Best Wilderness Areas to Hunt on the West Side?

[Woods_Warrior]

     Hey do any of you guys have any advice on which specific wilderness areas are good for deer, elk, bear, cougar hunting?  I am interested in only places on the west side of the state.  Does anyone know anything about Indian Heaven Wilderness for hunting?  What about Trapper Creek Wilderness?  I'm looking to start planning next years backcountry bowhunting trip, my first backcountry hunt!

[sirmissalot]

Tag, I would also like to know where to go.

[washelkhunter]

Mt Adams and Indian heaven, trapper is heavily timbered and small.

[Woods_Warrior]

Thanks for the info washelkhunter.   I had a suspicion that Trapper might not have enough openings as I have hiked through there once...

[irishevox]

following this one!

[pd]

Tag, I would also like to know where to go.

 

[Shawn Ryan]

Indian Heaven, Goat Rocks, and Adams all hold the animals you are looking for and enough room to get away from others.

[Woods_Warrior]

As far as where to hunt in a wilderness area, how should I do that?  Should I use aerial photos to find where there are breaks in the timber?  Hunt saddles?  How do the animals deal with all the traffic from hikers?  Should I look for them way off the trail or would hiking a trail be a good way to find where they cross?

[washelkhunter]

Now is a real good time to go to IH and check it out. You can hike all the way thru it in a long day. lots of time left for hunting this year, why wait till next?

[Woods_Warrior]

Yah good point!     The problem is I am 17 years old first time hunter, I don't really know anyone that bow hunts... so I would be backcountry hunting solo, which would make it difficult to get a deer out by myself as I only weigh 140.  The scouting trip sounds like a great idea, as I could make it a backpacking trip with scouting.  If I could find a friend that would hunt with me I could, but living in Vancouver, most of my friends aren't really that interested in hunting, especially bow hunting.  Maybe I could get some friends up there to camp for the late season... do you know if the animals are still in Indian Heaven during late November - December?  Or have they migrated out?

[washelkhunter]

The does start moving toward lower elevations mid/late Oct and the bucks follow. Elk will stay as long as there is graze but by late Nov the snows push them down. Look for deer between 1600-2300 ft.

[Woods_Warrior]

Cool, thanks for the advice!  I guess at that point it is not really a wilderness hunt as Indian Heaven only gets as low as about 4000 feet, so it is probably an early season hunt...

[bowhiker]

My preference would be mt adams in early season. It's plenty big enough to get away from the crowds down low. The other 2 get hit pretty hard and are pretty thick and nasty. If you can get private access down around the trout lake basin or the few state areas, elk will be down there in late season. Not sure if there is a late season for bow around there though.

[irishevox]

i am down to bow hunt with ya if you want for Elk.  I am gonna get a modern fire arm tag but you can shoot bow during modern if you want some help or some knowledge....