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Late this past week the public comment period opened up on the upcoming hunting regulations in the state of Washington. Public comment is open until March 21st. As you know from past columns Washington is a battleground state for hunting rights and it is more important than ever for hunters to make their voices heard even if you don’t hunt in Washington. There are a couple of significant items that WA hunters need to voice their opinions on.
In reviewing these proposals for the 2025 hunting seasons I’ve highlighted a few things that look to be the most significant changes in this blog.
For deer and elk there were not a lot of changes. Primarily some modifications to permit allocation numbers which happen every year.
For the Once-In-A-Lifetime “OIL” – species; moose permit levels are status quo. Sheep tags are losing 3 (closing two units) and mountain goat tags are losing 7 tags (closing 4 units). For more information on the impact of these changes watch for the Washington MRS write up later this spring.
Some of the biggest changes have to do with baiting game animals. As mentioned in this blog, CWD was first identified in Washington state last fall. No surprise, there is a proposal to eliminate all baiting of game in Washington State, with an expanded definition of “bait” as “any substance that could serve as a lure, food, or attraction for deer, elk, or moose, including natural or synthetic scents that contact or are derived from cervid urine and glandular extracts.” This would apply not only during hunting season but also includes placement of salt during the offseason. Basically, anything that could cause deer, elk, or moose to congregate the commission wants to outlaw.
Predator hunting is always in the crosshairs in Washington and this year is no exception. New rules that now would make it illegal to kill a sow black bear with cubs or a cub under 1 year of age are on the agenda. In addition, the number of GMU’s that require a hunter to pass (and carry proof) of a bear identification test has been expanded in anticipation of the introduction and expansion of grizzly bears in the state. Cougar quotas are being reduced and that quota now includes all cougar deaths, not just those from hunters. Hunters are now required to submit the pelt within 3 days of the kill to the WDFW. In addition to cougar pelts being subject to sealing requirements, bobcat and river otters are as well.
The complete proposals and comment sections can be found at the following link. Current rule-making activity (Rule-making docket) | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
Please take a few moments to read the details and make your voice heard. It only takes a few minutes and if we as hunters do not make our voices heard, the anti-hunting voice will dominate these proposals. Keep in mind that any written comments are captured on a public-facing webpage, so keep your comments professional and on point.
If washington state bands baiting of any kind all the archery hunters, will go back to rifle hunting, most archery hunters got away from rifle hunting because there were way too many people. As myself many of us have tree stands and ground blinds but mostly trees stands. We will bait with blocks. You can buy from any hardware store or feed apples. If this is prohibited, most archery hunters will go back to rifle and there will be way too many people in the field for rifle hunting. And like myself, we all have a lot of money invested into our tree stands and all our equipment.