WA regs for any wildlife with .243 or greater during modern deer & elk

Onamission

Onamission

New member
I was reading the WA regs.....with my lawyer...lol and have found in the Prohibited Hunting Methods, page 66, Item #9, that during the Modern Rifle season for Deer & Elk, you may not hunt wildlife (COYOTES is wildlife here) with any firearm 24 cal or larger unless you have a valid license, permit & tag for deer, elk, black bear, cougar, mtn goat, big horn or moose in this case valid = modern rifle. Now those of you with modern rifle tags, should be fine, however, I have my Archery tag and license. So I will contact the WDFW on Monday, to make sure if I fit the bill to keep hunting Coyotes with my TC Encore in .243 Win. If it is an issue, I can change to a .223 barrel no problem. I just thought it was something you should be aware of. I'll let you know whats up with it Monday afternoon.

M
 
It's been that way for elk for 30 plus years in Washington but I believe the deer thing may be recent (last ten years or so).

On a side note: Washington State has to be the most screwed up state in the Union when it comes to the game laws and how they are written.
 
So basically you can't use a shot gun with buckshot/slug on small game (coyotes), unless you have a big game license, which (I guess) gives you the permission to use a larger caliber firearm.

Or to discourage the small game hunters from taking a big game animal with a firearm smaller than .24cal.

I can see a small game hunter coming across a big buck and decide to harvest it with a small cal. rifle if the purchased tag was not filled at the time.

You hunt long enough around various people you can learn a lot.

I must agree you need a lawyer to describe the laws/ regs to get it in plain terms. Just like the section on night hunting during big game season.

Written not for hunters, but for non hunters!!!
 
Well, I'm glad that I'm just finishing up building a new AR with a varmint weight .223 barrel.

I really hadn't given it much thought in the past, although I can't remember the last time I tried calling coyotes during the rifle season.

It would be an easy mistake to make and knowing our Wildlife Agents in Washington, they would really get their "Jollies" on that type of a pinch.
 
This is a fairly new twist in the rules. I was told it was intended to curb many problems like party hunting. Many guys harvest a big game animal then continue hunting to help out a party/family member while claiming "oh I'm just coyote hunting".
Most hunters that I've told are completely unaware. At least it allows us to continue hunting, just with a smaller gun.
I have no doubt a warden would cite you for it and as I understand it there is a double scale intentional and unintentional. So claiming ignorance could get you the unintentional scale. Does that make it the bright side.
 
It has been a Colorado law for many years.

It goes to intent. If you are carrying your magnum elk rifle and you have alrady harvested your big game it keeps you from party hunting. You gotta put away the big gun after your have filled your tag.

I belive that in the Colorado regs it states centerfire rifle smaller than .24 during big game seasons to hunt small game. Shotguns are not even mentioned. I guess a grey area would be to have a rifled barrel shotgun during big game season to hunt coyotes becuase technically it is a centerfire rifle.
 
Yea, that's like assuming you own a car that goes 160mph and you will drive it that fast everywhere you go.

Wa. State Fish and Game probably lost a court case that involved someone carrying a 243 without a big game tag during deer season (we all know a 243 is a great coyote gun) and claimed to be coyote hunting. Of course "they" (State Game) likely assumed otherwise cited the hunter and he/she challenged it in court and State Game lost thier case. So they go the easy route and just blanket the rules so they don't risk losing in court again.

Since hunting coyotes with a 6mm or larger caliber is not a crime in it's self I would think that "INTENT" would be a larger part of any alledged violation. Say if you were aiming a 6mm or larger caliber firearm at deer or elk while you were coyote hunting, then maybe that would appear to give the officer the suspicion you may be intending to shoot that deer or elk. We all know that a 223 is an adequate caliber to cleanly kill a deer or elk, yet, it's clearly lawful to use it for coyotes during deer and elk seasons. Or perhaps it's easier to assume the 223 is not a large enough caliber to kill a deer or elk so therefore no one would even consider it during deer and elk season. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
I majored in Wildlife Mgmt for two years before I switched back to Animal Science. The reason they are doing this is because they feel people are poaching and having a hard time catching them. I thought (8 years ago now)that they we going to change the rules that anyone in a deer or elk area during modern season even picking mushrooms needed to have a deer or elk tag. I really don't have a problem with this. Modern deer season is typically 8 days and elk about the same, this is a very small window of inconvience for predator hunters. Personally, I don't want to be in the woods when the sea of orange is out there.

DD
 
Great responses, I think the irritating thing about the reg is that I just happened to catch it on accident. This one and the night regs are just a few of the Gobbildy Gook language to purposely confuse the LEGAL HUNTERS.

REMEMBER, we are the bad guys to them. Paying our large fee's to hunt and fish, what are we thinking? Taking the time to teach the youths of our state to carry on the traditions of hunting, it's our evil plan. Paying our taxes, to keep the system going, It's a conspiracy I tell ya.

If this kind of slow creaping cancer of the regs continues, someday soon, We evil evil hunters will have nobody to blame but ourselves. Remember the frog in the pot of water.

I'm off my soap box now........Thanks
 
Oregon regs are stricter yet. The state tried to pass a law that you couldn't even carry a centerfire rifle on the roadways unless you have an unfilled deer or elk tag but the court overturned it. Now it states that you can't hunt coyotes with a centerfire rifle during the time any regulated hunts are going on. Those begin Sept 1 and go on into December. There are exceptions. You can hunt coyotes with a centerfire 22 in some GMU's and counties. The law is confusing and completely unnecessary. Like FALFire said, they assume that we're all breaking the law.

