White River Quality Elk

[trophyhunt]

Like I said before, I understand that you and many other members have been fighting with the tribes for along time and NOBODY likes the fact that they basically have a private hunting reserve.  This is obviously a very touchy issue with you and several others on this site, so take all of your anger and try to figure out how to make your elected officials work for you. I do agree with you that if WDFW isn't going to properly patrol the unit, then re-open it to everyone and don't just let the Indians kill the majority of the bulls in the unit.

I with you on this statement, but with the money the tribes throw at the politicians our voice will always fall on deaf ears.  As far as the wardens objectives, I can't and wouldn't speak for him but I'm pretty sure it would be a life long dream of his and many, many others in this state if we could all be seen as equals in the field and on the water.

[trophyhunt]

I do piss people off and that's not what I'm intending to do, this subject is the most important to myself and other hunters that I hunt with. Not to mention a few guys on this web site. The white river is my favorite unit in this state mostly because it's where I grew up in as far as my hunting life goes. And it used to be over the counter for years, if I could hunt the blues everyear for big bulls then that would be my favorite by far.  So I don't mean to be personall it's just my fav spot and when indians do what they want in their it eats at my core, and a few others.  No bad feelings intended.

[cem3434]

I do piss people off and that's not what I'm intending to do, this subject is the most important to myself and other hunters that I hunt with. Not to mention a few guys on this web site. The white river is my favorite unit in this state mostly because it's where I grew up in as far as my hunting life goes. And it used to be over the counter for years, if I could hunt the blues everyear for big bulls then that would be my favorite by far.  So I don't mean to be personall it's just my fav spot and when indians do what they want in their it eats at my core, and a few others.  No bad feelings intended.

I know no bad feelings were intended on your behalf and I hope no bad feelings came across on my behalf.  I think we are on the same page with our thoughts on the Indians hunting this area the way they do, but you have obviously have had more run ins with them than I have. 

On a side note to all of you guys that drew this tag, trophyhunt and bigtex gave me a lot of useful information when I was trying to learn the unit last year.  If they offer up any information to you guys, then you should probably heed to their advice.

[bigtex]

As far as Bruce goes, he has been in that area for a long time and it appears to many people that he sometimes has his own objectives. This is the opinion of many others that I know because of some decisions he has made, especially with relocating cougars closer to Enumclaw. I probably spent 30 days in the unit last year scouting and hunting and I never seen him one time. I have only ever met the guy one time about 10 years ago and he didn't say anything that pushed me into liking or disliking him.

I do agree with you that if WDFW isn't going to properly patrol the unit, then re-open it to everyone and don't just let the Indians kill the majority of the bulls in the unit.

WDFW should up there patrols in units like the White River where the Indians hunt.  In all of my time scouting and hunting last year, I only ever seen one DNR patrol officer and the Muckleshoot enforcement officer several times.  The lack of patrol is one of the biggest problems and this is something you could probably do something about if you called your elected officials enough.

WDFW does patrol the White River unit quite a bit actually. As many of you know the unit is very large and has a ton of logging/forest roads, so actually running into any officer can be rare unless its at a check station. Cem, I think you may be wrong about the DNR Officer, there is basically no DNR land in the White River unit, I think you may have seen the USFS Officer (White pickup with green stripes)

The White River unit has two "main" landowners, Hancock Timber and USFS. Hancock has an agreement with WDFW Enforcement in that WDFW must patrol atleast 600 (the number I last heard) hours of Hancock lands in Pierce and King Counties (White River, Snoqualmie, Kapowsin and Eatonville Farms) and Hancock pays WDFW for this service. WDFW always goes beyond this number. Pierce County sheriff and the local USFS Officer who is a commissioned Pierce County Deputy also patrols the Hancock lands in Pierce County. So there is actually quite a bit of enforcement/patrol activity on the White River tree farm, and Bruce probably does the most patrol time on any Hancock lands in this state, and nearly all of that being on the White River.

But like I said in the beginning, just because you haven't seen a WDFW Officer doesn't mean they aren't there, the unit is big and has a ton of roads.