Washington hunting

[pmkvt14]

All my wife is looking to relocating to Washington from CO, any concerns i should have about the hunting laws?

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

The majority of our Commission is actively trying to strip hunting opportunities away. So that’s concerning.

 

[Raghornklr]

Pick your weapon and season, 3pt minimum on the west side and spike only on the east. Fewer elk than Colorado by a long shot. I believe Colorado is set up fairly similar. And these are generalizations.

 

[Jason277]

Definitely way less elk and yes they are trying to railroad hunting here but it sounds like CO is in the same boat .

 

[wide_groupings]

Pick your weapon and season, 3pt minimum on the west side and spike only on the east. Fewer elk than Colorado by a long shot. I believe Colorado is set up fairly similar. And these are generalizations.

I don't know the WA regs so forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean spike only on the east? The regs page makes it seem like there are a lot of any elk/any bull units on the eastside for general tag rifle

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

I don't know the WA regs so forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean spike only on the east? The regs page makes it seem like there are a lot of any elk/any bull units on the eastside for general tag rifle

Spike only in the units that are worth hunting.

 

[Raghornklr]

I don't know the WA regs so forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean spike only on the east? The regs page makes it seem like there are a lot of any elk/any bull units on the eastside for general tag rifle

Spike only in the units that are worth hunting.

The any elk units are managed for no elk basically.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Spike only for OTC hunting in most descent East side units. Branched antlered requires drawing a permit. Just to level set things, 20+ years of applying and still haven't drawn one of those. Western OTC permits are different but I have never hunted the west side. The Cascade range separates east from west.

 

[wide_groupings]

Thanks, yeah I knew the more premier WA units were basically impossible draws but didn't know the rest was so weighted towards spikes. How do you guys find the spike hunts to be?

 

[ridgefire]

Elk hunting in Washington chokes for the most part unless you can draw a tag which is next to impossible. I don’t know what the success rate on spikes is but I’m guessing it’s under 5%. Pretty slim pickings.

 

[Johnbaldwin86]

The hunting regulations are a little more complicated than CO, but if you can navigate CO regs WA shouldn't be too challenging. I have only hunted CO once, but some key differences are WA does not have separate rules for private vs public, draw hunt dates can be unit specific vs CO's 1st and 4th rifle.

When you buy your elk tag in WA, you need to pick weapon choice (archery, muzzleloader or modern firearm) and Westside/Eastside of state. You can only apply for draw tags that match your purchased general tag required for that hunt. WA has early and late seasons for each weapon choice, general tag is valid for both. Elk is pretty limited for late season hunts.

WA also has two sub species of elk, rocky mountain elk like CO and Roosevelt on the coast.

 

[dreamingbig]

All my wife is looking to relocating to Washington from CO, any concerns i should have about the hunting laws?

Don't!

You will have shorter seasons and have to pick your weapon.


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[Hike2hunt]

The salmon fishing is great.

 

[CHIEF CRNA]

All my wife is looking to relocating to Washington from CO, any concerns i should have about the hunting laws?

It is an absolute shitshow out here. The rules for anything are so confusing, you can't wrap your brain around it. I am from Colorado and if it were not for the Navy, I would be right back there. The fishing laws change on the hour and you have to have an app and ensure you check it 20 times a day in case they have closures that they randomly throw at you. Oh yeah, no one will help you at all try to understand the regulations. I have a year and a half until I retire and get back to Colorado.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

It is an absolute shitshow out here. The rules for anything are so confusing, you can't wrap your brain around it. I am from Colorado and if it were not for the Navy, I would be right back there. The fishing laws change on the hour and you have to have an app and ensure you check it 20 times a day in case they have closures that they randomly throw at you. Oh yeah, no one will help you at all try to understand the regulations. I have a year and a half until I retire and get back to Colorado.

The fishing regs took me a while to get comfortable. I hate checking the emergency regs every day and more than once I’ve had to cancel trips on short notice. Luckily never gotten all the way out somewhere and found out.

If I’m up at Baker Lake for sockeye season and they ever decide to emergency close the season I’m gonna have no way to know. Other than maybe there suddenly being no boats on the water.

I dint think the hunting regs are more complicated than most other western states. Draw system is pretty straightforward.

 

[Navaluk]

RUN! Find a new wife if you must, but do not move to Washington if you are any kind of hunter. Washington is pushing to make hunting not worth your time. People in the business of selling you their application services for tags, say WA is a waste of your money. I cannot say worse than that. Save yourself.

 

[Dmoua]

Laws and regulations can be found online. My advice if you must move here. Buy predator tags and get good at hunting them.

 

[Indian Summer]

RUN! Find a new wife if you must, but do not move to Washington if you are any kind of hunter. Washington is pushing to make hunting not worth your time. People in the business of selling you their application services for tags, say WA is a waste of your money. I cannot say worse than that. Save yourself.

This! I don’t care what happens in Colorado it will never suck as bad as Washington. I have limited experience there but have friends there and it’s not good. It will be way easier to find a new wife in Colorado than an elk in Washington.

 

[Bachto]

Been here all my life, I hunt deer in state and go out of state to hunt elk. I am pushing 20 points and I haven't drawn a branch antler tag for elk. The only thing that Washington has pretty decent hunting is ducks. The east side of the state is known for duck and goose hunting because of all the Ag. Oh we also have a lot of black bears and you can shoot 2 in the fall so that's cool...I guess.

Unless you have some huge financial incentive to move here to let you pay for out of state hunts... DON'T. We would move tomorrow if my stepsons dad didn't live here, not worth the fight right now because we have pretty good jobs. Washingtons gun laws are are also getting F***ing ridiculous and are most likely going to get worse.

 

[Navaluk]

There was a article in the Lewiston Tribune on 12/15 copy of Spokane article. I will try to attach but the short answer is that even the State of washington sees how useless their Fish and Game board is. They spent $300,000 to have Ruckelhaus Center point out the obvious.

here is the best I can do.

Imtribune.com/outdoors/report-cites-dysfunction-of-washington-fish-and-wildlife-commission-18291786
Mike Wright Spokesman-Review