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Author Topic: Permit Only in the Colockum  (Read 10043 times)

Offline colockumelk

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Permit Only in the Colockum
« on: March 09, 2009, 05:15:43 PM »
Please send the below message to the wildlife commission.  Things need to happen as soon as possible.  We are on a time crunch so we need max participation.  The Colockum elk herd needs you.  So please carefully read what's below.  If you agree then please send it.  If not then don't.  If there's something you'd like to change in it then let me know and I'll change it.  So please for the sake of the elk herd send it to the commission. Thank you for your support.

wildthing@dfw.wa.gov

Dear Wildlife Commission,

My name is: 
My email address is:   

    I agree with the following letter that Mr. Aaron Blanchard has typed up.  This needs to happen as soon as possible not later, as later will be too late for the Colockum elk herd.  I am sending this to you to let you know that I support a Permit only system for the Colockum (GMU's 328 and 329) instead of the proposed "true spike" rule.

 
Dear Wildlife Commission,

 My name is Aaron Blanchard and I represent a group known as Washington Sportsmen.  Recently I attended the meeting that was held in Ellensburg, WA.  First of all I would like to thank you for the time I was allowed to speak and I again thank you for taking the time to read this.  The following are the facts of the situation.  It is also exactly what I said at the meeting in Ellensburg. All of the following facts and statistics are from your website.  They have been taken from harvest reports, game trend reports and also the studies done for the elk herd plans.  I was also asked a question that I should have answered more thoroughly.  At the end is the response to that question.

  In the past 5 years the branch bull population in the Colockum has been absolutely decimated.  Currently the branch bull to cow ratio is 5:100.  In 2002 there were 391 branch bulls in the Colockum and as of 2007 there are only 116 branch bulls left.  This is a decline of 70%.  LET ME REITERATE THAT.  That is a decline of 70%.  That is a decline of 14% a year.  If this trend continues by 2011 there wont be any branch bulls left in the Colockum. 

 You need to act now, now 3 years from now.  You need to go to permit only now.  The elk need a stimulus package worse than our country does.  There are various reasons why the branch bull population has been decimated.  They are poaching, tribal-hunting, and far too much road access.  Some of these are out of your hands and others will take alot of time and resources to change.  Time that the Colockum elk do not have.  You need to control what you can which is spike recruitment.  You have the power to make things happen now which is what you need to do.

 The main problem with the Colockum elk herd is spike recruitment.  In the Colockum the average harvest is 135 per GMU.  In the Yakima herd the average spike harvest per GMU is only 57.  The Colockum has a spike harvest average per GMU of almost 3 times that of the Yakima GMUs.  85% of all yearling bulls in the Colockum are killed every year.  Only 15% of yearling bulls in the Colockum survive their first two years.  In 2005 only 46 spikes made it through the hunting season in the entire Colockum.   

The best course of action is to go to Permit Only now, not later.  Do what is right even if it is unpopular.  Sometimes the right choice isn't the popular choice.  Often the popular opinion isn't always an ethical one.  In any case during the surveys over the past year the public favored permit only over the "True Spike" proposition.  So why did you not go to permit only like the public wanted?  For those that oppose this what many people don't realize is that every year in the Colockum 300 or more spikes are harvested by hunters.  If it were permit only this would mean 300 more spikes would survive to become branch antlered bulls every year.  With special permit success rates being about 50% this would mean you could give out 600 branch bull permits in the Colockum every year instead of the 6 that were given out last year.

For the sake of the elk in the Colockum please do the right thing.  True Spike might have been a good idea ten years ago but right now the True Spike concept would be too little and too late.

 
I was asked this question at the end of my speech.  "Would I support the closure of all elk hunting in the Colockum for one year."

 My answer was a definate yes.  But under four conditions.

1.) It's closed to everyone for that year.  Licensed-Hunters, Master-Hunters, and Tribal-Hunters.  The courts have ruled that state regulation of tribal exercise of off-reservation hunting rights on open and unclaimed land is preempted by the Stevens Treaties, except where state regulation is necessary for conservation purposes  While the Boldt Decision of February 12, 1974 did grant the tribes 50% of all the fish harvest it did reserve the state's right to

The courts have ruled that state regulation of tribal exercise of off-reservation hunting rights on open and unclaimed land is preempted by the Stevens Treaties, except where state regulation is necessary for conservation purposes

 2.)  After a year when you do open it up it goes to permit only for at least three years in order to moniter how well the herd is doing.  If it goes back to the status quo we will be in the same boat we are in right now.

