Draw Cougar Hunts in Eastern Washington

[Darvin Ecklund]

Just checking to see how houndmen view the way the Cougar Hunts are set up in Eastern Washington. Any different idea's if things were to be changed?

[Buddyw]

My two comments. and suggestions

I'd like to see a more Statewide Training season or pursuit season (perhaps separate the Training/Pursuit tags from the harvest tags.) It's Pretty hard to Spend hundreds of dollars and Drive 8 hours to Pursuit or train dogs for a weekend when I can drive 3 hours and save hundreds of bucks to hunt bobcats in Oregon.. to have succesful dogs we need to be able to train dogs.. And even with the pursuit it's just not feasable or economical to utilize the Pursuit season unless you live in NE washington.

Second I would personally like to have a method that I could use Non-residents to Help me handle dogs. Again we have been forced to go Out of State to train our dogs on cats. That means (at least for me) I have more Non-resident Hunting partners (that I trust and can rely on as good Hunters) than I have who are residents Cat hunters. They are dog handlers.... they aren't harvesting Cougars. It makes since for saftey Reasons also.. Sometimes I have been forced to hunt alone because the few Washington Guys I know who are experienced and dedicated enough can't get off work or something when the conditions are right. I've been stuck 15 miles up a canyon without any help because I couldn't find a Washington Resident that could up and go hunting with me on short notice.. But I had several Oregon Friends who would have been happy to be up there shoveling my truck out with me.. with a smile even though they wouldn't be able to shoot.


Other than that I've been pretty happy with it.
Buddy

[Darvin Ecklund]

Where are you located in Washington? You ever want to go to Oregon and hunt together let me know. I can go anytime. I agree with you about the cougar deal. It is more of a killing thing, not a sportsman hound hunting hunt. Too many females getting killed the first couple weeks ends the season in a hurry and really how many hound guys need to kill 1 or even 2 cougars a year. They should make it so that any of the four people involved in the hunt can kill the cat as long as just the one is harvested. When you draw 20 tags and only 10 cats can be killed this makes for a hunt that isn't that enjoyable. I have heard of 60 and 70 lb cats being killed. It is great we get a little hunting in but is this what we want our sport to become- a race on who can kill the first cat treed before the quota is filled?

[PIGLET]

well to start buddy and darvin the pilot program was never intended to make any sense. The game dept never wanted it and the wardens absolutly hate having it. It was only put in place to make those county commissioners happy. The commissioner were going to try and have their own season, with county residents the only ones able to hunt. This was slapped down by the wdfw but had the backing of some legislators. So wdfw and commissioners got together to start this pilot program that is why second draw was for county residents only. This program has one agenda and that is to kill some cats to appease the residents in those counties. The pursuit was approved by the wildlife commission because they like the idea of telling anti's they are helping public safety without killing any animals.
Hey darvin heard lots about you, you hang with that dog rob miller ha ha
give me a call if you get bored and want to bs.

[PIGLET]

Darvin the number is 509 322-5990

[Buddyw]

Hey Mike..

I was debating on heading back up there for a week to chase some cats and hopefully meet up with you.. but like I said I think we are going to point it south and go chase some more bob's that week.. Cheaper and about 5 hours less driving. Sounds like your ready for some spring weather and bear hunting anyways..

[bearbaito6]

I think that its working, the complaint levels are down from what I hear, But they should be after having way to high of quotas and slaughtering them the last few years plus the public saftey hunts they had there before the pilot program. Now peaple are just shooting the first cat they can find before the next guy does. Its joke for us hound guys but it sure proves that it works. Yeah I don't think hound guys need or want to shoot a cat every year. But by making it hound hunters only I think they are trying to prevent Guided hunts Darvin!

[PIGLET]

hey bearbait they have not touched on killing too many. The DNA project in okanogan ferry was supposed to be an escapement study which is dna 25 cats and have 10 or more killed during the pilot program, they could show that there werent that many cats. As of the start of this year 100 cats have been dna"ed only 18 have been killed both pilot program and boot hunters. They usually kill about 15-20 on the reservation just below the program. The cougar population seems to be higher than what thought, I don't think 20 cats killed whether male or female in those counties even put a dent on the population. Cats move in from canada and if 15 females have 2 kittens then the population just grew by 15 in one year. The wfdw is trying to make this hunt look like we are are there for safety reasons not for sport hunting because that was outlawed.

[Bearkiller]

There is something inherently wrong with the system. The state doesn't care if you're killing females. Just like the bear hunts. Every bear you catch is supposed to be killed. Its about numbers, not whats right. As far as the hunting. I have hunted with Darvin and bearbait. I'll bet you both are getting more action than before I-655. I may be wrong but I doubt it. The people who really got hurt are the people who are just starting or young.


Buddy, did I miss something in the rules because I didn't read where out of staters couldn't be handlers. Maybe I missed it. I read the rules because I was thinking about participating in a friends hunt in ferry county. It didn't work out though.

Hopefully there can be a return to some sort of legal hound hunting with out all the B.S. so I can move back home.

[Darvin Ecklund]

[Bearkiller]

[PIGLET]

[Bearkiller]

[Darvin Ecklund]

[Travis Stirek]