Rifle hunters have nothing to do with the ML season, they are not in the woods when the ML guys are. Now archery, ya they get some good units, us ML guys get some good units and we share some ok units. The archery guys get the better end of the stick but thats expected. Whether the dfw really knows how many elk are in a unit or not, they do have a number of elk they want killed and over the years have a pretty good idea which hunters will kill how many in each unit. Of course there are variables like weather that change that year to year, but they have a general idea. I don't think they really know how many are in a unit though. Wa is a tough state to figure that out. Not like montana or somewhere in open country where they can count them. The bulk of counting here in wa is done by helicopters in the areas they can see the ground, then multiplied somehow to account for the acres/sq miles or what not they can't see, or they will base it off of last years hunting. So its far from scientific.
