Margaret general season

[bobcat]

Does Weyco allow camping on the St Helens tree farm if you pay for an access permit?  If they allowed camping I think it would be worth the price.

No I don't believe so. But the Vail and Pe Ell permits do.

[Chesapeake]

They cut out the Back country section of Margaret so I'd expect the elk to flock there pretty quickly once the pressure shows up. Plus it seems very often these days the logging lands are closed to fire danger. Now you wont have the Forest service lands as a plan B.

It will be an interesting year to see how things fall out.

[Big6bull]

I think a lot of Margaret will be split up into weyco leased sections...

[Bullkllr]

They cut out the Back country section of Margaret so I'd expect the elk to flock there pretty quickly once the pressure shows up. Plus it seems very often these days the logging lands are closed to fire danger. Now you wont have the Forest service lands as a plan B.

It will be an interesting year to see how things fall out.

There's thousands of acres between the Weyerhaueser land and the monument for the elk to flock to.

[CAMPMEAT]

I just read on FB that a local guy down there, has found 100 dead elk from hoofrot, probably BS, right ? At least that was my take on it. If he did, that would be all over the news, well, maybe.

[Bullkllr]

I just read on FB that a local guy down there, has found 100 dead elk from hoofrot, probably BS, right ? At least that was my take on it. If he did, that would be all over the news, well, maybe.

Maybe BS, maybe not. If they were all in a small area it would be a bigger deal. Hoffrot has hit that herd pretty hard. I hunted down there year before last and found more piles of bones than live elk.

[CAMPMEAT]

I just read on FB that a local guy down there, has found 100 dead elk from hoofrot, probably BS, right ? At least that was my take on it. If he did, that would be all over the news, well, maybe.

Maybe BS, maybe not. If they were all in a small area it would be a bigger deal. Hoffrot has hit that herd pretty hard. I hunted down there year before last and found more piles of bones than live elk.

I'm kinda thinking, stretching the truth, maybe. You know how it looks good on a guys post, especially on FB..

[bobcat]

In some areas more elk have hoof rot than don't. So I wouldn't doubt that a guy could find 100 dead elk.

[CAMPMEAT]

In some areas more elk have hoof rot than don't. So I wouldn't doubt that a guy could find 100 dead elk.

That's kind of mind boggling. But then of course, if there are 6000 elk there, thats not really that much I guess.

[kentrek]

In some areas more elk have hoof rot than don't. So I wouldn't doubt that a guy could find 100 dead elk.

With such an easy winter I can't imagine 100 dead but I don't spend any time up 19 mile anymore so who knows...I've noticed alot more hoof rot in the cold water & castle lake area this year tho but still no where near the levels that the low country has....I'm almost hoping for a really bad late storm just to kill off the infected

I watch a chopper doing some kind of survey on the elk below castle, merrata creek,Jackson creek and the flow in between...was wondering if it may be related to hoof rot

hopefully they remove them so the tourists  don't see...nothing like watching a couple hundred half Dead elk to bring in the tourist dollars

[bobcat]

I'm not sure the winter matters much in whether these elk die or not. When their hooves get bad enough they eventually lay down and won't get up. Then just lay there until they starve to death. Maybe predators find some of them and kill them off a little sooner. But I doubt the severity of the winter makes much difference.

[Tacbeav]

Here are the 2014 total harvest numbers from WDFW for the Margaret and some surrounding units.  Interesting to me that Bull Hunters in the Margaret had a much higher success rate than Cow Hunters for every weapon type.

                  Cows      Bulls     Total       6pt or better Bulls

Margaret       17          58         75             15
Toutle           55          38         93             4
Winston        67          130       197            15
Coweeman    50          132       185            15
Ryderwood    109         169       278           12

I'm interested in seeing what others make of these numbers, but it seems to me that the Margaret is still a good option, especially for those looking for a 6pt bull.

[kentrek]

The main reason I mentioned winter is that it concentrates the elk....coming across 100 dead elk in one area youd think there would of had to be a 1000 total elk and with the elk being able to go where ever they want this winter that seems unlikely

I'm not a bio but I'd imagine cold weather on elk that are starving to death is the last nail in the coffin 

Either way every one loses and the tourists are the next in line...

[RB]

As was seen in the second Shrek movie the only place I want to be is Far Far Away from this unit for modern 

[TikkaT3-270Shortmag]

Anyone been up scouting?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk