Vehicle Access to Weyerhaeuser Tree Farms

[septemberhunt]

Looks like they are going to let vehicle access to the farm. I hope and ask people to please not drive the roads all day. Get in and park the truck and hunt tell dark then drive out. With the season starting so early it will be hard hunting already. There is nothing worse than getting a elk coming in and than a truck goes by and the elk stopping responding to calls.

[bowhuntersd]

I think odds are you won't seen near as many people as you think. I'm sure most will be hunting off of 19mile as in years past. But if you look at the number of permits sold (less than 2000). That is only a few hundred more than archery but less than mod. firearm people that hunted just the Winston unit last year. It is a huge tree farm that covers multiple GMU's and if you want to get away from people I think you can, you may have to go away from your traditional spots though. Good luck to all that bit the bullet and bought your permit. 

[Little Fish]

Bowhuntersd....you were correct. Some vehicles driving around, but not as many as I thought. There was enough traffic that we saw very few elk in clearcuts and none right next to the road. The fact that there were very few elk in clearcuts may also have to do with the herd size reduction which estimated 47% from its peak in 2011 with a disproportionate reduction in Coweeman where I was hunting. I'm not sure how many of the remaining animals in the herd have hoof rot, but I have heard it is substantial so who knows....the herd may even be smaller in size.

[septemberhunt]

This year was very frustrating with all the trucks road hunting. After the first day of the season all the bulls shut up and stayed out of the clear cuts. It made it very hard hunting this year. I was hoping people would not be driving around all day. I don't understand why people would road hunt elk during bow season. It is hard enough trying to sneak up on elk when they don't know you are there. We still just hunted off our mt bikes and tried to stay away from all the traffic. Maybe next year they will have more walk in only areas. We did manage to get elk but it was a lot harder than past years. Thanks to all the hunters that stayed home the last four days of the season.

[Little Fish]

Nice job Septemberhunt!

We stayed on the mainlines with our vehicles and walked spur roads or timber the rest of the time. My partner and I had 1 bull talking the whole season and heard 1 other bull bugle (maybe). Kind of a bummer compared to the good old days when it was non-motorized access and the tree farm had more animals. Even if we couldn't get close to elk we felt like there was always the possibility of getting lucky.

Every year it gets a little worse. First WDFW changed our season because archery folks "might be taking to many mature bulls", then they started issuing a boat load of cow tags and finally Weyerhaeuser opened the farm to vehicle access. After hunting this year I have to wonder when the hunting is going to get better.