2007 toutle/marg. tags grrrr!

[nwhunter]

Just looked at the new regs and saw what I was afraid of for the toutle and margaret. They added a bunch of cow tags to the archery hunt at the same time as the bull hunts. They did move it back to Sept 15-30 which is good for more into the rut and more chance of rain to help the fire danger issue but throwing in the cow tags at the same time stinks. I would rather have them in there the two weeks before and stir things up than have them all at the same time. Oh well the timeframe sure sounds good just wish there were bigger bulls like the eastside has to offer. Also for these tags if you aren't successful in sept. you can go back in Nov for a late hunt which is also a new thing. What do you think? nwhunter

[billythekidrock]

I was excited about the late season option for those units, but I did not notice the cow hunts at the same time. I was going to apply for them this year, but now I have to rethink.

[rackattack]

Wait all these years to draw one of these tags and now you have cow hunters in there on your quality hunt.  I don't know what they were thinking.  

[Ghost Hunter]

Thinking your gonna have company like everbody else   Just go enjoy the hunt

[MADMAX]

Hunt them smart if you draw, I can give you what worked for me, I have drawn both tags, also now with all the gates ,I would think it should be a lot better.

[bobcat]

I put in for muzzleloader Toutle, bull and cow. Both are the same early season, but there are only a total of 101 permits, so that's really not bad for a unit of that size. The only bad thing for me is that there will be a lot of archery hunters in there ahead of me. Unless, of course, Weyerhaeuser has it shut down during archery season for fire danger. But that's another thing that concerns me is that the whole unit could still be closed during early muzzleloader season. Oh well, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

[rackattack]

MADMAX what years did you draw your tags and how did you end up doing?  Seems getting drawn is the real tough part to those hunts.  Bobcat, good luck on your draw, were those the only two choices you put down?

[bobcat]

rackattack,  I did Toutle Bull for #1, and the Toutle Cow for #3. My second choice was a cow permit in another part of the state which is a late hunt. I couldn't put in for Margaret, as my hunting partner is putting in for the same hunts, and it wouldn't work very well if one of us drew Margaret and the other Toutle.

[rackattack]

Bobcat, I know the feeling.  With all these new cow opportunities, it would be pretty easy to have a group, or friends split among different units. 

[MADMAX]

I drew Margaret AHE in 97(heavy 5x5) and Toutle in 1999 (3x3)

[bobcat]

Yeah, we had a hard time deciding whether to apply together, or separately. But we decided it would be better to increase our odds of at least one of us getting a permit by applying separately. Besides, my brother has 3 points, and I only have 1. And we'll still hunt together even if only one of us has a tag, and really, I don't think I'd want to pack out two elk on one hunt anyway. For deer we did apply as partners, but that's different, deer hunting to me is for fun, while elk hunting is sometimes more work than it is fun. 

[Opportunist]

They should have left the early season for permitted bull hunters and gave out the cow permits for the late season. Heck any time except for during a permit bull rut hunt! They've been doing the same thing with the rifle cow tags, holding the cow permit season during the general rifle season.

[funkster]

Bobcat,from what the WDFW told me it is usually better to put in as a group esp if you only have 1 point. They add all the group members points and square them.(this is how they pull for single tags as well)I think for elk you can have 12 people to a group. So in your case you guys would have 4 total points,so your group would go through the system 16 times. If you applied separately your name would only go through once and your buddy would go through 9 times. We are going to put in as a group for a Margaret and toutle bull tag with 13 total points for a total of a 169 times through the system. They started the weighted points system in 1996 so the most points per person could only be 11. Hope this helps!!

[rackattack]

Funkster, I think you may have read something wrong. When you put in for a group they average the points for all the group then square them.  So if you had 4 and a buddy had 2 then the average would be 3.  Square that and the group would have 9 chances.  Individually you would have had 16 and your buddy 4.  Otherwise it would not be fair to individuals that apply.

[billythekidrock]

Unless you have little points and your partners have lots, the better odds of being drawn go to the single apps. Especially if there is a small amount of permits and alot of people applying.