Timber or Sage??? Decisions....

[finnman]

I have been hunting rifle deer in one of two places since the mid 90's, it has been either the Columbia Basin, Grant or Lincoln co. or Republic. I love both, the game numbers are high in the sage areas, lots of does, lots of two points and a few legal bucks, and where we hunt you have the chance at a good mulie or a whitetail. The problem is consistantly dealing with people trespassing on private property that you have permission to hunt! It drives you nuts trying to hunt and worry about all the locals trying to nudge in on the parcel you are hunting.
Republic is a little different, low game numbers, thick areas where it is frustrating hunting in crispy timber, but the idea of harvesting a real brute of either species is always looming in the background. The last time I hunted around the Republic area, we saw maybe 25 deer in 6 days of hunting, but 5 of them were really good bucks, a few too far away to get to, one we snuck up to 50 yards on and jumped him from his bed with no shot, and another one we didn't know was in the area and jumped him from his bed and could not get a shot at. Both of these bucks were at least a mile from the road. Thats the great thing about the area, if you get a 1/2 mile from a road there is no one out there. Its quiet and you have a lot of area to yourself, no trespassers either. Oh, and the chance at a nice bear is a bonus!
So what to do? I am really leaning toward the timber this year. The road hunters don't bother me, I have the wall tent, I want a big heavy mulie, I love the tamarck and aspen, decisions.....

[bobcat]

I'd go hunt the timber, if you're wanting a chance at a monster muley.

[E-Town Hunter]

I think you should go to the timber....

[headshot5]

I'd hunt the timber, just because I hate hunting in the pumpkin patch (open fields full of hunters in hunter orange). 

[E-Town Hunter]

I have hunted exclusively the sage land since I live here. I have been pretty fortunate that I know the lay of the land pretty well and have had a good run of success filling my tag. However, I realize that I will probably never have the chance at a Large trophy animal hunting around here because very few live to see maturity. The few that do are usually on private ground and I hunt very little private ground. I have often thought about going up to the timber to have a chance at a trophy, but have decided to hold out on that until I draw a quality tag. To me, the thought of filling my tag is more important than harvesting a trophy. Plus, its so convenient being able to hunt 20-30 min from your home.

[finnman]

Those are my exact sentiments E-Town Hunter.
My wife and I have been able to be privileged enough to hunt on about 5,000 acres of private property, prime deer hunting for sure. We are allowed to hunt every other year, this is an off year. We take at least one buck every year. We love venison so the antlers are not as important as the meat. And I love spot and stalk hunting! This parcel has given up a few big deer, as in 24" mulies, thats about as big as they get with the pressure and open ground. We have taken a few nice whitetails also, 3 four points, about 16-18" wide with good mass.
Three years ago I took my dad out for breakfast after the opener, I shot a 3 pt. at 11 am, so we went to town for a late breakfast, we overheard 3 young guys talking about deer hunting, one was already tagged out, one was not hunting due to legal issues and the third kid was going to sneak into the property we hunt after the opening day crowd subsided. He literally said the name of the people who own the ranch! I wanted to walk over and dump sausage gravy over his head and slap him around!!!
5 years ago we had a guy and his kid cut over the fence line a quarter mile and shoot a nice 4 pt. right in front of us, we had a shot but it was at them, the buck was only 50 yards from them so the kid shot it. No permission slips, no hunter orange, locals, the owner knew who they were, I got their names but I don't think anything was done about it.

Just getting tired of this stuff......

[HawkCreek]

This probably goes without saying but some locals are just plain schmimey trash while others are actually our friends and do have permission to hunt our property. It's sad that some of us spend more time patrolling our fence lines during hunting season than getting to hunt for ourselves. They've even started trespassing the week before hunting season around here so as to not get caught so easy. Nobody's got time to look for these pricks all the time so catching them is more or less a pipe dream.

My girlfriends dad has a much larger ranch than I grew up on and he just said screw it several years ago. He goes out hunting and always finds cut fences with tracks driving though but never catches up with anyone. The law wont do anything to help since there is no more evidence than tire tracks. He just turns in the shot up cows to insurance and shakes his head, not much else he can do really.


BTW, I enjoy spot and stalk so I'd go for the sage country myself.

[pd]

Finnman, HawkCreek, I have to tell you something.  This forum is really opening my eyes to things that I didn't even know existed.  I had no idea the trouble that private landowners have with trespassing hunters (whether locals or tourists).

I grew up in SE Washington, and spent many Autumn afternoons chasing pheasants through the asparagus brush.  Come to think about it, all of that land must have been private, and we never once thought to ask for permission to hunt it.  Mind you, this was a long time ago, and I never saw a single "No Trespassing, No Hunting" sign in those days.  But the point is well taken (albeit a little bit late).

By the way, I can't stand the dust.  Go to the woods.

[finnman]

Oh the dust!! It is like a 100 head cattle drive just driving into the property!!

I do have to admit that my 70 year old neighbor came over this spring by the back fenceline checking his cattle and showed me a cell phone pic of him with his biggest buck he has ever taken from Republic last year! 26 " heavy horned 3x4-lots of dark antlered mass! Made me a little jumpy to get back over there!

[Fl0und3rz]

Quiet and thick timber over nut to butt any day.

[Kazekurt]

There are some monsters in the sage but you have to really work hard to find them.  Hunting pressure and trespassing are unfortunately a reality and its getting worse.  The hard to reach places are your best shot at a whopper but the majority of the best bucks lay low in swamps or cornfields and become nocturnal after a day or two of rifle season.  Grab a bow and hunt the late season if your serious about bagging a bruiser.  Your odds of getting close enough for a shot aren't great but at least you'll see them!

[finnman]

I think it is settled. We are going to wall tent it up in the mountains near the Kettle Crest trail. We will be hunting on foot away from the roads cross country, not by trail. Those get hit pretty good but if you go through the timber and boulders a quarter mile you can still hunt all day and never see anyone. The great thing about this is the possibility of either a monster WT or Muley. I hope the weather stays cool and we get a little rain, that would be great!
See you all up there!