3.) When it is permit only you issue far more permits than are currently issued.  Without the massive amounts of spikes being harvested every year, you would have these spikes living to become branch bulls so you could afford to give out far more branch bull permits.   I have submitted an example of just how many permits you could give out.  I came up with the numbers by this method. I took  (Avg. # of spikes harvested in the Colockum 266.) And disributed those amongst the three user groups utilizing your distribution ratios. (Modern would get 170 of the 266.)   I then multiplied that number by the average special permit success rate. (170 x 70%= 221) I then added the amount that is already given out to get my total of permits you could and should give out.  (221 + 9 = 230) So for example if it goes to permit only you could give out 230 branch bull permits instead of 9 and still grow the herd.  Below are the numbers. Obviously this is just an example of how many numbers could be possible.  This is obviously not the exact number that would be used and I'm sure you guys would set your own numbers.

CSP                  Current amount of bull permits given out.
SPIKE HARVEST   Total Amount of Spikes killed in that unit that could have become branch bulls
RATIO %            Percent of Animals that go to that user group/Number of animals entitled to that user group.
ADD                  Additional amount of special permits that would now be available.
TOTAL              The new amount of special permits that would now be given out.


                               CSP      SPIKE HARVEST    RATIO%          ADD.      TOTAL       
MODERN                      9             266                64%170        221        230 
MUZZLE                      1              266                15%/40        59           60
BOW                          4              266                 21%/56        96          100
TOTAL                       14                                                     376         390
 
4.)  After three years do a study to see if the Colockum elk herd can again be hunted using a general season now that road closures have had a chance to be implemented.  The intent of the permit only is not to make the permit only a permanent change but only a temporary one in order to build the herd back up.  And to give us time to create physical barriers to limit some of the road access that is available in GMU's 328 and 329.

With 390 branch permits given out and a success rate of 65% this would only lead to the harvest of 256 bull elk a year.  Far short of the 300 plus spikes killed a year with the current seasons.  Again thank you for your time.  And I hope that you will listen to us and take our ideas into consideration.  We are not doing this to promote some sort of trophy hunt.  We are doing this so for the Colockum elk herd.  We all want to see the Colockum elk herd thrive so that our children and our childrens children can enjoy the same type of hunting that we currently enjoy. 

Respectfully  Aaron Blanchard and www.washingtonsportsmen.com

« Last Edit: March 14, 2009, 07:58:15 PM by colockumelk »
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Offline Shannon

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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2009, 08:54:37 PM »
I like it except for one thing. The Boldt decision gave the indians 50% of fish not wildlife. The state is afraid of the indians going after the wildlife like they did the fish but lets not cave into that before they even try it. The commission was questioning giving the indians 50% of the Nooksack herds because they did not want it to set precedence. They decided to anyways since they contributed to the herds improvement.
I don't hunt the Colockum but am interested in having quality hunts for my kids there if they choose when they get older. Hopefully your efforts help.

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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2009, 09:46:57 PM »
Thank you I will change that right now.  Thank you for your support.
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Offline colockumelk

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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2009, 03:24:35 PM »
I have also added the following because the intent is for the permit only to be temporary and not permenant.

After three years do a study to see if the Colockum elk herd can again be hunted using a general season now that road closures have had a chance to be implemented.  The intent of the permit only is not to make the permit only a permanent change but only a temporary one in order to build the herd back up.  And to give us time to create physical barriers to limit some of the road access that is available in GMU's 328 and 329.
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Offline colockumelk

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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2009, 11:16:35 AM »
I just made a change to who it gets sent to.  THe new email address will get where it needs to go much quicker.  So if you have already fired off an email message thank you but could you please do that again.  Thanks.
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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2009, 03:03:34 PM »
I ran spell check on it.
Send it to this e-mail   wildthing@dfw.wa.gov


Dear Wildlife Commission,

My name is:
My email address is:
 
    I agree with the following letter that Mr. Aaron Blanchard has typed up.  This needs to happen as soon as possible not later, as later will be too late for the Colockum elk herd.  I am sending this to you to let you know that I support a Permit only system for the Colockum (GMU's 328 and 329) instead of the proposed "true spike" rule.

