Free: Contests & Raffles.
Quote from: bigtex on December 22, 2024, 10:33:25 PMQuote from: A. Cole on December 22, 2024, 09:50:00 PMI get the stated intention of not wanting people to harm the endangered whitetail population, but the law does nothing to protect them. It's like outlawing black bear hunting because you might mistake it for a grizzly, except that the grizzly is already dead, at which point you aren't harming any population. You could also do this with a coyote/wolf. It's ridiculous. If a whitetail on the side of the road is already dead, even if someone mistook it for a blacktail, which would be a real low denominator if WDFW put a warning with the salvage permits on their website, you still wouldn't be harming the wt population.Now, if WDFW decided they needed people in Columbia wt areas to drive 5 miles/hr slower, that might increase the population. But this law does absolutely nothing except prevent people from filling their freezers with good meat that would otherwise rot or be eaten by coyotes.You're getting caught up in the "harming the population" aspect. Yes, the Endangered whitetail would be dead, the harm is already done. But the point is the law does not allow you to possess the deer, even if you didn't kill it. The simple possession of the deer (or its parts) are illegal. It's the same as if you saw an eagle feather on the ground, you can't possess it, doesn't matter if you killed it or not.Sent from my SM-G973U using TapatalkMy sarcastic question here isn't directed at you, bigtex, but at WDFW and our wannabe authoritarian gov. Should WDFW make picking feathers up off the ground illegal, because someone might mistakenly pick up an eagle feather?(Not that I think possessing eagle feathers is immoral...)
Quote from: A. Cole on December 22, 2024, 09:50:00 PMI get the stated intention of not wanting people to harm the endangered whitetail population, but the law does nothing to protect them. It's like outlawing black bear hunting because you might mistake it for a grizzly, except that the grizzly is already dead, at which point you aren't harming any population. You could also do this with a coyote/wolf. It's ridiculous. If a whitetail on the side of the road is already dead, even if someone mistook it for a blacktail, which would be a real low denominator if WDFW put a warning with the salvage permits on their website, you still wouldn't be harming the wt population.Now, if WDFW decided they needed people in Columbia wt areas to drive 5 miles/hr slower, that might increase the population. But this law does absolutely nothing except prevent people from filling their freezers with good meat that would otherwise rot or be eaten by coyotes.You're getting caught up in the "harming the population" aspect. Yes, the Endangered whitetail would be dead, the harm is already done. But the point is the law does not allow you to possess the deer, even if you didn't kill it. The simple possession of the deer (or its parts) are illegal. It's the same as if you saw an eagle feather on the ground, you can't possess it, doesn't matter if you killed it or not.Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
I get the stated intention of not wanting people to harm the endangered whitetail population, but the law does nothing to protect them. It's like outlawing black bear hunting because you might mistake it for a grizzly, except that the grizzly is already dead, at which point you aren't harming any population. You could also do this with a coyote/wolf. It's ridiculous. If a whitetail on the side of the road is already dead, even if someone mistook it for a blacktail, which would be a real low denominator if WDFW put a warning with the salvage permits on their website, you still wouldn't be harming the wt population.Now, if WDFW decided they needed people in Columbia wt areas to drive 5 miles/hr slower, that might increase the population. But this law does absolutely nothing except prevent people from filling their freezers with good meat that would otherwise rot or be eaten by coyotes.
I see it like this:Someone, somewhere will exploit any loophole. Vehicle can be the method of kill or mask the method of kill."I found it on the side of the road like that" is harder to counter than "you have an illegal species". So it's an enforcement tool.
Pretty easy to see why it's the law. They don't want to encourage anyone to get sideways with the feds. With that being said it hasn't stopped me from grabbing blacktails. I would hope game wardens and judges have better things to do.
Quote from: A. Cole on December 22, 2024, 10:47:16 PMQuote from: bigtex on December 22, 2024, 10:33:25 PMQuote from: A. Cole on December 22, 2024, 09:50:00 PMI get the stated intention of not wanting people to harm the endangered whitetail population, but the law does nothing to protect them. It's like outlawing black bear hunting because you might mistake it for a grizzly, except that the grizzly is already dead, at which point you aren't harming any population. You could also do this with a coyote/wolf. It's ridiculous. If a whitetail on the side of the road is already dead, even if someone mistook it for a blacktail, which would be a real low denominator if WDFW put a warning with the salvage permits on their website, you still wouldn't be harming the wt population.Now, if WDFW decided they needed people in Columbia wt areas to drive 5 miles/hr slower, that might increase the population. But this law does absolutely nothing except prevent people from filling their freezers with good meat that would otherwise rot or be eaten by coyotes.You're getting caught up in the "harming the population" aspect. Yes, the Endangered whitetail would be dead, the harm is already done. But the point is the law does not allow you to possess the deer, even if you didn't kill it. The simple possession of the deer (or its parts) are illegal. It's the same as if you saw an eagle feather on the ground, you can't possess it, doesn't matter if you killed it or not.Sent from my SM-G973U using TapatalkMy sarcastic question here isn't directed at you, bigtex, but at WDFW and our wannabe authoritarian gov. Should WDFW make picking feathers up off the ground illegal, because someone might mistakenly pick up an eagle feather?(Not that I think possessing eagle feathers is immoral...)Well to answer your question, the answer is in most instances picking up any feather is already illegal under federal law.Any bird listed under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which is essentially every bird other than those we consider upland game birds, it is illegal to possess their parts (aka feathers) unless you obtained them via lawful hunting activities.So yes if you see a goose feather, hawk feather, even crow feather on the ground it is unlawful under federal law to possess it.Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
If you observe a dead BT deer in these areas, contact the local Division 5 office and see if you can get an LE to approve you taking the critter. They don't like to see game wasted either. It might be as easy as a few pics of the animal.
Alrighty, I sent a petition in to WDFW for a rule change to allow for the salvage of BT so we will see what happens. Thanks everyone for the discussion, and to be clear, I mean no disrespect to any of you, I simply get heated sometimes during discussions.
Quote from: A. Cole on December 23, 2024, 12:28:19 PMAlrighty, I sent a petition in to WDFW for a rule change to allow for the salvage of BT so we will see what happens. Thanks everyone for the discussion, and to be clear, I mean no disrespect to any of you, I simply get heated sometimes during discussions.You remind me a lot of my sons. And I mean that as a compliment.