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Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: Woodlandbrew on July 21, 2019, 06:31:37 PM


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Title: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Woodlandbrew on July 21, 2019, 06:31:37 PM
Hey, y’all! I have a quick question that I can’t seem to get an answer on. I’m looking at accessing an east side elk unit from the west side. I’m just wondering about the legality of such a thing. It seems like it should be fine, but the idea of running into a warden at a west side trailhead with an elk(if I should be so lucky) and a east side tag might raise some awkward conversations. Any info would be much appreciated!
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: buckfvr on July 21, 2019, 06:37:26 PM
Simply notify them (wdfw warden specific if possible) of your intentions ahead of time.......
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: huntnfmly on July 21, 2019, 06:39:32 PM
Hey, y’all! I have a quick question that I can’t seem to get an answer on. I’m looking at accessing an east side elk unit from the west side. I’m just wondering about the legality of such a thing. It seems like it should be fine, but the idea of running into a warden at a west side trailhead with an elk(if I should be so lucky) and a east side tag might raise some awkward conversations. Any info would be much appreciated!
Pics of downed animal with geo tags on them would probably help with that
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Woodlandbrew on July 21, 2019, 06:43:39 PM
Thanks!
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Blacktail Sniper on July 21, 2019, 06:49:20 PM
Worse case, plan on a hike back to the kill site.   :dunno:
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Tbar on July 21, 2019, 06:53:24 PM
It won't raise an eyebrow.  It's actually quite common in several places, even Idaho access to hunt wa. 
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: KFhunter on July 21, 2019, 07:11:46 PM
It won't raise an eyebrow.  It's actually quite common in several places, even Idaho access to hunt wa.

Far as I know there's no law saying you must show the WDFW officer where you killed the animal.

You are required to show a license, tag or permit, or display wildlife taken when asked by a WDFW officer or other enforcement officer, but I haven't seen anything saying you must go with an Officer to show them where you harvested that animal.   Quite likely I wouldn't be able to anyways, physically exhausted to go back in miles to show them some blood...heck with that.

However if I would protect myself by marking GPS coords of the shot and the final resting place/gutting area of the animal. 

Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: davk on July 21, 2019, 08:15:30 PM
What would be the course of action if you shot an animal in one unit, and it went into the neighboring unit?  E to W, open to closed unit, etc.  Im guessing you can recover but not shoot again if needed?
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Dan-o on July 21, 2019, 09:15:15 PM
You don't need to notify anyone.

Simply hunt legally.

If you have an E Wa tag, hunt there.  How you access it does not matter.
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: HntnFsh on July 22, 2019, 05:31:13 AM
I agree. Man,y many people enter a specific tag unit from a different area. Happens every day of hunting season I'm sure. To me its no different than living in the Winston unit and drawing a tag in a different unit. Have to access it from somewhere.
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Skyvalhunter on July 22, 2019, 05:37:46 AM
2nd the idea of taking pics should it come to be an issue but probably wont
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: ELKBURGER on July 22, 2019, 06:09:41 AM
A warden may wish to see the kill site or want to see a blood trail if the animal crossed a boundary after the shot IF he suspects any wrongdoing or to clear the hunter if there are any accusations. As others have said, hunt legally and ethically. :tup:
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Jpmiller on July 22, 2019, 06:53:53 AM
I'm actually curious about showing a warden a kill site. I have heard of a couple different folks who have had to go back to show wardens kill sites (not sure if voluntary or not on their part) but I don't know if it was immediately or later. I'd have a hard time leaving an animal I just hauled out of the woods to the truck and not getting it in and processed. Seems like a recipe for spoiled meat.
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: ELKBURGER on July 22, 2019, 12:10:33 PM
I had a friend that needed to clear his name after a picture was posted of his bear in camp with a bag of mineral salt that could be seen in the background. Someone saw it on a forum and called WDFW, accusing him of baiting.

(The salt was there for trail cam bait. Does anyone bait bear with salt???).

My friend was asked if he would take the warden to the kill site days later....He met with the warden, drove the 45 miles to the hunt area, walked through his hunt showing his shooting position, the bears position and the gut pile, which most remained despite the Aug heat.
In the end, my friend was exonerated and the warden shook his hand and congratulated him on a great hunt.

A great takeaway from his experience is If you are posting pictures, be sure that there isn't anything that could be misinterpreted.

I don't think he's ever posted anything since.
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: emac on July 22, 2019, 02:00:37 PM
Got to love the internet police

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Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: trapp01 on July 22, 2019, 02:05:40 PM
I had a friend that needed to clear his name after a picture was posted of his bear in camp with a bag of mineral salt that could be seen in the background. Someone saw it on a forum and called WDFW, accusing him of baiting.

(The salt was there for trail cam bait. Does anyone bait bear with salt???).

My friend was asked if he would take the warden to the kill site days later....He met with the warden, drove the 45 miles to the hunt area, walked through his hunt showing his shooting position, the bears position and the gut pile, which most remained despite the Aug heat.
In the end, my friend was exonerated and the warden shook his hand and congratulated him on a great hunt.

A great takeaway from his experience is If you are posting pictures, be sure that there isn't anything that could be misinterpreted.

I don't think he's ever posted anything since.