 
Dear Wildlife Commission,

 My name is Aaron Blanchard and I represent a group known as Washington Sportsmen.  Recently I attended the meeting that was held in Ellensburg, WA.  First of all I would like to thank you for the time I was allowed to speak and I again thank you for taking the time to read this.  The following are the facts of the situation.  It is also exactly what I said at the meeting in Ellensburg. All of the following facts and statistics are from your website.  They have been taken from harvest reports, game trend reports and also the studies done for the elk herd plans.  I was also asked a question that I should have answered more thoroughly.  At the end is the response to that question.

  In the past 5 years the branch bull population in the Colockum has been absolutely decimated.  Currently the branch bull to cow ratio is 5:100.  In 2002 there were 391 branch bulls in the Colockum and as of 2007 there are only 116 branch bulls left.  This is a decline of 70%.  LET ME REITERATE THAT.  That is a decline of 70%.  That is a decline of 14% a year.  If this trend continues by 2011 there won’t be any branch bulls left in the Colockum. 

 You need to act now, now 3 years from now.  You need to go to permit only now.  The elk need a stimulus package worse than our country does.  There are various reasons why the branch bull population has been decimated.  They are poaching, tribal-hunting, and far too much road access.  Some of these are out of your hands and others will take a lot of time and resources to change.  Time that the Colockum elk do not have.  You need to control what you can which is spike recruitment.  You have the power to make things happen now which is what you need to do.

 The main problem with the Colockum elk herd is spike recruitment.  In the Colockum the average harvest is 135 per GMU.  In the Yakima herd the average spike harvest per GMU is only 57.  The Colockum has a spike harvest average per GMU of almost 3 times that of the Yakima GMUs.  85% of all yearling bulls in the Colockum are killed every year.  Only 15% of yearling bulls in the Colockum survive their first two years.  In 2005 only 46 spikes made it through the hunting season in the entire Colockum.   

The best course of action is to go to Permit Only now, not later.  Do what is right even if it is unpopular.  Sometimes the right choice isn't the popular choice.  Often the popular opinion isn't always an ethical one.  In any case during the surveys over the past year the public favored permit only over the "True Spike" proposition.  So why did you not go to permit only like the public wanted?  For those that oppose this what many people don't realize is that every year in the Colockum 300 or more spikes are harvested by hunters.  If it were permit only this would mean 300 more spikes would survive to become branch antlered bulls every year.  With special permit success rates being about 50% this would mean you could give out 600 branch bull permits in the Colockum every year instead of the 6 that were given out last year.

For the sake of the elk in the Colockum please do the right thing.  True Spike might have been a good idea ten years ago but right now the True Spike concept would be too little and too late.

 
I was asked this question at the end of my speech.  "Would I support the closure of all elk hunting in the Colockum for one year."

 My answer was a definite yes.  But under four conditions.

1.) It's closed to everyone for that year.  Licensed-Hunters, Master-Hunters, and Tribal-Hunters.  The courts have ruled that state regulation of tribal exercise of off-reservation hunting rights on open and unclaimed land is preempted by the Stevens Treaties, except where state regulation is necessary for conservation purposes  While the Boldt Decision of February 12, 1974 did grant the tribes 50% of all the fish harvest it did reserve the state's right to

The courts have ruled that state regulation of tribal exercise of off-reservation hunting rights on open and unclaimed land is preempted by the Stevens Treaties, except where state regulation is necessary for conservation purposes

 2.)  After a year when you do open it up it goes to permit only for at least three years in order to monitor how well the herd is doing.  If it goes back to the status quo we will be in the same boat we are in right now.

