The Fish and Wildlife hunting prospects will continue in this column, as we did last week, first with the rest of District 7 and then on to District 1. Read on and good luck to all during the season. Send me photos.

District 7: Chelan and Douglas counties

2012 Elk harvest summary

Hunters harvest an average of roughly 45 elk each year in GMUs 251, 249 and 245 in Chelan County. Success rates between weapon types vary and overall success varies from year to year. In 2012 muzzleloader hunters had an 11 percent success rate while archers had a 1 percent rate and modern firearms hunters 4.5 percent. In 2012 a total of 45 elk were harvested in District 7, with most (37) coming from GMU 251 and four coming out of GMU 245.

The recent change to a true spike rule for the Colockum has shown increases in escapement of yearling bulls and mature bulls use portion of Chelan County as security and wintering habitat. Recent research has expanded our understanding of the Colockum Herd and there are plans to look deeper into the ecology of the adult bull portion of the population.

Elk in GUMs 245 and 249 occur at low density and in small dispersed bands. Local hunters that live and work the area are often the hunters that prove to be successful in harvesting these elk. Elk hunting in GMU 249 consists of all public land and is within the USFS Alpine Lakes Wilderness. While the GMU offers an opportunity for an over the counter archery tag for a branch-antlered bull, elk are at very low density and occupy extremely rugged terrain that does not allow the use of motorized vehicles.

Game Management Unit 251 offers elk opportunity throughout the majority of the unit; however, elk density is not very high. General seasons fall under antler restrictions that make harvesting spike elk more challenging. Harvest occurs across the GMU; however, the majority of the elk hunting occurs between Blewett Pass to the west, the city of Wenatchee to the east, and the mountainous and timbered habitat south of State Highway 2. The Mission Unit does have a significant amount of private lands and hunters are urged to make sure they know where they are when hunting elk in the area.

There are no notable changes in elk hunting opportunities for District 7 in 2013.

Black Bears: The bear hunting opportunity in the Wenatchee District should be similar to 2012, as a result of a relatively wet spring and early summer that helped with production of forage species.

There are no notable changes in black bear hunting opportunities for District 7 in 2013.

Cougar: Similar to black bears, cougar management is based primarily off harvest data rather than intensive surveys and population monitoring. In 2012 a total of 15 cougar were harvested in the district, with 13 of the cougars taken during general hunting, and the other two cougars having been removed under a depredation or other situation. Six of the 15 cats harvested were females, eight were males and one was reported as unknown.

The opportunity to a harvest cougar in the Wenatchee District expanded under the new season structure in 2012 that remains in place for 2013. There are no notable changes in cougar hunting opportunities for District 7 in 2013.

District 1 Background

Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille Counties

District 1, in the northeastern corner of Washington, is comprised of seven game management units (GMUs), including GMU 101 (Sherman), 105 (Kelly Hill), 108 (Douglas), 111 (Aladdin), 113 (Selkirk), 117 (49 Degrees North), and 121 (Huckleberry) (Figures 1 and 2).

The topography is dominated by four mountain ranges that run generally north and south, the Kettle, Huckleberry, Calispell and Selkirk Ranges. There are broad valleys in between these ranges that are drained by the Kettle, Columbia, Colville, and Pend Oreille Rivers, all within the Columbia River watershed.

Elevation varies from about 1,290 feet at the normal pool level of Lake Roosevelt to 7,309 feet on Gypsy Peak in the north Selkirk Range. Coniferous forest covers about 68 percent of the district's landscape. Agricultural land, range land, and water features cover most of the balance.

Approximately 37 percent of the land mass is public, mostly national forest, but also state DNR, federal BLM, USFWS, WDFW, and a few other government agencies. Most of these lands outside of Indian reservations are open to public hunting.

In addition, there are large timber company lands, also open to public hunting, although not necessarily open to private motorized vehicle access. The public lands tend to be at higher elevations with a shorter growing season, much less agriculture, and in general have a lower density of game animals, especially deer and turkey.

Big game resources in District 1 include white-tailed deer, the most abundant species, mule deer, elk, moose, black bear and cougar. White-tailed deer densities are highest in the valleys and foothill benches bordering the valleys, especially in the farm-forest mosaic within GMUs 105, 108, 117, and 121. GMUs 101, 111, and 113 also have white-tailed deer, but with more localized distributions.

Mule deer also occur within District 1, but in lesser abundance than white-tailed deer, especially east of the Columbia River. Although mule deer occur within every District 1 GMU, the highest density is in GMU 101.

Since 2001, hunter harvest of all deer within the Selkirk Zone peaked in 2006. After a steady decline, largely as a result of two severe winters, the harvest rebounded to a substantial degree last year, 2012.

Northeastern Washington is snow country. The severity of the winters drives population trends for many, if not most species of wildlife that occur here, and deer are no exception.

Elk are scattered at relatively low densities throughout District 1, but are most abundant in GMUs 113 and 117, which typically have the highest annual harvest among the district's seven management units. The total hunter harvest of elk in District 1 is low compared to other WDFW districts, hovering around 250 to 300 animals a year since 2009.