What would you do?

[boneaddict]

I’d love Idaho’s draw system.  Good idea.  Forgot that one.   Oh yeah, manage wolves like coyotes.

[ghosthunter]

Zero antlerless harvest! Zero.  Would be my first step.   

Spring bear, remove quota on cats, allow trapping, hound hunting.

Regulate tribal hunting

Stop late hunts for now

 

Increase Predator harvest and seasons.

The tribal hunting regulation is never going to happen.


No way do I favor draw only for mule deer. That would kill the camps and family hunting together.

I would restrict all activities in wintering areas until the herds got back  Nov to April.

I would make it illegal to use an atv to hunt big game and outlaw trail cameras.

[baldopepper]

Kinda of in favor of draw permits.  Makes targeting specific units easier and also does away with party hunting i.e. buying wife or mom etc a tag so you can shoot an extra animal on their tag.  It did kinda spell the demise of the big family hunting camps in states that did it though.
I would also like to do away with the apr difference in some units. Mule deer 3 point and whitetail any buck has resulted in a lot of young mule deer bucks being shot and left.  Don't really like the late whitetail only hunt for the same reason. Too many see horns and shoot first before assuring species (   not sure some know the difference anyway)

[Mtnwalker]

Kinda of in favor of draw permits.  Makes targeting specific units easier and also does away with party hunting i.e. buying wife or mom etc a tag so you can shoot an extra animal on their tag.  It did kinda spell the demise of the big family hunting camps in states that did it though.
I would also like to do away with the apr difference in some units. Mule deer 3 point and whitetail any buck has resulted in a lot of young mule deer bucks being shot and left.  Don't really like the late whitetail only hunt for the same reason. Too many see horns and shoot first before assuring species (   not sure some know the difference anyway)

I used to be in favor of draw only for deer. Now I look at the permit allocation for east side elk and how a branch antlered tag has basically become an oil tag even in areas with good herd #'s, and I realize that deer would undoubtedly go the same direction. Opportunity would quickly be cut down to almost nothing, and the herds still wouldn't recover due to all of the other impacting factors going un-addressed... 

[buckfvr]

I would have to bet wdfw has a programmer who does design and development and has already developed an up and running program that they can enter ideas like the ones here, and calculate revenue loss/gain for any idea you can come up with.  Eliminate multi-season, east or west deer, deer tag by specie, all good ideas that they would play the ol loss of opportunity card on.

Resources are down guys, and unfortunately opportunity has to follow.  Multi-season gone, antler point restrictions across the board FOR ADULTS, keep our opportunity to HUNT, restrict the harvest. 

[hunter399]

You'd be surprised how many of these ideas have already been pitched to the commission and department.
Look at there recommendation for our big game management plan.
You won't find any.
Cell trail cam is one that they recommend banning.
But APR, antlerless harvest,choose side of state for deer,more predator hunting opportunities,things of that nature.
Your not gonna find any recommendations that will dramatically reduce revenue.
Like said I'll bet the bank that they have heard everything we have talked about today. It's slid under the rug ASAP.
Biologist, regional manager,all that will piss your ideas in the wind.

[baldopepper]

 Could see em going to a draw system. Make you buy a license first and then of course tag on an application fee. Say $10.00. 50-60,000 total applicants would bring in a fair amount of extra cash at no real cost

[furbearer365]

1. 2 point or better blacktail
2. No doe tags, except make a youth tag an "any deer"
 3. Open more units for OTC, with less draw. This will spread out the hunters.
4.  Open predator hunting at its fullest, meaning hounds for cats and bears
5. Tighten up the season. I hate that we chase animals for a steady 5 months.  All seasons should be done by end of Nov

[Buzzsaw461]

Could see em going to a draw system. Make you buy a license first and then of course tag on an application fee. Say $10.00. 50-60,000 total applicants would bring in a fair amount of extra cash at no real cost

I could see this on the table for sure.

[NOCK NOCK]

For starters, eliminate multi season tags.

