Retirement - Blue Mountains District Biologist - Pat Fowler (Updated)

[400out]

Glad to hear he gets to enjoy retirement!  I never talked to him but it appears he did his part 

[bucklucky]

I have to thank Pat also, he was very helpful with information when I drew my blues tag. It was fun to talk with him. Hope he has a great retirement.

[yelp]

I am putting this in for another successful elk hunter Pat Fowler helped out.

Mr. Fowler,

Thank You!!!

Darin Groom
Walla Walla, WA

Tucannon Muzzleloader

[wsucowboy]

He sure has helped a lot of people take some great bulls!

[yelp]

I found an article from Washington Oregon Game and Fish....it pretty much sums up his years of hard work.  Here is an excerpt..


WASHINGTON BLUES
Unlike the thick and steep terrain west of the Cascades, the Blues are more accessible and far more open, rendering resident elk more vulnerable to heavy hunting pressure than their coastal cousins. To maintain the bull-to-cow ratios and the number of mature bulls needed to achieve optimum elk populations in the Blues, only a relative few hunters will be able to bag branched-antler bulls each season. When hunters do draw a tag, they can expect a quality hunt.



It wasn't always so. Pat Fowler, district biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's Blue Mountains District, remembers what he describes as "the hunter chaos days" prior to the implementation of spike-only bag limits in 1989.



"We used to have 18,000 elk hunters in the Blues," Fowler recalls. It was a low-quality hunt with a hunter behind every tree, and there was very low bull escapement. Post-season surveys would find only three to five bulls per 100 cows, and a 3-year-old would have been an ancient bull. Only 65 percent of the cows were being bred, and half of those were being bred late, which resulted in later calf births and lower calf survival. A lot of the time, you couldn't even tell there was a rut going on in the fall.



"Now we have 4,000 hunters, and you can have a quality hunt," Fowler adds, noting that bull ratios are as high as 15:100 and pregnancy rates among cows have increased dramatically. "The problem is, you have to shoot spikes, unless you draw a permit for any bull. If you get one of those, you'll have the hunt of a lifetime."



The lucky handful of hunters who drew permits this year for the Wenaha Wilderness and Mill Creek watershed stand a good chance of shooting bulls with 360 inches or more of measurable antler, according to Paul Wik, assistant wildlife biologist for the district. Wik says the Dayton and Blue Creek areas are also looking good for 2004. Private land may limit access to hunters in these two areas, so Wik encourages hunters who drew tags to scout early and scout often.



Washington's Blue Mountain elk seasons offer opportunity for rifle, bow and muzzleloader hunters, but few opportunities to bag a branched-antler bull with any weapon. The general spike-only rifle season runs Oct. 30 to Nov. 7 in Units 145-154 and Units 162-186. A handful of rifle and archery tags are available for any bull in Units 154, 162, 169 and 172. A spike-only muzzleloader hunt that spans Oct. 2-8 is offered for Unit 172, and a late-season bowhunt for antlerless elk is held Nov. 20 to Dec. 8 in Units 178 and 186.



In the 15 years since the adoption of spike-only bag limits, Fowler says, most hunters have recognized that the new regulations are good for elk and elk hunters.


"Having no adults in the population is not good management," Fowler says. "You'll never make everyone happy, but we have to do what is best for the elk herds, and this was definitely what was best for the elk herds."

[yelp]

I took this video in 2008 in the Blues..Oh yeah there are no elk in the Blues! 
 

Elk of the Flipper Hole 2008

[yelp]

I will be showing you all what we did for Pat tonight.  ITs Awesome!     Story and photos to come!

[MtnMuley]

I remember that video a couple years ago.  Never undertood your song choice.....  Anyhow, great bulls.  I was wondering if any of those 3 hawgs became famous.  If I'm thinking straight, at least one did......

[DOUBLELUNG]

Most hunters do not realize how hard Pat worked as an advocate for the health and quality of the Blue Mountains elk herd, with a relatively powerless handful of supporters within WDFW.  Without his convictions and tenacity, the herd would not be what it is today.  This man bore an incredible load of grief, both from within WDFW and from hunters, for MANY years, virtually single-handedly.  He should truly be thanked by every hunter interested in the wildlife resources south of the Snake River in WA.

[yelp]

Most hunters do not realize how hard Pat worked as an advocate for the health and quality of the Blue Mountains elk herd, with a relatively powerless handful of supporters within WDFW.  Without his convictions and tenacity, the herd would not be what it is today.  This man bore an incredible load of grief, both from within WDFW and from hunters, for MANY years, virtually single-handedly.  He should truly be thanked by every hunter interested in the wildlife resources south of the Snake River in WA.

Well said.

[yelp]

HINT:  This look familiar?? 

[MtnMuley]

That's what I was thinking from your video, but your HD camera was shaking too bad!

[yelp]

That's what I was thinking from your video, but your HD camera was shaking too bad!

   I shook so bad!  LOL not sure though it may be the same bull.    .But the pic hint was more about what maybe in store this evening.  Its awesome!

[MtnMuley]

 

[Woodchuck]