Winston first year hunt

[blacktaill]

Where is Weyco surrounded by DNR? Havent seen it

One of the dudes in our hunting party had a chip on his GPS that gave Land Ownership information. We were VERY surprised to see allot of DNR off of  Mountain (By the way, Roy Boy, saw your mailbox... COOL) as well as a number of private party parcels. We noticed allot more DNR than we had ever known. That Chip was worth every cent that he spent on it! 

The Elk seemed to be VERY scattered this year (Ran into some good ol boys that had some GREAT luck hunting their first year in the Coweeman) and I was actually surprised at the number of hunters. Some said that there seemed to be allot of hunters (I did notice an uptick in Road hunters and rigs parked on some clear cuts) but had the majority of the unit been open for access off the 500 I think allot of that would have thinned out. and the numbers would have at least seemed not as bad. The weekends as usual were the worst.

There will be allot of people looking for new grounds next year. I am still having difficulty imagining how they are going to enforce this, if I go in on DNR and cross into Weyco through the forest and not necessarily through the road. Also wondering exactly how they are going to work permits. Not sure that Toutle Bull Tag is going to worth that price.

We did see a number of elk carcasses but you can't tell how bones die! A few cows and some missing heads so I can imagine those were bulls taken by hunters. Other than the rumors from the locals, I haven't heard anything to substantiate it.

Took a picture with my buddy next to the mailbox! That was funny as hell to see in the middle of the woods! 

[npaull]

Access and habitat is everything... too many hunters worrying about wolves, not enough worrying about preserving habitat and our access to it. For some reason wolves really light the fires, but people will basically turn a blind eye towards gradual development and closing off of habitat. So more and more hunters get squeezed into fewer and fewer areas.

[scree]

WDFW will do a count after the snow hits and they are all bunched up in there from the high country.  Then they will decide to give out another 500 or more cow tags for early seasons so we can further destroy the local low elevation herds. And they will continue to restrict bowhunters from shooting bulls in the late season forcing them to harvests cows only.

Even with all the hunting pressure this unit used to be one of the more enjoyable hunting areas in the state.  Not so much anymore.  Now we just tell stories to our nieces and nephews, kids and grandkids about the days when the Winston was to best place in the state to spend in the woods during elk season.  I doubt I will see it return in my lifetime 

Problem is these days...where else are you going to go?  Keep putting in for the draw and maybe you can do better than me and actually draw a good area within the next 18 years.  If ignoring the hoof rot situation for so many years hasn't led to the end of all elk hunting in The St Helens area by then.

I'm not usually a WDFW basher, but in the case of the Winston herd they have sure screwed it up pretty dang good!
[/quote]

Could not have said it better my self RadSav particularly your last sentence.

[Eli346]

Blacktail,
 Royboy sets up camp in September and usually stays through the middle of Dec and sometimes longer. He's had several Turkey Day feasts up there. His campset is quite unique and he's getting better at it every year. All the comforts of home!

[RadSav]

Just got home from the Winston.  Wife and CL are still up there.  Worst I have ever seen and the difference from last year to this year is extreme.  What few elk are left are really staying glued to the Christmas trees, normal spots completely bare of fresh sign,  a few signs of rifle kills in the usual spots, but looks like they never returned after that.  Been a long time since seeing this much poaching activity too.  Dead spikes left to rot (third I've found in the past three years), two calves killed during the night, gutted and left in the alders with no game tags attached...and a lot more.  Reminds me of the Manastash back in the late '80's when half the guys in Buck Meadows camp slept all day and started hunting after dinner.

Been hunting the Winston since the mid eighties.  Wanted to leave and never come back when they took our bulls away a few years ago.  But the wife loves the place so we kept going back.  This year she told me this is our last year there.  At one time I was looking at buying the Bigfoot gift shop and turning it into a first class camp ground for hunters.  Glad I didn't do that!  Would have lost my arse as I expect plenty like us expect it will never get better in our lifetime and will never return after this season. 

Saw enough carcasses to figure the hard hunting rifle guys had reasonable success.  But man!  Compared to ten years ago makes a grown man want to cry.

[MADMAX]

I hear ya rad
I have hunted it since they used to give away the tree damage maps in the 80s
terrible now
have not been back for 2 years
Tried Williams creek didnt really like it
If westside I'm thinking Lewis river, eastside Colockum or Manastash

[Thehowler]

I've only hunted this area for the past 5 years, but in that time, I  have seen the hunting go from ok to dismal.
Difference being this year, if I wasn't at my hunting spot before it even started getting light out, I would risk being trapped behind rolling road blocks or someone trying to block an Entire road system until they could see enough to be the fist in to road hunt. Sick.

[BowForElk]

My dad and I were down friday til today we hauled *** outta camp around 1400. We have been hunting the winston early and late for the last 6 years and this has been the complete worst year. We only saw 1 doe that was last night. No fresh sign, no fresh tracks it was horrible. We were camped at the park in kid valley and every hunter we talked to had been there longer than us and seen squat.


We were told about the cow tags (the real number i dunno) also heard about wolves. I never saw a wolf but we did find an unusual amount of bones. bones were everywhere in the timber and it may be winter kills gut shots I dunno but it was pretty bad.

this morning since they were back in there logging we stopped and talked to one of the weyco guys turnin people around and he said that Weyco has no plans for permits for their st helens tree farm.. take it for what its worth.

I hope something changes cause its a good unit there is a lot of pressure although I didnt see that many people this weekend and we usually go the same four days every year.

I will say that Im scrambling to find another place for this weekend cause 4 days and not even a yellow rear end running for the timber is NOT GOOD. but we were gettin snowed on before we left and they are set for a lot of cold weather so we will see. maybe a few inches of snow will turn things around

[Button Nubbs]

a friend of mine killed one in there yesterday.