Free: Contests & Raffles.
Quote from: Ridgerunner on March 06, 2024, 03:07:25 PMI think if a guy turned up this data from the early 90's minds would be blown. I remember reading an article in the early 90's, before the point system, about hunting the yakima area units for deer during the rut but you had to draw a permit, odds were one in 3, or one in 4, like 100 permits and 300-400 applicants. Back in the days before the internet with green postcards you waited to show up in the mail the first week of August. Ah the good old days......[/quoteI vividly rememeber my first few years of hunting and my old man waiting for the postcard to show up in the mail. I remember when he drew his goat tag and seeing the look on his face That’s a sweet memory I bet!
I think if a guy turned up this data from the early 90's minds would be blown. I remember reading an article in the early 90's, before the point system, about hunting the yakima area units for deer during the rut but you had to draw a permit, odds were one in 3, or one in 4, like 100 permits and 300-400 applicants. Back in the days before the internet with green postcards you waited to show up in the mail the first week of August. Ah the good old days......[/quoteI vividly rememeber my first few years of hunting and my old man waiting for the postcard to show up in the mail. I remember when he drew his goat tag and seeing the look on his face
Quote from: CarbonHunter on March 04, 2024, 05:39:06 PMBack in the early 2000’s I had an opportunity to move to Idaho and my thought process was I really liked where and who I hunted with. Not long ago I was thinking “what the heck was I thinking?” Seeing these regs and remembering how much opportunity we had just a generation ago I know why I didn’t move. Mostly because jobs paid so much more in Washington but today I would give up the pay for the hunting in Idaho. Idaho is only 15-20 years behind us. It’s coming for all the states. Some faster and some slower. Colorado and Oregon will be next to fall. Wyoming will be last but it’s coming to all.
Back in the early 2000’s I had an opportunity to move to Idaho and my thought process was I really liked where and who I hunted with. Not long ago I was thinking “what the heck was I thinking?” Seeing these regs and remembering how much opportunity we had just a generation ago I know why I didn’t move. Mostly because jobs paid so much more in Washington but today I would give up the pay for the hunting in Idaho.
Quote from: dvolmer on March 05, 2024, 09:09:57 AMQuote from: CarbonHunter on March 04, 2024, 05:39:06 PMBack in the early 2000’s I had an opportunity to move to Idaho and my thought process was I really liked where and who I hunted with. Not long ago I was thinking “what the heck was I thinking?” Seeing these regs and remembering how much opportunity we had just a generation ago I know why I didn’t move. Mostly because jobs paid so much more in Washington but today I would give up the pay for the hunting in Idaho. Idaho is only 15-20 years behind us. It’s coming for all the states. Some faster and some slower. Colorado and Oregon will be next to fall. Wyoming will be last but it’s coming to all.THIS! PS, I think most forget there was a lot less human population back then too. Yes, WDFW has not managed well, but it is foolish at best to believe human population/growth has not made a HUGE impact on ungulates, and our sport.As an example, I started bow hunting long before it was a popular thing (Bear whitetail hunter was THE bow to have lol). Very rarely did you see another hunter. Currently, take a drive into a popular hunting area during archery season (Colockum/Swakane area) hunters everywhere.
Quote from: NOCK NOCK on March 07, 2024, 05:25:10 AMQuote from: dvolmer on March 05, 2024, 09:09:57 AMQuote from: CarbonHunter on March 04, 2024, 05:39:06 PMBack in the early 2000’s I had an opportunity to move to Idaho and my thought process was I really liked where and who I hunted with. Not long ago I was thinking “what the heck was I thinking?” Seeing these regs and remembering how much opportunity we had just a generation ago I know why I didn’t move. Mostly because jobs paid so much more in Washington but today I would give up the pay for the hunting in Idaho. Idaho is only 15-20 years behind us. It’s coming for all the states. Some faster and some slower. Colorado and Oregon will be next to fall. Wyoming will be last but it’s coming to all.THIS! PS, I think most forget there was a lot less human population back then too. Yes, WDFW has not managed well, but it is foolish at best to believe human population/growth has not made a HUGE impact on ungulates, and our sport.As an example, I started bow hunting long before it was a popular thing (Bear whitetail hunter was THE bow to have lol). Very rarely did you see another hunter. Currently, take a drive into a popular hunting area during archery season (Colockum/Swakane area) hunters everywhere.No doubt humans have had a huge impact on game species. Recreational pressure, vehicle mortality, filling wintering ground full of vacation homes. We're not living in Yellowstone that's for sure. Mule deer have it pretty rough these days and we've affected every aspect of their existence. Which is why its absolutely ridiculous to think that the "hands off, let nature balance itself" theory is still applicable or viable. It is our duty to mitigate predator pressure in response to all of this, we are well beyond letting nature sort itself out.
Can't forget about 100,000's of thousands of acres of good habit lost to fires and replaced with CHEAT GRASS. UT and ID have started really studying the effects of cheat grass on mule deer and its not good. There's some fixes but it's not cheap. WA does essentially zilch when it comes to habitat restoration. Fire burns up winter brows, we just let it go to cheat. Instead of planting sage and native grasses we just wait for mother nature to hopefully do it in 100 years or so. At least we can still complain about not baiting bears though. That seems to be helping