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Hunters lack confidence in WA wildlife agency

If the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife went looking for support from hunters today, they’d have a hard time finding much brotherhood on the Hunting Washington forum, where an informal poll shows more than 87 percent of the respondents have no confidence in the agency leadership or the Fish & Wildlife Commission.

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anybody that is a serious hunter will travel to places that give better opportunities to the hunter.This state is over regulated, the sad part is the people who are on a limited budget IE everyone now who are trying to put meat in the freezer are realizing even with high priced gas and out of state tags its still better to hunt elsewhere.
 
anybody that is a serious hunter will travel to places that give better opportunities to the hunter.This state is over regulated, the sad part is the people who are on a limited budget IE everyone now who are trying to put meat in the freezer are realizing even with high priced gas and out of state tags its still better to hunt elsewhere.

+1
 
The root problem is the politicos that appoint their own kind. If you want this to change, you have to change the top and work for the election of a pro-hunting, pro-gun Gov and Legislators.

Right you are.
Back in the 1980s when the GAME department became the Dept. of Fish and WILDLIFE, those of us working at Fishing & Hunting News could see the writing on the wall. I was writing about the changes back then, 25 years ago, and the stuff we talked about...the potential problems...all seem to have come true.

The two forums where this poll is being taken have seen very cutting comments. Hunters really feel abandoned by the agency that is supposed to be their friend and advocate.

It's stunning, the reaction, which is why I wrote about it and will likely do a follow-up.
 
Right you are.
Back in the 1980s when the GAME department became the Dept. of Fish and WILDLIFE, those of us working at Fishing & Hunting News could see the writing on the wall. I was writing about the changes back then, 25 years ago, and the stuff we talked about...the potential problems...all seem to have come true.

The two forums where this poll is being taken have seen very cutting comments. Hunters really feel abandoned by the agency that is supposed to be their friend and advocate.

It's stunning, the reaction, which is why I wrote about it and will likely do a follow-up.


Same problem in Oregon. Place is packed with folks that would rather add to the phone book of regulations rather than manage resources. Makes you wonder if the end result is not to just end all hunting and fishing, but keep paying the fees though, please!
 
anybody that is a serious hunter will travel to places that give better opportunities to the hunter.This state is over regulated, the sad part is the people who are on a limited budget IE everyone now who are trying to put meat in the freezer are realizing even with high priced gas and out of state tags its still better to hunt elsewhere.

If you are actually putting meat on the table, who gives a damn about tags and regulations?
 
If you are actually putting meat on the table, who gives a damn about tags and regulations?

Evidently, a lot of people do.
Here's my followup with links to the two forums where the poll questions were posted

WA Hunter forums: ‘No-confidence’ in WDFW; is apathy a problem?

Unscientific polling results on two popular Washington hunting forums – Hunting-Washington and HuntFishNW – show that the Department of Fish & Wildlife and the commission that sets its policies are in big trouble.

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Same problem in Oregon. Place is packed with folks that would rather add to the phone book of regulations rather than manage resources. Makes you wonder if the end result is not to just end all hunting and fishing, but keep paying the fees though, please!

Our whole group stopped getting tags in Oregon anymore becasue of the BS way they treat us. Now we just hunt in states that like our money.
 
When a fish and game agent stopped to check my license and firearm out bird hunting and proceded to point my own 870 at me while trying to figure out how to unload it........ I lost all confidence in them.
 
Soooooooo, where do you get that information? Muleys and blacktails have always crossbred. They are called benchleg bucks. The eastern slopes of the cascades close to the divide. The area that I hunt in Washington has both muley and whities. I have been hunting the very same land for 19 years and have never seen a muley/whitey crossbreed. I have seen them feed together and have been there during the rut. I have never seen a muley ever chase a whitey doe. Where is Mesa Washington? I hunt just north of Davenport.
 
I lost all confidence in the WDFW back in 2004 when they shut down a great late season black powder hunt and gave it to the Master/Advanced Hunter's or whatever they are called. How has that program turned out? I've heard a lot of rumors and none were good ones.
 
I have never seen a muley ever chase a whitey doe. Where is Mesa Washington? I hunt just north of Davenport.

Mesa is south of Davenport about 100 miles, on US-395.
We are starting to see alot of odd "crosses" out here. Whitetail deer, with Muley racks; vice-verse and such. Also starting to see alot of hermaphradites, but not sure if that is a shallow gene pool or what exactly.
Our fire dept. did a controlled burn on some Fins & Feathers ground a few months back. Fish-cop didn't know it was legal to own suppressors, let alone hunt with one!
 
Anything is possible. IIfffff.... this is true, back up your claim with some pics. I would like to see a 4x4 muley rack with a white ***.

It has been my understanding that a Muley doe will accept a Whitetail buck, but a Whitetail doe will not accept a muley buck. I don't know if that is for sure, but where I live we have almost exclusively white tail, 1 mile away, over a small divide, there are almost exclusively Mule deer.

The Bucks I see here have whitetail antlers, but the does can have small metatarsal glands (like a mule deer) and black tails. I have a drawing that a friend did that has the wrong rack, with the wrong tail...I pointed it out and she said, "I drew what I saw". It is a drawing though.

Buckscropped.jpg

Buckscropped.jpg
 

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