cow tags for 328/328

[coachcw]

It seems to me that if they gave a few cow permits out and limited the masterhunter tags in dec they could accomplish the same goal without as much expossure to the general non hunting public . Just seems to me that hunting those elk before they move down in farm land is more of a hunt ?

[stewcamp]

Agreed! I drew a cow tag up there the last time they had cow permits. Dad and I filled them opening morning.

[kirkl]

Those master hunter hunts arent a hunt, there a shoot aimed at pushing the elk off of farmers hay stacks/fields. i have a late tag im hoping to fill if i get called and will have no qualms about it.  People can cry on here till
there blue in the face.  Indian bashing must be getting slow eh, time for the master hunter bashing?

[Biggerhammer]

My line of thinking was that they felt they were keeping their cow harvest no's where they felt they should be with the archery hunters during the early archery.

[colockumelk]

I don't bash the Master Hunters or the Master Hunter program as a whole.  I will however bash the hell out of the program in Kittitas Valley.  It is meant to keep the elk off of the hay fields.  It is a band aid and doesn't do anything other than keep a few of the farmers happy.  Every year it seems one of the master hunters gets in trouble for something.  Usually its hunting on the wild life refuge. 

That elk herd has a serious bull to cow ratio problem.  They need to give back antlerless hunting back to the archers and give out some cow tags to the rifle and muzzle loaders.  To helf with the ratio.  But they wont do that coachcw for 1 simple reason.  The WDFW wants to show that their managment program in the Colockum is working.  Since they can't point towards the bull:cow ratio  as success they point to the fact that that herd is increasing in numbers (cows only) so since they don't have cow permits that herd continues to grow.  Then the WDFW can sit back and say "see that herd is at sustainment level, we did a good job"  never mind that 90% of that herd is cows. 

The use of Master Hunters in the Colockum is a band aid and doesn't work.  They need to put in an elk fence.  Plus the farmers are a bunch of cry babys.  On the one hadn you see cattle grazing and wintering in the hay fields and apparantly do no damage.  But the second an elk steps foot on a hay field they create damage.  Bunch of cry babies trying to get handouts if you ask me.  The WDFW needs to tell them they live in the woods with a huge food plot.  Build a fence if you dont' want the elk there.

Next item.  If the WDFW wants to continue to use hunters to harvest problem animals then they shouldn't us master hunters.  They should let youth hunters and/or disabled do it.  Also most of the area that Master Hunters can hunt in there is in the sage brush and not in the hay fields. 

Its all a bunch of politics.  I support the Master Hunter program as a whole.  But how they use them in the Colockum is pure and utter BS!!! 

[coachcw]

I would like the progam if they gave the master hunters some quality hunts , shoooting elk in a damage hunt dosn't seem to be master anything . we all should be able to tell what lies benond our trarget if its a saftey issue ? plus there's abunch of old cows in that herd that arnt breeding