hancock land

[high voltage]

hello all. band new to the forum and looking very forward to connecting with all the other washington hunting finatics. my first topic of discussion i would like to bring up is hancock land. i bought my first permit for motorized access a couple days ago. ive never been up there, and while i know the chances of drawing that bull permit are slim, i am very excited to deer hunt up there. i bought the kapowsin permit and anything anybody has learned about deer hunting that area would be valuable information to me.
                                                                      stay safe and hunt hard

[woodman]

Your chance on that elk draw is the same as everyone else. I know someone that drew the elk permit when he bought his first year access permit.

Your comment of "anything anybody has learned about deer hunting that area would be valuable information to me" made me chuckle pretty hard, good luck on that one.

[trophyhunt]

Lots of land, and even more road hunters. Spend some time up there this summer in areas off the beaten path and you should do ok.  If your looking for a big blacktail it's not that easy, any deer, then you'll do just fine.  The deer hunting has gone down hill a bit the past couple years, don't know why, prob too many permits given out.  I pretty much buy the pass for the chance at getting drawn for the elk tag, 375.00 raffle to me! Good luck in the draw, plenty here to give you help. Welcome aboard.

[high voltage]

I appreciate the in put.  Ill be spending a lot of time up there pre season. It is odd the the deer huntings gone down hill. I agree with you on the permit theory. Especially since the past few winters have been pretty mild. Got to be at least a few bruisers up there though with that much land

[Hawgdawg]

You can always go cut some 375.00 fire wood in two feet of snow .....sorry, shut down for fire danger.

[woodman]

I appreciate the in put.  Ill be spending a lot of time up there pre season. It is odd the the deer huntings gone down hill. I agree with you on the permit theory. Especially since the past few winters have been pretty mild. Got to be at least a few bruisers up there though with that much land

high voltage,

If you put in the time I am sure that you will do well up there. There are some very nice animals in there. The larger ones are pretty darn smart. I put a ton of time in there and get some very nice animals on camera. I just put a decent 4 point buck in the trail cam section yesterday.

My take on why the deer hunting has gone downhill so much is the predator count. I have seen 14 bears in there this year not counting the ones on my trail cameras. As of yesterday, I have seen 6 bobcats not counting the ones on my trail cameras. I also have seen more coyotes this year than I have seen in many many years put together. I have seen fawn kills that get cleaned up pretty darn fast by scavengers also.

I hope that you do well and if you spend very much time in there, we probably will bump into each other.

[rasbo]

I appreciate the in put.  Ill be spending a lot of time up there pre season. It is odd the the deer huntings gone down hill. I agree with you on the permit theory. Especially since the past few winters have been pretty mild. Got to be at least a few bruisers up there though with that much land

t deer hunting is great in there...get out and spend time you will find them...If they arent standing in front of your cameras wating for you move where its uncomfortable for you,thats where I find the best hunting in there is....dark and thick,I miss it up there

[woodman]

As far as success rates go in there ask Clyde the guard what it is. When I talked to him during late buck, he read off the kill success for each side there to me from his sheets and it was very dismal.

[Crunchy]

Not sure what the success rates are but I am 100% for the last three years.  You got to have a lot of bad luck or just didn't hunt to not harvest a deer every year. That goes for bear was well.

[trophyhunt]

I passed 3 legal deer last day of late muzzy last year, I haven't killed a deer in there in years.  But I'm looking for only big deer, last day of early rifle last year I passed up a 4x4 with out eye guards.  I'm not saying the deer hunting sucks, it doesn't.  But the quality has gone down a bit, but a legal deer should be fairly easy.

[woodman]

Not sure what the success rates are but I am 100% for the last three years.  You got to have a lot of bad luck or just didn't hunt to not harvest a deer every year. That goes for bear was well.

Crunchy, sounds like you have it dialed in, that's great. I would guess that you have pulled plenty of deer and bears out of there. Congrats!

[Crunchy]

Not sure what the success rates are but I am 100% for the last three years.  You got to have a lot of bad luck or just didn't hunt to not harvest a deer every year. That goes for bear was well.

Crunchy, sounds like you have it dialed in, that's great. I would guess that you have pulled plenty of deer and bears out of there. Congrats!

