Scouting questions

[n2thecraft]

Hey Guys, I've been scouting out new areas to hunt next season. I found a few places I'd like to hunt,, real old road into one of 'em,, it's obviously been dug out and obstructed like many old logging roads. I can hike in quite a ways and it looked real good. Here's the thing tho,, there were colored ribbons on some of the tree on the way in,, and saw some tags stapled to some trees,, the ones ya see as logging area markers. I don't wanna invest alot of time in scouting the area out, just to have hunting season come around and it's actively being logged. Anyway a guy can find out if its up for bid for logging or if its already slated to be logged?

[snowpack]

who owns the land?  What diameter would you say the trees are?  A new clearcut isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you can hunt it before they spray it.

[n2thecraft]

It's public land,, not sure who owns it,, i think it's DNR, but not positive. I have the GPS coordinates,, how would I find out who owns it? The tree sizes vary. I know new cuts aren't all bad,, and that's not my concern. I'd just like to keep an eye on what's planned for it without going up there every couple weeks and checkin. there's gotta be someplace online a guy can find that out. I guess my question would be, if anyone know's how I can find out online what's going on with it.

[Tbar]

 You can check the ownership with the hunt Washington sd card and a gps.

[pope]

How new is the ribbon? If it's fresh, you may expect activity. If it's lower elevation, logging is done generally in winter months. I've been screwed twice. Two years ago, the Thursday before opening day, I pulled my trailer behind my bike up to an area I had spent months scouting.....and as I approached the spot where I intended to hide my trailer, a helicopter flew over spraying herbicide over every clear cut. Last year, winter logging wiped out the prime bedding area above a clear cut where I had observed a high concentration of blacktail bucks including two monsters. I haven't seen the two superior bucks since then. Back to the drawing board.

[bobcat]

If it's DNR you'd need to call DNR, if Forest service, call the Forest service. First you have to find out who owns it. A good start would be the "Go Hunt" map on the WDFW site. You won't find timber harvest info online.

[Alan K]

If it's logging, it's probably not USFS . . . 

If there are tags and it's not logged, it will be probably within three years. 

DNR will have white timber sale boundary tags, with scattered blue ringed trees and/or areas bound by yellow leave tree area tags.

Here is a link to the DNR's timber sale packets:

http://www.dnr.wa.gov/BusinessPermits/Topics/AppraisalPackets/Pages/Home.aspx

The sale may not be advertised for auction yet, or could have already been sold.  You can flip through the monthly packets and check them by their county for the last 12 months.

 

[n2thecraft]

Great info, Guys,, thanks!!

[dvolmer]

a lot of the time the trees that are tagged and marked means that those are the trees that they are not allowing to be cut down.  When some company bids on Forest Ser. land to log, the Forest Service personell come in and mark all of the trees with orange and or blue ribbon so the contracted company knows what trees the FS doesn't want them to cut down.  Sometimes they use a paint ring on the tree also to mark it instead of plastic ribbon.

[blindluck]

Gotta say My deer hot spot and my elk hot spot were both logged, bout made me cry. So I went back and set up in the same area just altered a bit and its actually better then before.