Hunting regulations generous

The rubber stamp wasn’t always out when the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission set 2006-2008 hunting regulations last weekend.

The nine-member panel approved a broad package of proposals, most of which give hunters more opportunity, including a chance to harvest up to five birds a year from the state’s burgeoning flocks of wild turkeys.

Indeed, the commission even approved the state’s first falconry season for wild turkeys. Only three licensed falconers in the state have birds with enough muscle – we’re talking golden eagles – to tackle a tom. More power to them.

Meanwhile, the commission voted down the Fish and Wildlife Department’s proposal for the longest pheasant hunting season in state history. The vote confirmed the conventional wisdom that pheasants are a tier higher in esteem than birds such as Huns and quail.

Pheasant hunters will have a season similar to last year, starting the week after the deer opener in October and running through Martin Luther King weekend in January.

Starting this fall, the use of electronic decoys and calls will be prohibited in turkey and deer hunting, as it already is for waterfowl hunting.

Most big-game regulation changes indicate that populations of species such as deer, elk and moose are stable or expanding following nine years of mild winters, said Commission Chairman Ron Ozment.

A new spring bear hunt with 70 permits was authorized for 2007 in northeast units 101, 105, 108, 111, 117 and 121. Spring bear hunt permits for the Blue Mountains were increased by 50 percent.

But some regulations were adopted to help stop the decline of mature bucks in certain regions.

The general late whitetail buck hunt south of Spokane in units 127-142 has been changed to a limited entry hunt, Nov. 6-19, with 625 permits.

The general hunting season for mule deer in north central Washington will be reduced from 14 to nine days. Some hunters, however, will benefit from an increase in permits for late-season special hunts and more antlerless tags.

In northeast Washington, a new late-season “any whitetail” hunt for youths, seniors and disabled is set for Nov 6-19 in units 105-124. Also new this fall, the “second tag” options were added to units 121, 124 and 127 – and the second tags will be valid in any general season.

Elk hunters will notice an increase from 81 to 100 special permits for bull elk in the Blue Mountains and 30 additional permits in the Mount St. Helens area.

Archers will get new opportunities to hunt the struggling Coluckum herd.

Moose permits were increased from 96 to 100, the most issued in Washington.

Turkey hunters, who are in the peak years of their sport in Washington, will get the biggest boost of all.

In northeast Washington, a new late-fall permit hunt will run Nov. 20-Dec. 12 this year with 800 permits for units 101-124.

That will follow the general hunt that runs Sept. 23-Oct. 6, which coincides with special-permit hunts in Klickitat County, Spokane County and four counties in southeast Washington.

Starting in 2007, the spring gobbler hunt in all areas of the state will be extended two weeks, running April 15-May 31.

In the past, hunters could take two turkeys in Eastern Washington and one in Western Washington for a total of three in a year.

Starting this year, hunters can still take up to two turkeys in Eastern Washington and one from the West Side during the spring season.

But every hunter also has the option of carrying over a tag purchased in the spring and/or buying another tag for the general early fall season.

With a little luck, a sportsman also might apply and draw a tag for the new late fall permit hunt, which would give the turkey hunter with no other life a chance to score five birds this year.

This might get confusing when you buy your tags this year, since the Washington Legislature enacted a law that eliminates the “free” turkey tag that comes automatically with the purchase of a Washington small-game hunting license. That law doesn’t take effect until June.

So you get a “free” turkey tag with your license this spring, and you can buy additional tags for $18 apiece.

But don’t buy any fall tags until after June, when the price will decrease to $14.