Son of a Motherless Goat.

So...I've been looking through the 2014 Washington Hunting Regulations, and, I am not happy.  Like...the kid who didn't get anything he wanted for Christmas. 

I'm not sure how things work in other states, but here in Washington, while anyone can buy a deer or elk tag, there are then several categories of special tags you can apply for...antlerless, buck(in areas that are normally not open to deer hunting) and 'quality buck', which gets you out at times without other hunters.  Elk has a similar breakdown for special tags. 

Now...each year you don't draw a special tag in one of these categories, you earn preference points.  The concern here is that if you get lucky and get drawn for more than one of those categories, then you have used all your points...but you can still only shoot the one deer/elk...so...have to kind of think about that when you apply for special permits. 

Last year, I applied for(and was selected for) a doe tag on in a nice little wildlife area about 45 minutes from the house.  Ideal.  They also had buck permits available for the same area...but, I had more doe points stored up(hence, a better chance of getting drawn for doe than buck), so I figured I would wait until THIS year to apply for a buck tag for that area.

Sweet plan.  Last year, I got my doe, and saw a few bucks...and so all winter and into spring I have been dreaming about getting back into that same area I am now familiar with to shoot me a buck this year.

You can feel it coming, can't you?

Yup...for some reason, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife decided to change the buck season in the Paterson Wildlife Refuge from muzzleloader to Gosh Darn ARCHERY!!!!!

Grrrrrrr.  I now have NO idea what I am going to do for deer hunting this year.

Luckily I have a few months to work on that. 

It's just so....Grrrrrr.