winston 520

[Elk whack master]

Is the weyhauser land still closed for fire danger? Can you walk in if it is?

[Huntbear]

Call the hotline... they update it daily.

[bobcat]

They don't update it daily, do they?

I checked just a couple days ago and it hadn't been updated since August 28th.

But to answer the question, it was never closed. It was only closed to access by motorized vehicles.

[funkster]

Yes, the farm is closed to MOTORIZED access. It is open for NON motorized access!


You can call the hotline at 1-866-636-6531

[Elk whack master]

Thats what i wanted to hear!!! Thanks Guys

[Goshawk]

As of right now:

"As of right now, according to the recording ALL of the Mt. St. Helens Tree Farm is closed to ALL public access including hunting."

We need some wet weather to get things opened up.

[Yelm hunter]

I just called the hotline 5 mins ago. It was updated September 24th. All Weyco lands are closed to motorized and nonmororized access including horseback and walkin due to HIGH fire danger!! They said they will open it if we can some good amounts of rain!!

I HOPE IT HAPPENS VERY SOON!!!

[Eli346]

 I've received the same message; closed to ANY ACCESS! Not much hope for the muzzleloader cow tag for the Margaret unit that a friend of mine has.

[nailbender]

I'm in that boat. Muzzy cow tag with my dad for Margaret. He is not gonna walk in too far anyways. Just gett'n too old for that. Plan B it is. I don't see them opening it up even to walk in. I just want my damn points back.

[Ghost Hunter]

Watched a herd in the Margaret not a 5 minute flat walk from the road on open public land, little over a week ago.  No reason to need points back.

[nailbender]

Understood, but lets see what happens when you put 70-80 other hunters in that little tiny postage stamp area...

[billythekidrock]

Understood, but lets see what happens when you put 70-80 other hunters in that little tiny postage stamp area...

I had that very conversation with a WDFW Customer Service rep. He said to contact the region office of the area you want to hunt to find out if anything is open.

He also said they were "monitoring the situation" meaning closures, but have made no decision either way to give back points and that a decision will not be made before this Saturday. He also said that those with permits are welcome to hunt other units and late seasons. He actually said "take advantage of the open units".

I told him that 80-90 hunters on a tiny piece of state land was not what I applied for. He then said that if you had good reason that you could contact the regional office and provide information pertaining to the unit your permit was for and possibly they could do something for you. Meaning possibly getting your points back.

[nailbender]

really? take advantage of other open units? WOW.. That really shouldn't be a surprise to me, but I guess my creadit card cleared when I bought my special permit apps and license's .. so now they are done with me. got it.

What really should be looked at too, is all the lost revenue generated by us hunters who come and spend money in the local economy to folks that do count on that boost. Campgrounds, gas stations, restraunts... ect.

I am just fustrated. Not that I don't have a Plan B or C's. I was looking forward to get'n my ol man on an elk and I won't have many more opportunities to do so. This should have been a good one for us this year. Even if it was a cow.

[billythekidrock]

really? take advantage of other open units? WOW.. That really shouldn't be a surprise to me, but I guess my creadit card cleared when I bought my special permit apps and license's .. so now they are done with me. got it.

That was exactly how I felt.

[Huntbear]

Do you guys with Winston tags read or ever look at maps??  Like maps with land ownerships shown, and National Forest boundaries???  Obviously not...  Wow....  There is plenty of that unit that is Public ground, if you actually look at the maps.

[billythekidrock]

Got plenty of maps that show ownership and boundaries. I also have current orthos as well.

I just don't want to fight 90 permit holders on a small percentage of the unit. Especially when most of the gates to the state land are open.

[nailbender]

I know this thread was for Winston HB.. I was commenting on the Margaret. My bad.

There is alot of area that is public in both, believe me I know. I'm just not going to drag a 70 year old man up the hill from the east for a cow.

[Huntbear]

I know this thread was for Winston HB.. I was commenting on the Margaret. My bad.

There is alot of area that is public in both, believe me I know. I'm just not going to drag a 70 year old man up the hill from the east for a cow.

No problem nailbender.  I also believe there are areas that are Margaret off the Highway there that are public land.. just not huge chunks, and they all hold elk.  If you do your research, you can find them and find elk.

[Yelm hunter]

I'm sure that you could also find some private land that you could get permission to hunt on. Cause if there 80 or 90 people are going to be on the small chunk of land that is open they will push the elk to private land... So look around and ask permission. I know a few people up in there in the Winston and Margart areas that you could get permission from. Just ask nicely!