trapper T

Man did that rain ever feel good, just wish we' d get about three or four days worth of it. That would put my nerves at ease about hunting season.Plus it' s so darn hot and dry, I don' t even feel like going Bear hunting

summit daWg

I see where that light show the other night got us 25 fires between Skykomish, and Marblemount.[X(] Was in Sky. today, and the wind was not feeling well for putting them out either. I sure hope we avoid the disaster we could be very close to right now!
They say rain this coming week-Isure hope it' s a deluge!

Take care!
S. daWg[:-]

summit daWg

[]A letter to the editor -Everett Herald-8-20-03

[] Dry Forests
Consider delay in hunting season:
If there is no rain east of the mountains and this side of the hilltops by September, the governor should do as has been done in the past: Delay hunting season for several weeks. The east side is a regular tinderbox waiting to explode.
He should give it his full consideration.

CARL HEMSTROM
Granite Falls []

I couldn' t paste it so I typed it word for word.
What do you think-I think I aggree[:-] Post on it with your opinions- S daWWWg

slee

I' ll go along with that if he' ll ban berry pickers, hikers, mountain bikers, campers, etc, etc. Isn' t it nice that " hunters" are singled out, not the other few million consumptive users in WA. I don' t think we' ve been a big fire risk in the past. Hell, Weyerhauser won' t let bowhunters on their property in the early season in most areas anyway. Maybe if they moved the season back further we' d all get more access. Maybe we should hunt in more urban settings where fire control would be better. I' ve seen lots of deer in greenbelts in and around Seattle suburbs. Some really nice bucks too. Bet that would go over real well.[>:]

summit daWg

Alright, got 1 reply,and I see your point too!
Here is the way I see it. If we don' t get any substantial precipitation in the next few weeks, I really don' t want to see any of the people you listed in the woods[],or us, if necessary. I have been deer and elk hunting in this state for 36 years, I remember elk seasons that ran from about november 4th to about the 20th-no choosing weapon-statewide tag.
Now you may be a bowhunter and I can really see your problem with this-so close to opening with plans already made. I would have a problem with that too!
Now my point-I really feel that these seasons,being as short as they are now-are too early to begin with, so putting them off a little would make for BETTER hunting to begin with.[:-]
Remember hunting deer opener,general buck season in 12-18" of snow? I DO.[:-]

slee

I' m not trying to split hairs with you on this(and this is all just my opinion), but it wouldn' t be better for anybody as a whole. We have short seasons that are determined by user group size and harvest data. If you look at harvest data, archery is WAY below the other groups in harvest % for deer based on group size. They finally got their season dates moved back a week for early elk, and that puts them square in the pre-rut/rut time. Muzzleloader(which I' m doing this time around) catches the tail end of the rut. Then, Modern follows for a short season. You can' t redistribute seasons fairly, no matter how you try. If you move it back, you' ll be moving ML and Modern completely out of the rut. And depending on how far you move it back, you start messing with time allocation for the late seasons. There isn' t much room to shift the seasons, unless you allow the late seasons to float into January which isn' t healthy for the animals. The good old days are long gone here in WA. I wasn' t here to enjoy them, but I share camp with several who were and have heard the stories. Now, understanding the game regs offers more of a challenge than actually going hunting. To an outsider (which I' m only 3 years removed), it looks an awful lot like the WDFW wants to take your money for a license, but doesn' t want you to kill anything. The population growth and the structuring of seasons(ie. resource allocation, ie. choose your weapon) won' t accomodate a simple shift of say 3 weeks back. If they move the dates, we' ll likely lose our early seasons all together.[:' (] Just my $.02 worth.

summit daWg

[:-] Understood Slee,but personally I' d rather have things moved back a week or two, than have them remain the same and have DNR &USFS mess it up by having to close the woods to us. []

slee

Granted a week or 2 wouldn' t hurt anything other than piss people off about vacation time being wasted. But we are so far behind on rainfall, it would take a month' s delay to really make any difference. The normal weather pattern for this time of year doesn' t drop enough moisture to deaden the threat we could pose by being present. I' ll concede to agree to disagree somewhat on the details. The root of the problems we face brought on by drought is decades of fire suppression. There aren' t enough firefighters on the USFS to carry out routine controlled burning in addition to fighting actual fires. Therefore, every year we have tinder boxes for forests just waiting for a lighting strike to do what nature does, out with the old-in with the new. But that' s a whole nother issue. I just hope the jet stream changes, and this will all be hypothetical chit-chat.

summit daWg

] I just hope the jet stream changes, and this will all be hypothetical chit-chat. [/quote]
That would definatly, be my first choice also![:-]
Just curious-where do you hunt?


Have a great weekend S daWg

slee

I hunt in the Taneum just east of Stampede Pass and Tacoma Pass. I hope me coming back next week from MS will make it start raining again. It seems to always rain whenever I come back from a visit in the South. I' m just looking forward to lower temps and less humidity. Nothing like low 80' s by 9am with a heat index of 92. That was this morning' s weather. It' s been a heat index high above 100 all this past week. Sucks to be outside.[:' (]