An estimated 12,000 hunters will head afield beginning Saturday as the elk season begins its 12-day run in Southwest Washington.
Shooting hours on Saturday are 7:25 a.m. to 6:20 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, while on Sunday are 6:25 a.m. to 5:20 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
A hunting license for elk costs $50.40 for residents and resident seniors, $21.80 for youth under age 16 or disabled residents and $497 for non-residents. Hunters must wear 400 square inches of fluorescent orange clothing, visible on all sides, above the waist.
The weather has cooperated with substantial rains since mid-October and enough wind and cool temperatures to have the leaf drop well under way.
Elk hunting — with its mostly single-digit success rates — is also about elk camps, hunting companions and enjoying the outdoors in the fall.
Surveys this spring showed a modest increase in the elk population of the St. Helens herd. Both the winters of 2014-15 and 2015-16 resulted in little winter kill at the state’s St. Helens Wildlife Area.
“These indicators point toward a productive elk hunting season during 2016,’’ according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 2016 hunting seasons prospect document.
“Survey information in the GMUs comprising the Willapa Hills herd is favorable as well,’’ it states. “Surveys conducted in 2014 and repeated in 2016 indicate a stable or slightly increasing elk population in GMUs 506 Willapa Hills and 530 Ryderwood.
Elk hunting in Southwest Washington for the past decade largely is about the widespread hoof disease.
“Reports have been increasing in number and geographic scope, and hunters are regularly seeing — and sometimes harvesting — elk with this condition,’’ according the Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It has been noted in both males and females, old and very young animals, and in any hoof.’’
The department has implemented regulations requiring hunters to leave the hooves of any elk taken. Page No. 66 of the 2016 big-game hunting pamphlet includes all the details regarding leaving elk feet at the site of harvest.
Washington wildlife officials are asking hunters, hikers and others who spend time in the Cascade Mountains this fall to watch for elk and notice to see if any walk with a limp.
The volunteer-based project by the Department of Fish and Wildlife is to learn more about the distribution of a the hoof disease.
The new reporting system is intended to see if the disease is found in new areas such as the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie or Okanogan-Wenatchee national forests, said Brooke George, project coordinator.
“Our goal is to monitor the outer edges of where the disease occurs, so we can respond to changes in its distribution more quickly,’’ George said. “We appreciate any help people can give us in this effort.’’
Volunteers interested in contributing can pick up maps, reporting forms and instructions on how to fill them out at national forest offices and visitor centers throughout the Washington Cascades.
Locally, the forms are at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Mount Adams Ranger District office in Trout Lake, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument office in Chelatchie, Johnston Ridge Observatory on Highway 504, Washington state parks visitor center at Silver Lake and Cowlitz Valley Ranger District office in Randle.
Forms also are available at six locations in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and three in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
Participants also can report their observations online at http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/health/hoof_disease.
Elk season ends on Nov. 16.
Late buck deer season is Nov. 17 through 20.
