how many un - true spikes got poached this weekend

[Elkrunner]

I am just curious here.  How many people that are complaining about the true spike rule were are the public meetings last year when this rule was discussed?  Its sort of like voting.  If you voted then you have every right to complain.  If you are not putting forth the effort to vote or in this case, go to the public meetings with the fish and wildlife, then quit complaining.  If you do not like it then get off you butt and do something about it.  Just my 

[bobcat]

Are you kidding? Nobody goes to those meetings. I've gone to a couple so I know how few actually show up at the meetings. Many meetings are scheduled on Saturday during hunting season. Could be one reason a lot of hunters don't go. Besides that, even if you do go, they only give you 3 minutes to talk and even with that they don't care what you say anyway, as they already have their minds made up. The meetings are just a formality and I don't believe the public really has any say on how hunting seasons are set in this state. I think everyone has a right to complain about improper management of our wildlife. It's actually quite a stretch to even refer to what the WDFW does as "management."  

[Elkrunner]

I just believe that sitting by saying that its a joke is never going to change anything.  I personally do my due diligence and go to meetings, write letters to the WDFW and have actually sat down with my local representatives.  We will never change a thing if we all sit around and complain and never act. 

[gunnarnewt]

     I can tell you from experience, that public input DOES NOT MATTER to wdfw. I've been to the public forums about elk, and also mechanized duck decoys. So let's talk elk first. When I moved back to Washington they had public forums going on as they were discussing going to spike only hunting on the east side.....You probably remember those. Public opinion was overwhelmingly against spike only hunting, yet what happened? We got spike only regs. I agree with others on this thread that we need to go to draw hunting only for elk. I am more than happy to sit out a year or two if when I can hunt I have the opportunity to harvest any bull, instead of searching for one of the 50 spikes in my unit! The same with the decoy debate.....over 80% of the "public" opinion was to allow the dekes, yet what did wdfw do? they outlawed tham anyways! It's a travesty that a public agency like wdfw has the right to do whatever the hell they want without any consequences1 I still believe that we, as Washington hunters, would be better served going to a permit only system......We'll continue to have these problems and arguments until it happens!There I said it, I feel better, now flame on!

[Glockster]

Ding ding ding...we have a winner! 

The public comment/imput is used to validate whatever decision they ALREADY decided to make!

If the public testimony is favorable to their decision they say they listened to the public and decided based on that.

If the public input is contrary they say they took the side of the resource and didn't cave to public pressure.

I still think it is important to go to the meetings and be counted.

[DuckDr.Duke]

I agree with gunnarnewt, but every one should have to draw, Archery, MF, ML.

[colockumelk]

Ding ding ding...we have a winner! 

The public comment/imput is used to validate whatever decision they ALREADY decided to make!

If the public testimony is favorable to their decision they say they listened to the public and decided based on that.

If the public input is contrary they say they took the side of the resource and didn't cave to public pressure.

I still think it is important to go to the meetings and be counted.

Yeah that is true.  I went to the meetings when they were deciding on whether to do True Spike or Permit only in the Colockum.  I provided OVERWHELMING evidence that it needed to go to permit only and how any responsible person with a brain could see that.  They didnt' believe that the problem was that bad.  The council asked "That sounds pretty radical, where did you get that info?"  You should have seen the look on his face when I replied "Studies conducted by the WDFW!"  Speechless.  Anyways the public didn't want Permit only and wanted True Spike.  So WDFW wanted it to so they could still sell more tags so guess which decision they went with.  And now people complain about it.  

Now in peoples defense most people are not on this forum or are as knowledable as members on here.  So most people just did not know how bad it has gotten.  The WDFW certainly paints a rosey picture of the Colockum elk herd.   Then last spring I wrote a paper and posted it on here.  I think this woke alot of people up.  Then the Yakima Herald and the Tri-Cities paper did an article on my paper.  I think that has awakened alot more people on what the staus of this herd.  I'm not saying that Im some sort of MLK, and great things will happen because of this small little article but I think alot of people complain because they just don't know.  To be honest I wouldn't know either if I wasn't such an elk nerd and wanted to learn more about the Colockum Elk Herd.  Im trying to get the Ellensburgs Daily Record to do an article and Wenatchee's paper to do an article as well but they havn't shown interest yet.  But my goal is to educate the public and raise awareness.  From there its up to the people.  

[bobcat]

All most people care about is they want to be able to go deer hunting AND elk hunting every single year. If there are no animals to hunt, I guess that's just a minor point to them.

[Lowedog]

Most people I know who hunt the Colockum general elk season do it more for the week long camp out, drinking, playing cards with their buddies than for the actual hunt.  I have never hunted in the Colockum and never plan to and am all for permit only elk hunting, that's basically what it is for me anyway. 

My point being that IMO the masses will never go for permit only because to them it is all about the annual elk camp event. 

[shedcrazy]

Most people I know who hunt the Colockum general elk season do it more for the week long camp out, drinking, playing cards with their buddies than for the actual hunt.  I have never hunted in the Colockum and never plan to and am all for permit only elk hunting, that's basically what it is for me anyway. 

My point being that IMO the masses will never go for permit only because to them it is all about the annual elk camp event. 

Good point, thats pretty much on the mark!

[bobcat]

Yes you are right, most people would never agree to the elimination of general season elk hunting. But, why can't the WDFW do it anyway? They've done it in most of the other western states. I just don't understand why this state is so different that we need to have unlimited numbers of over-the-counter deer and elk tags. I know it's partially due to the money issue. But I say if the number of tags were reduced by half, then just double the price of tags to make up for it.