3.) When it is permit only you issue far more permits than are currently issued.  Without the massive amounts of spikes being harvested every year, you would have these spikes living to become branch bulls so you could afford to give out far more branch bull permits.   I have submitted an example of just how many permits you could give out.  I came up with the numbers by this method. I took  (Avg. # of spikes harvested in the Colockum 266.) And distributed those amongst the three user groups utilizing your distribution ratios. (Modern would get 170 of the 266.)   I then multiplied that number by the average special permit success rate. (170 x 70%= 221) I then added the amount that is already given out to get my total of permits you could and should give out.  (221 + 9 = 230) So for example if it goes to permit only you could give out 230 branch bull permits instead of 9 and still grow the herd.  Below are the numbers. Obviously this is just an example of how many numbers could be possible.  This is obviously not the exact number that would be used and I'm sure you guys would set your own numbers.

CSP                  Current amount of bull permits given out.
SPIKE HARVEST   Total Amount of Spikes killed in that unit that could have become branch bulls
RATIO %            Percent of Animals that go to that user group/Number of animals entitled to that user group.
ADD                  Additional amount of special permits that would now be available.
TOTAL              The new amount of special permits that would now be given out.


                               CSP      SPIKE HARVEST    RATIO%          ADD.      TOTAL       
MODERN                      9             266                64%170        221        230 
MUZZLE                      1              266                15%/40        59           60
BOW                          4              266                 21%/56        96          100
TOTAL                       14                                                     376         390
 
4.)  After three years do a study to see if the Colockum elk herd can again be hunted using a general season now that road closures have had a chance to be implemented.  The intent of the permit only is not to make the permit only a permanent change but only a temporary one in order to build the herd back up.  And to give us time to create physical barriers to limit some of the road access that is available in GMU's 328 and 329.

With 390 branch permits given out and a success rate of 65% this would only lead to the harvest of 256 bull elk a year.  Far short of the 300 plus spikes killed a year with the current seasons.  Again thank you for your time.  And I hope that you will listen to us and take our ideas into consideration.  We are not doing this to promote some sort of trophy hunt.  We are doing this so for the Colockum elk herd.  We all want to see the Colockum elk herd thrive so that our children and our children’s children can enjoy the same type of hunting that we currently enjoy. 

Respectfully  Aaron Blanchard and the Washington Sportsmen.                     
« Last Edit: March 14, 2009, 04:59:22 PM by Slider »

Offline colockumelk

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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #6 on: March 14, 2009, 03:21:23 PM »
Thanks slider for the spell check.

Forgot to keep the address that it goes to though. ;)

wildthing@dfw.wa.gov
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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #7 on: March 14, 2009, 04:14:26 PM »
You got my support.

I just sent off an e-mail.


Thanks for your hard work and dedication to the cause......
Gasman


It's 5 O'clock somewhere.......

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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #8 on: March 14, 2009, 04:51:45 PM »
Thankyou very much sir.  I know many think I'm trying to take their rights but obviously spike only is not working in that area.  We need to close the roads down but that will take alot of time.  Time I don't think the Colockum elk have.  This is why I would like to see it permit only for three years.  Then back to spike only once we have the type of limited road access like you see in the Yakima GMU's.  Spike only works there because they don't have nearly as much road access as the Colockum does.  Thankyou again sir for your support. 

Also for those that don't like everything I said or wrote about please feel free to write your own version of what you would like to see happen involving a permit only system for three years.  I know many feel it's completely the Indians fault.  They are part of the problem in the Colockum but it's only a piece of the pie.  I guarantee you they kill far more in the Yakima herds and they are fine.  We need to look at ourselves first before we point the fingers and correct ourselves before we try and correct others.  That's how I was raised and that's what I believe.   :twocents:   YAK-NDN had an excellant point.  How can we go over to them screaming about them killing off all of our bulls when they can come back with the amount of bulls both branch and spikes (future bulls) that we kill a year. 
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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2009, 04:59:53 PM »
I fixed it.  ;)

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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #10 on: March 14, 2009, 06:20:38 PM »
Thanks slider. :)
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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #11 on: March 14, 2009, 09:11:04 PM »
After three years do a study to see if the Colockum elk herd can again be hunted using a general season now that road closures have had a chance to be implemented.  The intent of the permit only is not to make the permit only a permanent change but only a temporary one in order to build the herd back up.  And to give us time to create physical barriers to limit some of the road access that is available in GMU's 328 and 329

