high buck hunt olympic area

[Dbax129]

So I am having a hard time figuring out where it is legal to hi t the high buck hunt.  I am u Der the impression that any USFS land is open for that hunt? Please help me figure this out. Thanks!

[snowpack]

It has to be wildnerness in the USFS lands.  There are a few---Skokomish, Wonder Mountain, Col Bob, Brothers, Buckhorn North and Buckhorn South.

[billythekidrock]

Nope. Only Wilderness areas. Not all FS land is Wilderness.

Col Bob trail on the South Shore road will get you started.

[Dbax129]

So all wilderness areas, and these will all be on USFS land?  Where would I find maps showing these wilderness area boundaries and/or a description? I am hesitant to hunt without something in print clearly defining where I can / can't do that. Been a little tough finding that definition stating where it is open...

[billythekidrock]

Google is your friend.

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/olympic/recreation/recarea/?recid=78488

http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/olympic/maps-pubs

[ouchfoss]

Nope. Only Wilderness areas. Not all FS land is Wilderness.

Col Bob trail on the South Shore road will get you started.

Last year someone told me that the trail is still blocked on the south shore Quinault side of the Colonel Bob trail. The blowdown of 07 has made a very large part of trail completely unwalkable and because its a "Wilderness", you cannot take chainsaws up there to clear the trail. I know the Humptulips side of the trail is walkable all the way to the mountain top though.
From what ive heard before, that is a tough hunt to say the least.

[deerhunter_98520]

There should be some big deer up there if you can find them

[Bob33]

The boundaries are not precisely defined. The maps on this site will get you close:

http://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/stateView?state=WA

There are several mapping products for GPS units that are very helpful in knowing where you are relative to boundaries.

[Bob33]

So all wilderness areas, and these will all be on USFS land?  Where would I find maps showing these wilderness area boundaries and/or a description? I am hesitant to hunt without something in print clearly defining where I can / can't do that. Been a little tough finding that definition stating where it is open...

What part of this is unclear is stating where it is open?

[pd]

DBax, I did the Crl Bob last year. Talk to me next Saturday.

[billythekidrock]

Nope. Only Wilderness areas. Not all FS land is Wilderness.

Col Bob trail on the South Shore road will get you started.

Last year someone told me that the trail is still blocked on the south shore Quinault side of the Colonel Bob trail. The blowdown of 07 has made a very large part of trail completely unwalkable and because its a "Wilderness", you cannot take chainsaws up there to clear the trail. I know the Humptulips side of the trail is walkable all the way to the mountain top though.
From what ive heard before, that is a tough hunt to say the least.

Heard that too.

Yes, even back in the 70's and 80's it was tough to find deer up that way. I remember one story my dad told of a whopper bt that acted as if he had never seen a human. Of course it was during modern elk so he couldn't shoot it.

[bowhunterty]

For Olympics custom correct maps probably one of your best map choice.

[Dbax129]

So all wilderness areas, and these will all be on USFS land?  Where would I find maps showing these wilderness area boundaries and/or a description? I am hesitant to hunt without something in print clearly defining where I can / can't do that. Been a little tough finding that definition stating where it is open...

What part of this is unclear is stating where it is open?

I guess I just didn't know that a wilderness area was a defined area by USFS.  I guess Alpine Lakes is a defined region as well. I everything else in that section is a GMU, but these areas are not a specific gmu. 
Anyways, thanks for all the help guys.  I will be looking at doing this hunt this year!  Is hunter orange still required? I would assume so, but just to be clear...

[HillSlick]

Check the regs

[bobcat]

Yes, orange is required.

I agree that the description of the areas open for the high hunt is lacking. The title for the column is "Game Management Unuts." The areas listed under that title are not all GMU's.

Alpine Lakes is GMU 249, so no issue there. Pasayten, same thing, it is GMU 203. But then they have "Mount Baker" and "Glacier Peak." Nowhere is there a description identifying the boundary of those two areas.

For the Olympic Peninsula they have "All wilderness areas on the Olympic Peninsula." And that seems fine, but still they should have a better description that says something about the official wilderness boundary as shown on a particular USFS map.


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[snowpack]

To go even further bobcat, when they say all wildernesses; they should say USFS wildernesses.  There have been confused hunters in the past that thought the two park wildernesses were included too.

[Dbax129]

O wow, the entire alpine lakes and pasayten gmus huh? I figured those were more areas that some other entity defined, not a reference to the gmu, since everywhere else in the regs, gmus are referenced by their number, not their name. I wonder if this is meant to be a little vague. I have talked to several friends who have hunted for years and none of them even realize they cam hunt the high buck hunt. I think they maybe dont understand the areas and just skip over that line in the regs every year, thinking it doesn't apply to them.  Weird. I got in an argument with one guy who sai after 10 years of hunting he would think he would know if he could hi t outside of October and the 4 days in November. He also thought I was a lying poacher for taking my second dear (after drawing shelling out the $66) on Vashon last year.  Seems like s lot of folks just stick tto the general seasons because if they don't quite understand something in the regs, they don't pursue figuring it out.  Just one more reason why I love this website. Everything I have learned has been on my own, nobody else to help me figure out the regs or the hunt. Dad always said he would take me hunting, then wrecked his motorcycle and bye bye dad.  This website and all of its incredibly helpful members have helped me tremendously with questions like these. Admittedly some of my questions have been a little more... Well, dumb. Ha.
Thanks guys for all the help. New hunting areas to scout and learn now. I'm excited about having 10 more days out there to chase bambi!

[bobcat]

wow, the entire alpine lakes and pasayten gmus huh? I figured those were more areas that some other entity defined, not a reference to the gmu, since everywhere else in the regs, gmus are referenced by their number, not their name.

Well those two GMU's have the same boundaries as the wilderness areas they are named after.


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[bucksandbulls]

For the Olympic wilderness areas go to the ranger station in quilcene and they have maps for each one. they only cost a few bucks . they are pretty descriptive. and once you find the trailheads into each one they are usually marked on the trail at some point  that the wilderness boundary starts here.