Alcoa/Colockum Depredation Tags?

[salt n sage90]

I don't know a whole hell of a lot about depredation tags. The way I understand it the premise is lower animal numbers to lower their impact on/damage to a crop, orchard etc. as well as haze animals away from these food sources.

I was bird hunting the Colockum this past weekend and ran into a few fellows that had depredation tags, they told me its a cow only tag and its due to the damage to the orchards.
I have no issues with this, but my question is if the point is to not only lower elk numbers but also haze them away from orchards, wouldn't it make more sense for them to hunt the private lands? These hunters were hunting the wildlife area. I get that in order to fill the tag they need to go where the elk are, but with elk numbers hurting I thought it would make more sense for these tags to target the animals that are actually on the private land and not chase them around in the areas we actually want them to be. I understand elk move around. Maybe this time of year they aren't actually doing any damage to the orchards, or maybe they sneak in at night. Or maybe its more about lowering the numbers and less about the hazing.

Once again I have no animus toward anyone on this. Feel free to school me up.

[boneaddict]

Great observation

[Dan-o]

My bet is that anywhere along the boundary is within a mile or so of private cropland. 

To me it makes sense the way they do it.

The elk doing the damage will wander around, so it makes sense the way they draw the boundaries to me.

There are other depredation tags where the area is much more targeted.  I had one several years ago thst was written to be good for a specific farm field, but the land ownership pattern there was much different.

[GOcougsHunter]

True depredation permits are written by the conflict specialist for the area and usually come with explicit instructions and parameters.  I am not aware of general depredation permits without those instructions.  They typically are targeting a specific producer's property as Dan-o describes.  The group you ran into may have been allowed to venture off property to surrounding publicly accessible land as part of the instructions/permit. 

[Rainier10]

I have property in the 3911 unit and I can say for sure that the hazing is working. The powerlines that are the border run through my property. South of me is DNR land that a lot of people hunt. The pressure there has pushed them onto my place and they rarely go below the powerlines. I am cautious moving around my property to not push the elk back into the 3911 area. The point of the hunt is to teach the elk to stay north of the boundary and in my observation it is working.

[trophyhunt]

Are these tags in the regs??

[jrebel]

My guess is the OP is talking about he Malaga EF cow tag that goes till Dec. 31'st.  Though it is designed to act as a depredation tag....it is not a "depredation" tag that issued land owners for the sole purpose of hazing / killing animals causing damage to a specific landowners tag.  At least that is how I understand it. 

[trophyhunt]

Thanks

[NOCK NOCK]

As far as I know, Alcoa does not allow hunting on their properties. They own quite a bit of land in that area.
I spent a few days hunting an orchard edge during early archery. The entire outside row of trees had been rubbed/mangled, but elk stayed on adjacent property.

[salt n sage90]

Thanks for the info. It seemed odd that someone with a depredation tag would be hunting the wildlife area.

Cheers

[Quackaddict]

As far as I know, Alcoa does not allow hunting on their properties. They own quite a bit of land in that area.
I spent a few days hunting an orchard edge during early archery. The entire outside row of trees had been rubbed/mangled, but elk stayed on adjacent property.

Correct Alcoa is no access
 

[jstone]

If you need depredation permits but dont allow hunting then you don’t get permits.!! Should be on the land or within a 100 yards or so. Not a mile. That doesn’t keep them from entering the property

[teanawayslayer]

If you need depredation permits but dont allow hunting then you don’t get permits.!! Should be on the land or within a 100 yards or so. Not a mile. That doesn’t keep them from entering the property

a lot of time they will go into the orchards or fields depending on what area the tags are in. Those elk are in there all night leaving the area at first light. They travel a long ways. The bio dictates the hunt area.

[Dan-o]

If you need depredation permits but dont allow hunting then you don’t get permits.!! Should be on the land or within a 100 yards or so. Not a mile. That doesn’t keep them from entering the property

a lot of time they will go into the orchards or fields depending on what area the tags are in. Those elk are in there all night leaving the area at first light. They travel a long ways. The bio dictates the hunt area.

Agreed.
Not much difference between a hundred yards and a mile to those elk.

And some places simply aren't conductive to hunting.....   Like some of the cattle feeders, who don't want high powered rifle shots in and amongst their cattle on a feed yard.    You have to let those elk get off his property.