From my perspective as a hunter, there are a number of surprising concerns in the article--

To start, the way the hunt was "managed" by both the land owner and WDFW. Granted, the primary goal of hunting is to harvest an animal with the associated bloody outcome. However, the article cited running and panicked animals in a fenced pasture surrounded by hunters. This likely resulted in arrows flung at running animals. How many of the participants routinely practice on moving targets? Given the "high-powered bows," what about pass-through secondary hits on animals behind primary targets? Is an elk analogous to a paper target and not worth the effort to respectfully harvest it with a skilfully placed projectile? Were the arrows reported to be in some of the elk in their vitals, or some place that is not lethal? What about the "collateral damage" of the panicked elk injured jumping the fence with its entrails exposed? How many close calls were there of a broadhead narrowly missing a human in the cross-fire?

I've driven by this particular stretch of road and seen these elk and their various observers along the fence line. Rather than the resultant gang bang, what if the landowner allowed a maximum of one or two hunters on the property per day to pattern and set up for a shot on calm animals until the required cull was complete? Perhaps handicapped hunters using modern arms would have been more beneficial to all parties and humane to the elk, minimizing public scrutiny of shooting fish in a barrel?

As cited by others above, the language/slant of the article was not favorable toward all involved. Further, WDFW's comments on the record were disparaging to their own actions. Given the 20/20 hindsight of the matter, one has to wonder if there was any forethought in managing both the subject cull and the local valley herd.

All of the above does not appear to cast a favorable light on either WDFW or the hunting community. Just because it is legal to do so, doesn't necessarily mean it is a good thing to do, given the reported outcome....