WDFW News Release: Help shape future hunting seasons online or at meetings this

[Snapshot]

Done and I sent the link to two hundred like-minded individuals.

[pianoman9701]

I'll be going to the meeting in Centralia next Tuesday if anyone between Vancouver and there wants a ride.

[Ridgerunner]

Boy was that the biggest joke I've seen.  I've been filling out these scoping issues for at least the last 3 before this one and this one had hardly anything in it.  Based on this the changes for teh next 3 year cycle will be minimal, which is too bad. 

[NWWABOWHNTR]

Bigger shame was the amount of people who showed up for the meeting last night in Federal Way, maybe 25 people.  I will say that bowhunters were there in force though! 

[Snapshot]

Bigger shame was the amount of people who showed up for the meeting last night in Federal Way, maybe 25 people.  I will say that bowhunters were there in force though! 

Yeah, for a meeting held only 15 miles or so from the state's population center it was a pathetic turnout.

[Elkaholic daWg]

Boy was that the biggest joke I've seen.  I've been filling out these scoping issues for at least the last 3 before this one and this one had hardly anything in it.  Based on this the changes for teh next 3 year cycle will be minimal, which is too bad.

 I would have to disagree with your last sentence.  Can anyone remember ANY good changes made by them lately? (The last 30 years)

[pianoman9701]

Boy was that the biggest joke I've seen.  I've been filling out these scoping issues for at least the last 3 before this one and this one had hardly anything in it.  Based on this the changes for teh next 3 year cycle will be minimal, which is too bad.

 I would have to disagree with your last sentence.  Can anyone remember ANY good changes made by them lately? (The last 30 years)

I think they're moving in the right direction regarding cougar seasons. That's one positive change.

[Kain]

If you read the two quotes below I think it tells why there is not much in the survey.  They are being forced to minimize the changes to only include changes necessary for conservation OR that have been requested by hunters.  That last part is the big one.  We have the ability to request changes to the next three year plan.  So if there is changes you want considered you have to request them.    

As outlined in the timeline below, there will be two opportunities for you to provide your input during the process.Your first opportunity to participate will be in late-August. The Department will ask for your help identifying the major issues that are important to you for the next three-year hunting season cycle.

Under the Governor’s Rule Moratorium, changes to regulations that are 1) not necessary for
conservation, or 2) have not been specifically requested by those being regulated (hunters), should
not be submitted for consideration.

[pianoman9701]

Kain, PM sent.

[Elkaholic daWg]

 Can't make any of the meetings, but I have done the survey 6 times.

[Rainier10]

The turn out for the meeting was a little disappointing but the good side was I got to speak with each member one on one and voice my concerns.  Dave Ware and Jerry Nelson were good listeners and at the end of the meeting each representative did an overview of what they heard for comments.

At the beginning of the meeting they explained that because of budget cuts there were only going to be 4 meetings this year for input and that the scoping survey was a very important tool to receive input.  There are only six issues that they feel are critical this year, there were a lot of things that they thought needed attention but they could only deal with a few because of budget restrictions so these were the ones they thought they could get handle with the budget they have.

Dave said that we should fill out the additional comments at the end of the survey on issues that weren't covered in the survey.  He said the townhall style meetings are great but the written comments at the end of the survey are very powerful also.

[Gringo31]

Can someone explain just what this means?

Although the purpose and rationale for the spring bear hunt in Northeastern Washington is based on nuisance and damage activity by bears in the spring, there may be a secondary effect to deer fawn survival. Bears are known to prey on deer fawns in the spring. In most cases bear predation on deer fawns does not limit deer populations. It is unknown if bear predation on deer fawns in northeastern Washington is impacting the overall deer population growth. Nonetheless, increased spring bear harvest may have an ancillary impact to deer fawn survival.

I read it to mean that we try to limit nuisance bears which may increase fawn numbers but bears eating fawns usually don't hurt fawn numbers but we're not sure.

[Kain]

The turn out for the meeting was a little disappointing but the good side was I got to speak with each member one on one and voice my concerns.  Dave Ware and Jerry Nelson were good listeners and at the end of the meeting each representative did an overview of what they heard for comments.

At the beginning of the meeting they explained that because of budget cuts there were only going to be 4 meetings this year for input and that the scoping survey was a very important tool to receive input.  There are only six issues that they feel are critical this year, there were a lot of things that they thought needed attention but they could only deal with a few because of budget restrictions so these were the ones they thought they could get handle with the budget they have.

Dave said that we should fill out the additional comments at the end of the survey on issues that weren't covered in the survey.  He said the townhall style meetings are great but the written comments at the end of the survey are very powerful also.

Thanks for going and the report.  I plan on speaking tonight at the meeting in Centralia. 

[Rainier10]

How did the meeting go last night?

[Kain]

It was not the format I was thinking it would be.  First this was not a Wildlife Commission meeting.  It was a meeting with WDFW to help shape the recommendations they send to the committee. Second it was just an open meeting to discuss the issues with whichever WDFW rep was for your area or issue.  There was no presentation other than the poster boards and handouts for each item that was on the survey.

I really only got to talk about the cougar issue with Dr Martorello.  It sounds very likely that we will get a longer cougar season without weapons restrictions in the units that were under harvest goals.  He said again that those changes were not made for any management reasons and were made as a policy change that was floating the idea of switching all hunting to weapon specific seasons.  The bear hunters raised enough hell to get their season saved but cougar hunters were not vocal enough....until now.     Makes no sense to me to change one and not the other but hey thats government.  He seems like he understood and even agreed with most of our concerns.  They read this site, every email they receive and even read the facebook comments that we post.  They are not allowed to respond of course but said that might be changing.  He said they have one more chance to get the pilot program back and that could be it.  I told him to let us know if there was any way we could help. 

I also talked to him about the cougar incidents not making the website as is require by law.  He said they are being counted on a master list but just are not making the website.  I guess they just get to pick and choose which laws they follow since it requires them to post those incidents within 10 days.   

Very low turnout by hunters.  Maybe six or seven of us but Dave Ware was there and explained the process for this years season setting.  Hunters can request changes to the season that are not part of the survey.  So we need to identify any pressing issues that we want changed and get our arguments in order then leave comments on the survey.  They mentioned they had nearly 1900 so far so that is good.