New hunting and fishing guidelines could bring big changes

State Fish and Wildlife Commission to take public testimony at Moses Lake meetings March 8-9

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will accept final public comments on proposed hunting rules for the 2012-14 seasons at a pair of meetings March 9-10 in Moses Lake. The meetings take place at the Moses Lake Civic Center, 401 S. Balsam St. beginning at 8 a.m. each day.

Hunting is scheduled for Friday's agenda, with more than a dozen changes in state hunting rules to be considered ranging from allowing waterfowl hunters to use electronic decoys to adding a day to Western Washington elk seasons.

One of the changes is the repeal of WAC 232-28-356 covering elk special permit seasons for 2011 and the adoption of new elk special permit season for 2012 with WAC 232-28-360. The new rules adjust special permits for elk for 2012 in response to elk population changes and damage complaints, restricting hunting to permit holders only and those hunters who are drawn for a special permit hunt.

Several hunters in the Cheney area claim the new rules would eliminate the late-season elk hunts in favor of a system where landowners facing property damage from straying elk would contact a local Fish and Wildlife official who would arrive on site, assess the situation and issue a spot permit from a list of permit holders.

According to the Department of Fish and Wildlife's proposal, the new regulations will continue “to provide recreational elk hunting opportunity while protecting elk from over harvest” while helping minimize elk agricultural damage.

The commission has been taking public comment since August 2011. State wildlife managers will also be at Moses Lake to brief commissioners on hunting season for small game, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, cougar, black bear and deer in conjunction with proposed rule changes.

Public comment will be taken during the hearings that follow each hunting-rule briefing. An agenda for the commission's meetings in Moses Lake is available at http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/ while the proposed changes document is available at http://bit.ly/qZ6EMZ.

The commission is scheduled to considering adoption of the proposals at its next meeting April 13-14 in Olympia.