washington lion hunts

[PIGLET]

well i haven't heard anything on this board for a while so i will let you in on the gossip i have heard. This year the rules are set in stone, and anyone can put in for the permits, not just hound owners but anyone that will pay $5.48 for the application.. The permit numbers are going to stay what they were last year. The female quota is still going to be in effect. I am only stating what i have heard so don't take this info as the gospel!!!! This weekend the game commission is meeting in colville and so discussions on the next 3 years in suspose to take place with the county commisssioners and game dept. i think they are taking public input but you get three minutes and i really don't think they listen. I have heard that one of the ferry county commissioners met with the WDFW region 1 director and discussed some of issue the hunt.. I believe the county commissioners is going to make these proposals:
#1 Split it into either kill permits or pusuit permits you can only chose 1, kind of like picking modern, archery or muzzleloader. This hopefully will make people without hounds or houndmen buddies or family put in for kill tags, and can harvest a lion. The pursuit will be for that only, so hopefully houndmen that just want to run their dogs can enjoy the whole season, and detour lions from getting into livestock or homes.
#2 Make your hunt choice only 1, before you could put in for up to 4 units, by getting this in most applicants will put in for the unit their most likely to actually hunt. I know myself i put down four choices but the last one is 4 hours drive to get to and realisticially i might hunt it for 7 total days all season when someone else might only be a hour or so and would give that permit more attention.. (hopefully more counties can get involved with this hunt and would open more places for everyone.)
#3 The county commissioner is going to ask that the female quota be cut and that kill tags will have all season to take a cat, hopefully this will make it so it's not a race and people feel like they need to kill the first cat treed.. This would let hunters be selective and hopefully cut down on female harvest. (This one is not going over very well with Donnie Mortello he likes the female quota and i haven't heard exactly why)

[PIGLET]

The rumor is that the first one the game commission likes, the second one is still being looked at and the third is meeting opposition from the WDFW and like i said before there has been nothing scientific brought forth to support having a female quota. If they want 20 cats killed give out 23 tags let them hunt all season and worst case scenerio the harvest was 3 over but i bet harvest percentage will be about 12-15 lions with only 2 or 3 females harvested.(by someone just wanting a lion or taken the end of the season) So thats what i have heard through the rumor mill take it as you want just putting the word out.

[BuckNAze]

That would be nice so at least you can tree a few, get some more training in and not just take say a young cat when you can take an older cat past their prime on the downside. Besides the cougar populations seem to be up. Since this summer began I had a friend see one cross Bridge creek in front of them, another 2 seen around Manila creek and my buddies just saw one while driving around up around Nespelem. Granted this is on our reservation but this just goes to show you that a place where you can still hunt with hounds and people are seeing all these cats that the population is doing well. Seems if you have people that are starting to just see cats cross highways, around towns, etc. that the population is doing great and some need to be harvested

[Buddyw]

Thanks mike,

I checked and They Changed the start date to Dec 19th this year instead of Dec 1st..

Buddy

[Machias]

General cougar season starts Sept. 1;
Permit-only hunt applications are due Aug. 31

OLYMPIA - Cougar hunters will begin the 2009 general season on Sept. 1 this year, while those interested in permit-only hunts held after the general season have until Aug. 31 to submit an application to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

Under new rules adopted by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, the general cougar season will begin with a statewide archery-only season Sept. 1-25, followed by a muzzleloader-only season Sept. 26-Oct. 16. Beginning Oct. 17, hunters may use any legal weapon to target cougars in most areas of the state.

In the past, the general cougar hunting season began Aug. 1 and hunters were allowed to use any legal weapon. The changes were adopted to better match cougar hunting with the early elk and deer seasons, said Donny Martorello, carnivore specialist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

Exceptions include certain cougar management units in Chelan, Ferry, Klickitat, Okanogan, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties, which will be closed during modern firearm deer season. Cougar hunting will run Oct. 31 through Nov. 30 in those areas. Any legal weapon may be used and the use of hounds is permitted.

Martorello said that the later start date in those areas, which occurs after the modern firearm deer season, is designed to better evaluate the pilot hound program in those counties.

"We want to offer all hunters a fair opportunity to hunt cougar in the state and maintain harvestable levels," Martorello said. "Removing cougar hunting from a portion of the deer season will help us further test the management benefits of the pilot hound season."

Details on the 2009 cougar season are available on page 50 of the WDFW’s Big Game Hunting pamphlet at http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/hunter/hunter.htm .

Meanwhile, hunters who wish to participate in a permit-only cougar hunt to be held this winter, have until Aug. 31 to purchase and submit their applications to WDFW. Cougar hunters participating in the general season may also apply for the special hunt drawing.

Approximately 68 permits will be available for special cougar hunts in five areas where the use of dogs is allowed. Under new rules approved by the commission, dog ownership is no longer a requirement for those wishing to apply for a hound-assisted hunt.

Also new this year is the addition of 290 permits allowing permit-only cougar hunts without the use of dogs in nine areas of the state.

The drawing for permit-only hunts will be held in mid-September; winners will be notified in mid-October by email or U.S. mail.

To apply for a permit, hunters must purchase a special permit application and a 2009 hunting license that includes cougar as a species option. Hunting licenses, cougar transport tags and cougar permit applications may be purchased online at http://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/ , by calling (866) 246-9453, or at any license vendor in the state.

Special permit applications, which require a correct hunt choice number specifying the area of choice, may be submitted online at http://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/ or by calling (877) 945-3492. Hunt choices and season dates are located on page 51 of the 2009 Big Game Hunting pamphlet, available at http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/hunter/hunter.htm .