Washington Goats

[bugle-em]

Looking through my new Eastmans, how come Washington has one of the larger populations of Mt. Goats and so few tags? just wondered.

[Houndhunter]

liberals

[norsepeak]

yeah, I was reading that mag too, and the thing that really tics me off is the head bio that did the study here in wa told me that he estimates the pop at 3800 animals, but then he tells eastman's only 2100 to more closely justify the low number of tags even though other states have lower overall pops, but high tags....makes no sense to me

[elkrack]

I can't stand liberals they tell you what you should and shouldn't be doing but when you even mention anything about them they get all fired up about their rights. SCREW THEM.

[HUNT]

I just read that myself a couple days ago.  16 total tags.  Plus a nonresident can put in for the same cost as a resident.  They don't even have to buy a license first like they do for elk and deer?  You would think Washington could easily support twice as many goat tags and still have a growing population.  Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[bobcat]

It does cost a little more for a non-resident to apply for special permit hunts here. Five dollars for us, Fifty dollars for them. But still, it's cheaper than it should be for non-residents.

[Curly]

They want to leave as many goats as possilbe for Cougar food................that way the cougars can stay up high and not have to come down lower to compete with the wolves for deer and elk.

[boneaddict]

There are some areas that seem to be void of goats that sure could sustain them I'd think if the predators were under control.  Too bad the predators get all of the attention.  Its always been that way.  Save the raptor(screw the pheasants), save the wolf(screw the deer and elk or moose).   People don't see cats so they assume there aren't many of them(screw the goats and deer and elk).  Save a sealion (screw the salmon)  

[Ray]

I said it before and it looks like someone else is saying it too.  I do believe that someone is deflating goat numbers in the state in order to reduce hunting opportunities. I have no evidence which is scientifically valid or other leads to support it. I only have my own eyes. I just see a lot of goats and their numbers in some areas are probably large enough to sustain a hunt. I have been encountering goats in so many areas during the past few years which I previously thought would not have held goats. I'm just a keyboard jockey though.

I agree that cats are probably one of the biggest problems on the goats. Not encroachment of humans or their civilization. Goats seem to be rarely concerned with human interaction on trails and such. In fact I believe they usually benefit from it.

[boneaddict]

I agree that cats are probably one of the biggest problems on the goats. Not encroachment of humans or their civilization. Goats seem to be rarely concerned with human interaction on trails and such. In fact I believe they usually benefit from it.

Golden eagles and cats.   When they took hounds out of the picture..downhill from there.

[Wea300mag]

Those numbers are real eye-opening. This state is way out of proportion, haha, but we knew that.

[popeshawnpaul]

They have always underestimated the population.  What has changed is the biologists all read a few studies by a couple biologists and changed their management strategy.  Wouldn't you look to a state that successfully funs a good goat population for a good test study instead of a book or study?  We use to give out tons of tags here and there was no shortage of goats.  I'm sure skyval or the other hikers that cruised our mountains in the 80's and 90's can attest to that.  If the biologists are liberals, then you are right.  They are the culprit.

[bearpaw]

It does cost a little more for a non-resident to apply for special permit hunts here. Five dollars for us, Fifty dollars for them. But still, it's cheaper than it should be for non-residents.

In Washington non-res hunters pay 10x as much as res hunters, this system is used in most states. Look at the high price the Non-res pays for a tag after he draws here.....

In WA only 2% of revenue is from non-res hunters, far more WA hunters go out of state than other hunters coming here.

Anyway my point is that your philosophy is why you will have to mortgage the house to go hunting out of state, residents in every state want non-res to pay more, so you will if you ever go to ID, MT, WY, AL, etc.

[buckhorn2]

Said on TV they realeased 18 goats someplace but I did;nt hear where.

[bobcat]

The word is out that Washington is a cheap state for a non-resident to apply for moose, mountain goat, and bighorn sheep tags. They only pay approximately $50 per application. No requirement to buy a license or anything else first. So people from all across the country are putting in for our once-in-a-lifetime tags and decreasing our odds of drawing. That's why I say they should have to pay more. Either that or limit non-residents to only 5% of the tags like Oregon does.