What makes me the angriest is that the state spends a fortune exterminating coyotes to protect the antelope and deer herds with government hunters, you have them in Washington, too, and aerial coyote hunts but here I am willing to do it for free and they charge me for a license and hamper me in every way imaginable. It doesn't make a lick of sense.

You guys in Washington need to be careful when you're out bird hunting. When I lived in Omak I ran into a state hunter over on the Coleville Indian Res and he was setting out a cyanide gun. At that time it was illegal for none tribal members to hunt coyotes on the res so I've always wondered why the state was in there killing them. Cyanide guns kill hunting dogs just as efficiently as coyotes.
 
Whats funny is seagulls are protected in washington. But the state pays hired killers to shoot them at the dams because of predation on the baby salmon.
And what is up with all the mountain streams being closed to fishing now. Are they afraid we will catch all the salmon and stealhead. It sucks because all the streams we used to fish when I was a kid are all closed. [beeep] democrats I think I will send them a letter asking for my money back for my fishing license. It sucks when you by one, to take your kids to the mountains fishing but every [beeep] stream is closed or catch and release.
 
This weekend I will take my wife out so she can have her chance to kill her deer, my 4X6 is already hanging. The shots here can be very short, fast and furious as mine was this year or well over 300 yards. Since she practices shooting very little these days I need to have two setups ready to go for that magic moment. So the only way I can see to do this is to purchase a second tag, this one will be for bear and cougar, that way I'll still be legal to carry my 243wssm AR and she can carry the DPMS 308 carbine. I hate to do this because it's just pay me now or pay me later sort of speaking. However, I would rather pay the 22 bucks over the possible fine of several hundred dollars and possibly losing my hunting license for a year or more.

It sucks, but then maybe I'll tag a nice cat or bear this year and still be legal /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Soooooo

Onamission, did ya ever contact the WDFW to get an answer on your question? I for one would like to know what they had to say.
 
I did get a response. If you have an un-filled modern rifle deer, elk tag, your fine during that part of the season. Once those tags are filled you must either not hunt wildlife (coyote) during the remaining part of the season OR reduce the caliber size to below .24 caliber.

My situation is I have un-filled Archery tags for both Deer & Elk, However, if I want to hunt wildlife, I must use a reduced caliber or just not hunt wildlife during the modern rifle seasons.

I can easily reduce the caliber since I have a T/C Encore Rifle & Pistol in .223 & 22.250 Rem. It just goes to show that you gotta read the regs at least once every year to see what they have changed on us.

The lady at the WDFW was very cordial and civil and had had her answer reviewed before she called me back.

They are just a phone call away:
WDFW Enforcement 360 249-4628

Mike
 
Mike, thanks for the update. I solved the issue by just purchasing the bear and cougar tag. Never know where I'll be from time to time so either tag may come in handy. Bear season is open in my game unit so I'm good to go.


Gary
 
Each year that there is a change in rules, dates or quotas it is printed in red. It's still a good idea to review in case you fell asleep while reading. Last year I stumbled onto the fact that hunter orange is required if you shoot a rabbit while hunting grouse. Go figure.
 
Makes ya wonder if they can't put it in plain English instead of having to hire an lawyer for interpretation what else they are going to sneak in there for more confusion next year.
 
Quote:
And what is up with all the mountain streams being closed to fishing now. Are they afraid we will catch all the salmon and stealhead. It sucks because all the streams we used to fish when I was a kid are all closed. [beeep] democrats I think I will send them a letter asking for my money back for my fishing license. It sucks when you by one, to take your kids to the mountains fishing but every [beeep] stream is closed or catch and release.



I don't have a problem with the quality water program but I do have a problem with the way they manage their put and take water. I'm not sure when this was implemented but I suspect it was during the reign of Tax Hike Mike. The state started dipping into license revenues for their social programs. As a result the hatcheries stopped raising trout to release in the lakes all during the spring and early summer. They now do a single release of fingerlings and it's in the fall of the year. That way the state doesn't have to pay to keep those fish for very long reducing their costs and screwing the sportsman. If you don't get to a lake during the early part of the season it's doubtful that you'll catch very many fish as they'll be fished out and won't be any good until the following year.

And there's a method in their madness with all of the quality water where there's a zero or one fish limit. If the fishermen release everything they catch the state doesn't have to stock fish in them. I'm a catch and release fly fisherman and I did enjoy fishing where I did up there but when you catch a good size trout you can see he's been beat to hell with torn lips and scars from being caught so often.
 
I'm sure poaching has not halped statutes such as these. Sometimes you have to becareful and know these things better then the wardens. Long story but I ended up in a pissing contest with a large group of elk hunters for shooting a coyote during "Thier season." They ran and found a game warden who wrote a summons for hunting coyotes during elk season?????. before any signatures A short walk back to my truck I pointed out in the hunting regs how wrong he really was. The guy was new and very decent about the whole thing. It really pissed the elk guys off. I was running a .224 cal.

one last thought, I dont know how Lion tags work in WA, but if thier over the counter and in season, I would imagine thats a wonderful affirmative defense!
 
Back
Top