Great letter Aaron,
It lays out the need not to hunt spikes....but leaves out specifics on general season. I can see them reverting to the old management style that got the herd in trouble to start with.
I think you know how I feel about general season....Five point antler restriction for all with less hunting days to control escapement.
Swamp buck Hunter

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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #12 on: March 15, 2009, 02:17:16 PM »
After three years do a study to see if the Colockum elk herd can again be hunted using a general season now that road closures have had a chance to be implemented.  The intent of the permit only is not to make the permit only a permanent change but only a temporary one in order to build the herd back up.  And to give us time to create physical barriers to limit some of the road access that is available in GMU's 328 and 329

Great letter Aaron,
It lays out the need not to hunt spikes....but leaves out specifics on general season. I can see them reverting to the old management style that got the herd in trouble to start with.
I think you know how I feel about general season....Five point antler restriction for all with less hunting days to control escapement.

Like I said before though 2/3 to 3/4 of all the elk killed are killed during opening weekend.  So your plan would mean that we could only hunt for one or two days.  Plus all the big ones would be getting nailed and it would be just like before when it was any bull.  Alot of little ones but no big healthy ones.  Antler restrictions work well over on the west side where it's thick and they have escapement but over in the wide open Colockum they would not stand a chance. 
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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #13 on: March 15, 2009, 02:33:37 PM »
Issue Statement: WDFW
One hundred thousand Washington elk hunters harvest approximately 7,000 elk annually from
an estimated population of approximately 56,000. Washington has more elk hunters per elk than
any other western state and has no limit on the number of elk licenses sold. Because anyone can
purchase a license and hunt elk, success rates for general season hunters are low. Without carefully managed season timing, antler point restrictions, and relatively short seasons, the male
sub-population would be over-harvested. Opportunities to hunt and spend time afield must be
balanced against achieving or maintaining elk population objectives. As herd population levels
increase, harvest levels will increase as well.

As mandated by the Washington State Legislature (RCW 77.04.012), “… the department shall
preserve, protect, perpetuate, and manage the wildlife…”; “the department shall conserve the
wildlife… in a manner that does not impair the resource…”; and “The commission shall attempt
to maximize the public recreational… hunting opportunities of all citizens, including juvenile,
disabled, and senior citizens.” It is this mandate that sets the overall policy and direction for
managing hunted wildlife. Hunters and hunting will continue to play a significant role in the
conservation and management of Washington’s wildlife.

This is from the wdfw...now on to your questions.

Have I ever hunted the Clockum?
next year will be my 39th year hunting Washington...what do you think? Yes.

Yes it is a lottery system and YOU may never hunt for bull elk on the eastside in your entire life, and we still don't meet bull to cow ratio.

Ok...rifle hunters only get a weekend hunt...better than never! select road closures would enhance escapement...at least you would get to hunt. With  no general season and a e/w tag, you don't draw you don't hunt that year and maybe you don't hunt there ever again, even with 15 points. 15 points only allows 45 entries into the draw system.
How could a weekend with a 1 in 3 chance of harvesting a mature bull be more restrictive than NEVER hunting.

I've hunted elk long enough to know mature bulls are very weary and even without cover they can put a man to shame in seconds....especially in the clockum.

Wouldn't road closures be considered habitat enhancement?

You yourself have said it would work in your comment but it would be a short season...why do I have to prove anything?

5 or 6 point antler restriction to a general season would be short for a lead thrower but I'd bet WE could figure out how to lengthen the season with select habitat enhancement (road closures).
Swamp buck Hunter

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Re: Permit Only in the Colockum
« Reply #14 on: March 15, 2009, 06:10:04 PM »
How about just closing it for everyone for a couple of years to see if the herds can bounce back?
I'd just like to remind everybody that it's about the hunting, not just the killing. In other words, it's about the total experience, the sport itself and the challenge involved. Bowhunting, done right, is a justifiable and honorable pursuit. Done for the wrong reasons, simply chalking up kills and seeking personal glory, it's taking away rather than giving back to a principled way of life that has to be experienced to be understood. G.StCharles

 


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