I’m for sure not a fan of guilty until proven innocent. The burden of proof should be on the state.
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: KFhunter on July 22, 2019, 02:30:59 PM
I had a friend that needed to clear his name after a picture was posted of his bear in camp with a bag of mineral salt that could be seen in the background. Someone saw it on a forum and called WDFW, accusing him of baiting.

(The salt was there for trail cam bait. Does anyone bait bear with salt???).

My friend was asked if he would take the warden to the kill site days later....He met with the warden, drove the 45 miles to the hunt area, walked through his hunt showing his shooting position, the bears position and the gut pile, which most remained despite the Aug heat.
In the end, my friend was exonerated and the warden shook his hand and congratulated him on a great hunt.

A great takeaway from his experience is If you are posting pictures, be sure that there isn't anything that could be misinterpreted.

I don't think he's ever posted anything since.

I’m for sure not a fan of guilty until proven innocent. The burden of proof should be on the state.

It is

Quote
My friend was asked

He didn't have to do that, but I agree that he did, now he's on the list of good guys the officer has made previous contact with. 
Used to be a WDFW officer would come to check me "oh its you, how you doing?"  and I wouldn't even have to pull out a license or anything cause he knew I was legal and honest.  Those days are gone with all the new guys around but building a good rep never hurts.

So I agree taking the time to show the officer what happened. 
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: KFhunter on July 22, 2019, 02:40:56 PM
Got to love the internet police

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Someone on a forum somewhere owes this guy 90 minutes worth of gas, time and effort to clear his name.   

If anyone wants a 2nd opinion on a picture here on the forum they can always contact a moderator for a second look and honest opinion.     

We constantly have to look at things to discuss it and have learned to not always trust our first impressions...man have I learned that lesson being a mod  :chuckle:
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: emac on July 22, 2019, 05:38:11 PM
Yes they do. I is absolutely ridiculous someone would do that.  But shouldn't surprise me, there are people on here that call people out all the time for not wearing hunters orange for pictures or not tagging an animal before pictures.



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Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Stein on July 22, 2019, 06:40:10 PM
I don't mind getting checked or if I was asked to go back.  I haven't had to go back, but I was asked for photos, GPS coordinates, waypoints and corroborating stories from my hunting partners.  We were deer hunting about 2 hours from where I killed my elk, so I think he didn't want to drive 4 hours any more than I did.

I want the wardens finding the bad guys and there isn't any way to know who the bad guys are without asking questions.  If there was a way to only interact with the law breakers, they would already be doing that.
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: KFhunter on July 22, 2019, 06:41:41 PM
Yes they do. I is absolutely ridiculous someone would do that.  But shouldn't surprise me, there are people on here that call people out all the time for not wearing hunters orange for pictures or not tagging an animal before pictures.



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We cracked down on that bigly,  the ethics naziism has ran its course and I think we're at a happy medium (which means no one is 100% happy)

but ya, we've made huge improvements there
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: bkaech on July 22, 2019, 09:09:12 PM
If you are accessing the unit from a trailhead and the trial goes into or onto the boarder of the unit the game warden should know that and it wouldn’t be a problem. Just hunt legally and all is good.
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Grit dog on August 17, 2019, 09:51:08 AM
I don't mind getting checked or if I was asked to go back.  I haven't had to go back, but I was asked for photos, GPS coordinates, waypoints and corroborating stories from my hunting partners.  We were deer hunting about 2 hours from where I killed my elk, so I think he didn't want to drive 4 hours any more than I did.

I want the wardens finding the bad guys and there isn't any way to know who the bad guys are without asking questions.  If there was a way to only interact with the law breakers, they would already be doing that.

That's how I thought I felt until a few years ago too, but my experience (that I posted on here somewhere a while ago) proved to be far different than the otherwise law abiding professional family man that almost  spends more time buying tags than he actually gets to hunt would expect.
In short, 2 fish cops made it a personal mission of theirs to try to pin their hunch on me that, even if it had been an infraction, the infraction would have been in another state, not WA. And a couple grand later and several trips to court, the court just decided they wanted some money for their efforts......one of, if not the most effed up situation I've found myself in, in my now 46 trips around the sun!
Fwiw, the other state laughed at it and extended their direct phone number if the WA Leo's had any questions. No surprise that they never called. 
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: Grit dog on August 17, 2019, 09:52:48 AM
^ So yes I'd be extremely wary about how anything gets construed by that organization and have some proof that may not be my burden to supply just to save the time, money and hassle later on.
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: scoutdog346 on August 18, 2019, 07:15:53 PM
Most game wardens aren't stupid they can tell by just looking at the situation if need be you can bring them back to the kill site in the shooting site and prove to them right then and there.
Hey, y’all! I have a quick question that I can’t seem to get an answer on. I’m looking at accessing an east side elk unit from the west side. I’m just wondering about the legality of such a thing. It seems like it should be fine, but the idea of running into a warden at a west side trailhead with an elk(if I should be so lucky) and a east side tag might raise some awkward conversations. Any info would be much appreciated!
Title: Re: Accessing the east side from the west
Post by: HoofsandWings on August 19, 2019, 11:48:37 AM
I guess I do not understand. There are several roads that start on the west side and become the boundary between east and west. I would camp on the east side of the road if you are going to hunt eastern GMU's.
If you look/act suspicious or are looking at your shoes, the LEO may want to investigate more.
Pretty soon drones flying high above and unseen will be able to film you or take photos of your heat signature.
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