t think they know on a lot of them.He was frustrated because had they went in right away they would have had good data on what caused it and maybe been able to apply that in the future.

[grade-creek-rd]

If you take a look at the overall permits for goats and sheep, and probably deer and elk, I see them slowly being taken away as if nobody would notice. The chelan goat hunts and even the cut to the Goat Rocks area (they used to give out twice as many tags...or more). I also noticed a lot of youth hunts for deer and elk, this is good, but also low harvest percentages compared to normal draws, so if they just shift the draw permits to a youth category then the harvest rate drops, but WDFW can still say there is the same amount of permits/opportunities which is a way to have more prey available for predators, or worse allow the prey numbers to drop via predators and still say sportsman have the same amount of "opportunity" when in reality there are fewer animals. Just a shell game at this point. I hunt more out of state than I do in state anymore and it costs the same.

Grade

[Stein]

Youth tags are on a decline as well.  If you take away three and add one new it's still -2.

You hit the reason I stopped hunting WA myself 4 or 5 years ago.  It's on the decline, there is absolutely zero the state is doing to fix it and now we have the activist commission questioning hunting itself.  There was no reason to keep throwing money at a sinking ship, it will be worse every year until it's gone.

[Mtnwalker]

If I recall they are blaming it on populations being "lower than historical numbers of the 1960's" or some BS, but our goats are way under hunted compared to other states that offer tags vs population. Bottom line is they don't think hunting should be a priority and they will continue to manage as such. They'll toss us a few crumbs to keep the grumbling down and that's it

[OltHunter]

Are we sure this is fact and not an error? The Chelan areas are still listed in the regs and no mention of cutting the areas in the proposal. You would think we should have the ability to comment on that.