  (great minds think alike) (Heard from Chappy the pack out wasn't as easy as it used to be, congrats! gettin old sucks)




Human Predators are controllable, as compared to any real chance we have with animal predators (mostly controlled by voter approve/disapprove)

1. NO Multi season-too much pressure on deer and allows for more harvests
2. Shorter/Earlier seasons, again less pressure. ZERO hunting during breeding times. (Let them grow the herd in peace)
3. Some type of "bonus/incentive" for notching a predator tag (bonus deer/elk points?)
4. Some type of "bonus/incentive" for improving habitat  (maintain Swakane sheep fence as an example)
5. Draw only doe permits for all weapons....only where needed. (Not Methow or Entiat as an example)
6. Pick a species for deer, that's all you hunt for
7. Make tribes accountable for overharvesting individuals.
8. Split Fish/Wildlife into 2 separate entities
9. Commish members must have a vested interest in hunting, not just wildlife as a whole.
10. Deer hunters split into 2 groups equally. Only hunt every other year. (I hate to take away opportunity, but its needed in several Muley areas)

I could go on and on but will stop here.

[Bob33]

All this talk about restricting hunting. Hunters kill about 25,000 deer a year. You could take away some hunting privileges, cut that number in half and save 12,500 deer. How many deer did predators kill?

[NOCK NOCK]

What about poachers and tribal?

[Bows4huntn]

For starters, eliminate multi season tags.

  (great minds think alike) (Heard from Chappy the pack out wasn't as easy as it used to be, congrats! gettin old sucks)
You got that right! Asked myself more
Than once why I shot it where I did!



Human Predators are controllable, as compared to any real chance we have with animal predators (mostly controlled by voter approve/disapprove)

1. NO Multi season-too much pressure on deer and allows for more harvests
2. Shorter/Earlier seasons, again less pressure. ZERO hunting during breeding times. (Let them grow the herd in peace)
3. Some type of "bonus/incentive" for notching a predator tag (bonus deer/elk points?)
4. Some type of "bonus/incentive" for improving habitat  (maintain Swakane sheep fence as an example)
5. Draw only doe permits for all weapons....only where needed. (Not Methow or Entiat as an example)
6. Pick a species for deer, that's all you hunt for
7. Make tribes accountable for overharvesting individuals.
8. Split Fish/Wildlife into 2 separate entities
9. Commish members must have a vested interest in hunting, not just wildlife as a whole.
10. Deer hunters split into 2 groups equally. Only hunt every other year. (I hate to take away opportunity, but its needed in several Muley areas)

I could go on and on but will stop here.

[HooknoseHunter]

I’d go back to 4 point restrictions in the NE.

I’d think real hard on going to a permit system for mule deer where people draw every other year or so. Unit to unit could go up or down as far as permit numbers based on deer herd health.

I’d increase predator harvest but that’s not black and white either.

I’d put restrictions on commission members. Background checks or whatever to determine that they are people who would follow the science and not follow their opinion and feelings on things.

Does anyone know why they took away the antler restrictions in the NE? I loved it, you’d actually see bucks running around even if they weren’t legal. Now some guy in his pickup with a cigarette hanging out of his lip sets his beer in the cup holder and blasts the first forked horn he sees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You’ve been spying on me again while I’m hunting!!!  And I quit smoking, it’s just a fat chaw of cope long cut now. Also, I kill way more spikes than fork horns.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Another little fact the wdfw could make more public.  They estimate there are 3600 mountain lions in the state.  Using the most accepted figure, each lion will kill.48 deer per year. That works out to approximately 173,000 deer per year.  They also estimate a deer population in the state of about 240000 animals. Hunters harvested roughly 60,000. Math doesn't look good for the deer herds.

That math obviously is wrong. Doesn't account for the 10s of thousands of deer being killed by other predators, Wolves, bears, and coyotes.  Then there are the thousands killed by cars. and last but not least, the 10s of thousands killed by hunters.  If your numbers were true, every deer in the State would be dead before the year was up and we wouldn't have to worry about them. Your numbers are way off, wherever you got them.