WA Bear proposal, support needed!

[Dunning Kruger]

Another one laid low by some fawn bleats and my .30-30

 

[Dunning Kruger]

Spring bear changes proposal is out:

They added a mandatory 72 hour report and pelt check like with cougar. I see this as a sign of things to come. Harvest quotas. So all they did besides that is add a very minimal increase in SE permits, take away kapowsin, and add peola with 5 permits. If they do a survey, im voting opposed. So a total of 39 additional permits in the SE, and a loss of all 150 kapowsin permits. So a net reduction of 111 available spring permits, and now a mandatory 72 hour report and hide inspection. Basically, we got hosed. Less total permits statewide and an additional burden on reporting. If a survey comes out ill post a link here, and i would encourage everybody to vote against the changes.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

Here is a survey link for our joke of a spring bear proposal. In short, 111 total less permits, and mandatory 72 hour reporting and hide sealing requirement.

Online Survey Software: Closed Survey

www.surveymonkey.com

 

[TheJason]

and an additional burden on reporting.

I don't see how this is an unreasonable expectation. WA is one of the few western states that does NOT require hide inspection, which I think is a poor practice.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

I don't see how this is an unreasonable expectation. WA is one of the few western states that does NOT require hide inspection, which I think is a poor practice.

Well if we are going to play the "what other states do" game, then why doesnt washington, like idaho, have otc spring bear, hounds and baiting? I think this is poor practice.

 

[TheJason]

Well if we are going to play the "what other states do" game, then why doesnt washington, like idaho, have otc spring bear, hounds and baiting? I think this is poor practice.

I also think it's poor practice. You know why WA doesn't have hounds and baiting.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

I also think it's poor practice. You know why WA doesn't have hounds and baiting.

Yeah, i know. But it should sure as hell have otc spring bear. If they gave us that, i wouldnt bitch about hide sealing.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

Yeah, i know. But it should sure as hell have otc spring bear. If they gave us that, i wouldnt bitch about hide sealing.

Also, reduced price non resident bear tags, like idaho has, might encourage out of state hunters to come and help us control our predator population. After all, we do have really high bear numbers. Now that we have august opener and 2 bear limit statewide, if they opened up spring, and did the reduced price non resident in units where our herds are hurting the most, WA could really be a destination state for bear hunters.

 

[TheJason]

Yeah, i know. But it should sure as hell have otc spring bear. If they gave us that, i wouldnt bitch about hide sealing.

I agree on OTC spring bear, with a quota/female sub quota system.

 

[Irrelevant]

I'm not going to put the removal of the Kapowsin tags on WDFW. It's a private land hunt, if the owners were getting too much bear damage they would continue it. I'd bet it's removal is due to poor hunter behavior on private lands more than anything.

From that survey:
The department was requested to remove Kapowsin hunt area by the managing land owners.

I'm supported the effort. I think except for these private landowner tags WDFW is moving in the right direction on bears.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

I'm not going to put the removal of the Kapowsin tags on WDFW. It's a private land hunt, if the owners were getting too much bear damage they would continue it. I'd bet it's removal is due to poor hunter behavior on private lands more than anything.

Yeah, i wont argue that. But if they had to remove 150 permits, they should have added at least that many elsewhere to make up for the lost opportunity. Regardless of the reasoning, we now have a lot less permits available, which will make draw odds even worse. I was hoping for significantly increased opportunity, and we didnt get it, so i think this proposal sucks.

 

[Irrelevant]

Yeah, i wont argue that. But if they had to remove 150 permits, they should have added at least that many elsewhere to make up for the lost opportunity. Regardless of the reasoning, we now have a lot less permits available, which will make draw odds even worse. I was hoping for significantly increased opportunity, and we didnt get it, so i think this proposal sucks.

I get that. But I do think we're slowing going towards expanded spring tags on the east side. I basically took the approach of supporting it, then added in the comments that we need more spring opportunities in the cascades.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

I get that. But I do think we're slowing going towards expanded spring tags on the east side. I basically took the approach of supporting it, then added in the comments that we need more spring opportunities in the cascades.

I dont think we will be seeing any more spring increases unfortunately. Since i have several points built up, ill probably still apply next year, since i have good odds. But when i go back to 0 pts, im done with it. Ill kill my bears in august, and in the spring i may go hunt bear in idaho, but ill probably focus my spring hunting activity killing coyotes, and helping other hunters fill their spring permits in the northeast units, which ive been doing the last few years that i didnt draw. A lot of people draw ne permits that have never been here, and i like to see as many spring permits getting filled as possible.