I hate WDFG

[rainshadow1]

Oh heck yeah it's cool! Especially to a hand call! Way to go! That tells you right there that your fundamentals are excellent. Your set-up, and execution of a calling stand was really, really good.

Seeing you was a bit of a "trauma" but not bad. I'd go with trotter on the 3 days and he won't remember or associate much of anything.

[one-eyed Ross]

To get a big cat to come to a call...man, what a rush that must have been...Okay, so you couldn't get him, but still, you know your technique works!

[Curly]

if it makes you feel any better, I was on some usfw ground which has a bible of what you can shoot and where laws. I watched a coyote bask in the sun for 20 minutes at 50 paces........but he was on the wrong side of a bever pond thus breaking the shooting across a body of water verbage.

I love to kill coyotes. I pretend they are wolves, makes me all giddy inside.

I've never heard of that law, so I guess I would have illegally shot........

[buglebrush]

if it makes you feel any better, I was on some usfw ground which has a bible of what you can shoot and where laws. I watched a coyote bask in the sun for 20 minutes at 50 paces........but he was on the wrong side of a bever pond thus breaking the shooting across a body of water verbage.

I love to kill coyotes. I pretend they are wolves, makes me all giddy inside.

Hilarious!  I especially look forward to killing my next coyote!  

[steeleywhopper]

So I can go out with my bow during deer and elk archery season and hunt "cougars" while my buddies are all deer or elk hunting. Sounds like they did not have their heads screwed on straight when they made these rules. Doesn't make sense to me, bear season is open during this time and you can be out in the woods with a firearm?
 I guess you better get that bow and get after him. Here Kitty Kitty

[nontypical176]

Just have to weigh in on this topic.  Another thing about cougars during bow or Muzzle loader deer or elk seasons is that its open at night, we had guys running lites screwing up our early mornin elk hunt last year.

I spoke with the guy in charge of the cougar program for the WDFW.  Here is some of the conversation:

After hounds were banned, they made cougar season longer, and lots more cats were being killed than hound hunters ever had.

The cats that were being killed were also more mature and younger cats move in to fill the voids left after that cat is killed.  Younger cats use much smaller territories and are usually the cats that cause problems.

I asked him "Well if more cats were being killed, where are these new cats coming from?"  They have no idea.

The only cougar studies that have ever been done in Washington have happened on the east side of the state, so any regulations that are enforced are generally because of things happening in the east.......Pretty stupid huh.

I told him that I was upset, Here on the western side of Washington, Hounds have been shut down, timber industries are keeping more locked gates, deer populations had been in decline and people have been seeing more and more cougars, but we are beeing regulated by what happens on the east side.  And now we also have a shorter season. 

He said "With out there being more money to study cats in the west which is very difficult anyhow, there isn't much hope for hunters.  Too many people and organizations oppose predator hunting completely and unless they start taking public opinion by individual regions that hunters are out numbered.

He also said "We tried to put enough special cougar permits out there so that interested individuals can draw nearly every year."

I said take a better look at the numbers, your odds are more like  50/50 and if your not lucky they are much worse than that.

I didn't chew on him too much, because he talked with me for a good 45 minutes.  He says most of our problem is environmental Wackydoos and there isn't a whole lot the WDFW can do about that.

Thought you all might be interested in that info.

[rainshadow1]

Sounds like you had a good conversation, nontypical. Appreciate that insight.

The Archery, then Muzzleloader, then Rifle thing isn't failed logic. I mean, if someone wants to hunt elk or deer without a tag, they're going to. Not many laws can stop a poacher. The logic on that hasn't failed, it's just really quite lazy, and doesn't do much for the population control of the Lions... as demonstrated by Jamieb's call-in.

Speaking of population control, that's the reason they came up with that wonkie bio-Logic concerning the mature cats being killed (Suppoosedly by boot hunters but where are these "increased" harvest numbers?) then the young cats not having the instruction and guidance of the mature cats, thereby causing the problems. Interpret: It's not an overpopulation causing young cats to expand into neighborhoods and cause problems, it's a lack of Motherly Cougar education! (Which is the stupidest thing I've ever heard put forward by supposedly educated biologists.) One only needs to look at the payroll of WDFW next to the "biologist" titles to find a large concentration of "environmental wackydoos!"

[buglebrush]

most of our problem is environmental Wackydoos and there isn't a whole lot the WDFW can do about that.
 

[stumprat]

There is a reason more cat's are being killed now than when hounds were legal for big game hunting. Back then cougar tags were drawn. Meaning you had to put in for the drawing.
It wasn't until after the vote to outlaw hounds for Bear, Cougar, and Bobcat. That you could buy an over the counter Cougar tag.

[Jamieb]

I'll be back up in that area this weekend with my bow, I have to figure out a good way to carry the bow when I'm on my bike.
The gated road That I've been rideing, glassing clearcuts, and calling in is long enough for me to spend the whole day in there, Sunday was my first daylight to dark trip in there and theres a couple of spots that I didnt make it to. I moved a couple of trail cams to game trails up on the ridge that I called in the cat on so maybee I'll at least get his picture.

[Jamieb]

I guess the one big positive out of this is that it gives my more confidence in my calling. I've called in tons of yotes over the years but never a cougar before. I think the biggest reason has been that I dont normaly call long enough on a set before I get board and move on.

[spikehunter]

HEY GASMAN U GOT IT RIGHT  S.S.S

[Jamieb]

HEY GASMAN U GOT IT RIGHT  S.S.S

I'm not about to look down on anybody for doing that (SSS), but I decided along time ago that I'm not going to pick and choose witch laws to follow and with laws to ignore.

[buglebrush]

I'll be back up in that area this weekend with my bow, I have to figure out a good way to carry the bow when I'm on my bike.

JamieB I strap my bow horizontally to my daypack.  It works great on my bike!

[rickomatic]

There is a reason more cat's are being killed now than when hounds were legal for big game hunting. Back then cougar tags were drawn. Meaning you had to put in for the drawing.

Are you sure? I thought I remembered buying over the counter "just in case" cougar and bear tags whenever I went deer hunting years ago. Of course, my rememberer isn't as sharp as it used to be.