Big Game Hunting > Elk Hunting

Eastern Elk Management

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Longfield1:
I’ve been seriously hunting elk with a bow for a couple years now in Idaho. I’ve also taken a few online classes that give me a little insight on elk hunting that I’ve never thought about. Specifically, why is the eastern side of the state specifically the Yakima herd managed for age class? Spike only or true spike only means a lot of old bulls die of natural causes and go to waste. The big bull permits might as well be 0 it’s so low. And me as a late hunter would be better off putting points into a lottery ticket instead of trying to catch up.

How long has eastern been spike only? I feel like some hunters and the commission at the time wanted to manage the herds for big antlers instead of opportunities for regular folk.

I’ve read parts of the North American elk book put out by Wyoming years ago and they have quite a few interesting studies. One of them was a 3 year study of changing the management plan to open up any bull in a certain area. Their objective was to see the effect it would have on the herd. They found out at the end that yes there were less big  old bulls but that the herd health did not have a noticeable impact on the population. That younger bulls were still doing the job and that opportunities for regular hunters was much higher.
One of the long term questions was if mostly younger bulls were doing the breeding how would the herd social structure change as well as younger bulls would usually breed cows later than big bulls so calves would be a little younger going into the following winter. I may have gotten some minor details mixed up but that was the gist of it.
So was there a time in Washington when the eastern side wasn’t spike only?

steeleywhopper:
I remember when 3point minimum on deer and spike only went into effect in the Blues. I believe it was only supposed to be a 3 year deal and here we are now. Pretty sure that was in 1994 or 1995. The "true spike" rule is one that just baffles me and really cannot for the life of me see the good it's doing or has done other than put a bunch of 1x2 elk on the ground to waste.

RC:
Spikes are for us and the branch bulls are for the tribes.  I don't think a lot of the old bulls are dying of natural causes...

Longfield1:

--- Quote from: RC on December 03, 2025, 03:44:03 PM ---Spikes are for us and the branch bulls are for the tribes.  I don't think a lot of the old bulls are dying of natural causes...

--- End quote ---

After I posted this I thought why else would it be managed and immediately thought about the tribes. Why wouldn’t they want the biggest bulls for only them and not normal hunters. Must of been a behind the scenes deal. Just really unfortunate but in reality, that makes the most sense. If it was hunters wanted bigger elk then they got screwed with point creep and lack of tags. If they gave out 100 or so big bull tags a year that would be better but I think observatory had 1 big bull tag lol.

Kingofthemountain83:
It really doesn't make sense to me either... I read the Yakima herd is healthy and at management goals... Muzzy in Cowichie got 2 quality any bull tags this year... I seen 12 branch bulls within 400 yards on opening day...

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