I am lucky to have a good guide lol.  My hunting buddy has been hunting it for the last 15 or more years.  He showed me most of his good spots for deer and bear.  I killed a bear my first year up there and could probably kill one every year if I tried very hard.

[high voltage]

thanks for the info woodman. i just got back from the woods be hind my house and found my trail cam stolen.  REALLY !!!!!!!!!!!!! i hope the person that took my camera realizes that being a lowlife thief is only one step below a being a maggot,. i know clyde the guard quite well too so i will tap that well

[Skyvalhunter]

Security box and python cable on it?

[high voltage]

just discovered my trail cam gone (stolen) up patterson road in orting > what has happened to the hunting community? if you here of one for sale cheap in the orting area let me know please. i can describe it. realize i risked my money by puttin a cam out butn thought maybe i would get lucky. damn thiefs

[trophyhunt]

just discovered my trail cam gone (stolen) up patterson road in orting > what has happened to the hunting community? if you here of one for sale cheap in the orting area let me know please. i can describe it. realize i risked my money by puttin a cam out butn thought maybe i would get lucky. damn thiefs

that sucks, and the worst part is, your prob right about it being other hunters!

[high voltage]

no. un fortunately i didnt consider the risk well enough. guess i figured every one was as honest as i was. plus thoughrt i was the only one in there

[MLhunter1]

People seem fairly honest up in the tree farm.  I've had at least a dozen guys look at one of my cams as they walk by and not mess with em.

[high voltage]

That's how it should be right. If you see somebody else's stuff just give a wave and walk on by

[Crunchy]

Buddy lost a cam on Hancock and would swear it was Clyde that took it lol.  As he was headed out of the timber from checking the came he ran into Clyde on the trail. Told him that he had a cam in and pointed to the timber.  Next week went up and it was gone.

[rasbo]

penty of folk go in there without passes,patterson area is real bad for it...

[JustinC]

The deer hunting has been going down hill since they opened it back up for late buck. We used to have a draw only late season and the deer quality was better.

[jackmaster]

the qaulity of the deer, well i should say the quanity of the deer have gone down, while the elk numbers have soared, the biggest problem is cats and yotes and the lovely yogi. it should go back to permit only for deer during extended buck, it was that way years ago before you could buy the yearly pass. my family, have all bought permits for years in there, kapowsin and eatonville, yes its pretty simple to get a two point, but a great big hog of a buck, well your gonna have to work for them, unless your one of the lucky guys to be bombing down the road and an absolute hog is standing in the middle of the day in a brandnew clearcut, and you put the smack to him. its pretty sad how many land access permits they give out now. i know its all about the money, but if they cut it down to 500 permits for all of hancock property and made it permit only for late buck, in 3 or 4 years it would be a blacktail huntn haven, they could even do a permit draw for access permits, so everyone has a crack at one. it would be nice if they would allow some true predator control programs out there, hounds, trapping and baiting perhaps....... i didnt renew this year, enjoy the rat race  and a word of advice, you dont have to drive a thousand miles behind the gates to find good huntn  sometimes closer is better......

[JustinC]

Jackmaster,
They have been doing annual passes for a really long time in there. When my grandpa (Vern) was still there, you could also buy 1, 3 and 10 day passes.

Hunting was much better up there back then imo.

[jackmaster]

Jackmaster,
They have been doing annual passes for a really long time in there. When my grandpa (Vern) was still there, you could also buy 1, 3 and 10 day passes.

Hunting was much better up there back then imo.

I remember those days, yes it defiantly has went down hill since then. The elk numbers and of course the predator numbers have went up though, did you grandpa Vern use to work the gate?

[Igottanewknee]

Vern helped me get a buck out that was about 6 miles back in on a gated road. He just happen to come up that road. I also found a stick of plastic explosive (in a sausage type container that said "high explosive") where they were putting in a spur and told Vern about it. Vern said somebody is losing a job!!!

[high voltage]

Like the idea of the predator hunts up there. Though I think that's along way away. Can you imagine how much fun a bear bait would be up there. And that's not the only place in this state that needs to rethink the no baiting laws.

[gotshot]

They used to put out bait in blue barrels and then tell you where they were.