BEFORE YOU READ THE REST OF IT:
Tonight at Skookum in Arlington. Come meet some dudes fighting literallly against that, have a beer and raise money for it.
If you can't, but want to help, go donate here:
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission is moving full speed to break the North American Model of Conservation and end hunting in the state. Gov.
sportsmensalliance.org
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Elk and deer populations are declining. Something's got to give, right?
In a world with recently increased bear seasons and limits and a world where cougar quotas are never met, they are talking about removing the predator harvest until "the best available science" says we need to manage the population. The fun part about that is that it's a sliding definition. "Best" means "stuff I agree with" and "available" means you can read a study done by an animal rights organization that hasn't been peer reviewed" and "science" meaning we ignored the peer review process and the fact that the state of science doesn't change based on one paper.
It's not a push, but it's also a push. There's no visible push, but we're all reacting as if it is a push and that's because this is exactly how the spring bear debacle happened. A subtle comment becomes a vote in favor of animal rights. The conservation (read: preservation) policy discussions are leading to some predator/prey discussions. One of the people who voted against the spring bear season based upon it being unethical floated the idea suggested that black bears were a stakeholder in the discussion about whether or not there should be a spring season for black bears.
As for elk: well, frankly I'd be interested to see what the actual proposal is--will it lead to a higher percentage of tags filled but the same amount of elk taken? Washington has always been an opportunity state meaning that we provide opportunity to hunt, but probably at the cost of hunt success percentages (that's why we have 3 point minimums and/or spike seasons). Conservation is about keeping human hunting opportunity available to ensure that society places a value on the resource. If this is how we have elk trophy hunting in the future--let's talk. But reducing hunting pressure is not going to make or break ungulate populations in Washington.
The fact is elk populations are declining in a lot of places. But the other fact is that human-caused mortality isn't the main problem--it's calf recruitment. Guess where we have too many cats and bears? Right where the elk are calving.
We can't bring baiting and hounds back for predators, and with declining elk and deer populations--it feels like the opportunity to hunt is falling as well. The knobs the commission can turn are opportunity to spot and stalk or call for predators--they are moving the other way.
Hunters are submitting petitions to increase cougar seasons to year-round to assist in calf recruitment. They are being shot down.
With LESS pressure on predators, human conflict (which causes animals to be killed by the state and tossed instead of hunted and used by hunters) will increase, but also, elk and deer populations will decline until there's nothing left for us to hunt and our way of life goes away.
Luckily for us, wolf populations continue to be listed as endangered across Washington, despite being recovered in 2 of the 3 areas.
And the fun part: instead of getting involved and posting real information about how to help, the Facebook groups are full of the "shoot shovel and shut up" crowd along with the "closing the season isn't going to stop me from filling my freezer" people. This isn't helpful.
Your post about this being open for public comment is. Thank you.
One great place to make public comments SUPER easy is:
Take Action with custom emails, petitions, click to calls and more. Only a few seconds of your time and you can make an impact nationwide on Science Based Wildlife Management Issues.
www.howlforwildlife.org
One click actions that send letters directly to commissions/reps. Sign up for their emails. I expect Charles will make an action for the October meeting when he gets back from guiding.
I know you don't have social media, but I'm going to drop some links for those who do:
This group is leading a grass-roots charge:
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This group is literally suing the state for these actions:
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This group is hosting an event in Arlington tonight at Skookum brewery to raise money for the lawsuits:
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