Vail Tree Farm Help!

[rasbo]

i assume your being as sarcastic as i am, the less guys in there the better my chance at a elk draw. now i like these fellas but not as much as i like that 7x7 i saw last year

oyeah,im getting drawn this year.Saw one last year 10 points on one side with palmations,looked like a red deer,the other side was normal looking

[PolarBear]

I live at the foot of Vail and refuse to hunt up there.  It is an okay place if you love to road hunt daylight to dawn with several thousand other hunters after dink spikes and does.  There are a few bruisers that come out of there every year but they are usually shot by loggers who are in there year round.  A good friend of mine helps run the check station up there every year and it sickens him to see the tiny size and the condition of the deer that are brought out of there.  He keeps swearing that he is not going to work up there any more.  It would be a great unit if they managed it properly but allowing so many does and tiny bucks to be harvested is no way to maintain a healthy population.  My advise is to hunt farther towards the coast or closer to the Pacific Crest Trail.

[littlebuf]

i assume your being as sarcastic as i am, the less guys in there the better my chance at a elk draw. now i like these fellas but not as much as i like that 7x7 i saw last year

oyeah,im getting drawn this year.Saw one last year 10 points on one side with palmations,looked like a red deer,the other side was normal looking

well when we both get drawn this year we'll have to hook up and go set some new records 

[bankwalker]

I live at the foot of Vail and refuse to hunt up there.  It is an okay place if you love to road hunt daylight to dawn with several thousand other hunters after dink spikes and does.  There are a few bruisers that come out of there every year but they are usually shot by loggers who are in there year round.  A good friend of mine helps run the check station up there every year and it sickens him to see the tiny size and the condition of the deer that are brought out of there.  He keeps swearing that he is not going to work up there any more.  It would be a great unit if they managed it properly but allowing so many does and tiny bucks to be harvested is no way to maintain a healthy population.  My advise is to hunt farther towards the coast or closer to the Pacific Crest Trail.

vail is everyone dirty little secret. everyone hunts it but noone says anything. lol

seriously though. ive hunted vail for 6 years now. ive seen a huge drop in the deer numbers in that little time.

but according to the charts at the check station this year. there are more 3x3's taken then 2pt's and almost twice as many spikes taken then 2pt's.

which to me says one thing. 2pt or better rule...what few spikes that make it through and become 2pt's get one year off from being killed but as soon as they make it to 3pts then it seems they are being taken.

so stop shooting the spikes (or save it for youth hunters) and you will get more 2pts also a better chance for those deer to pass on thier genes.

[MAVsled]

 

2 point minimum for those over the age of 18, fewer doe tags too!

[Dmanmastertracker]

I hunt outside vail in the Skookumchuck and need a new place to hunt cause it sucks here , any good advice??

 You never have trouble getting your buck 

 If your serious, PM me, I know a couple spots I don't get to anymore since I moved up north.

[bucklucky]

Dude, so many people have been around Johnson creek the past 3 years the hunting has gone way down with all the pressure, each gate averages about 8 rigs each some times way more than that, I got lucky last year but in 3 years I have shot a spike and little forky in there cause thats all I could find. And I hunt hard and long, usually about 10 miles a day all day long. Hunting has gone down hill up there plus there has been a ton of quad traffic. I'm not hunting local anymore, what used to be good has taken a major dive and that no BS. Poaching has been a big problem also. My buddy had the Skook B tag and didnt kill a buck , thats pretty pathetic if you ask me and he hunted that whole week up in there.

[Dmanmastertracker]

 PM on the way.

[Antlershed]

2 point minimum for those over the age of 18, fewer doe tags too!

    I think that would maybe reduce the number of people up there too, or maybe it would just cause people to shoot deer for their kids. 

[TikkaT3-270Shortmag]

If you want to see lots of does and a ton of hunters its a great place.  I havent found too many places in the vail tree farm where you can get away from people every where you go you will find somebody its a joke!!  Dont get me wrong its a great place to take a younger kid to get his first buck, lots of little ones.  Its like a rat race up there everyone driving roads to shoot a little spike.  Bucklucky is absolutely right the harvest rates are high due to all the little bucks taken.  I would recomenned to give it a try my guess is that you wont want to go back because all of the people, but theres only one way to find out so give it a shot.  Maps can be found at Sunbirds and the  outdoor sports shop in the Lewis County Mall.

[bankwalker]

2 point minimum for those over the age of 18, fewer doe tags too!

keep it youth only for doe tags, BUT make them put in for those tags.

also they can do what they use to do up in the snoqualmie tree farm in the 70' and 80's. just hand out doe tags to a couple trucks at the gates. keep it that way so only a select few can take a doe if they want to.

problem is that not everyone with a doe tag is gonna hunt the vail tree farm so limiting doe tags might get those people who hunt elsewhere in the unit all mad and butt hurt.

[bankwalker]

If you want to see lots of does and a ton of hunters its a great place.  I havent found too many places in the vail tree farm where you can get away from people every where you go you will find somebody its a joke!!  Dont get me wrong its a great place to take a younger kid to get his first buck, lots of little ones.  Its like a rat race up there everyone driving roads to shoot a little spike.  Bucklucky is absolutely right the harvest rates are high due to all the little bucks taken.  I would recomenned to give it a try my guess is that you wont want to go back because all of the people, but theres only one way to find out so give it a shot.  Maps can be found at Sunbirds and the  outdoor sports shop in the Lewis County Mall.

there are actually more 3pts taken then 2pts, 4pts, 5pts combined in the tree farm.

it they put it to 2pt or better in the entire state then would start to see a better buck to doe ratio in a couple years. sure it may be spikes and 2pts...but alot more deer will escape the bullet and have a better chance with that one more year of hunter smarts to get away and make it to being a mature buck.

not to mention the 2pt or better law would thin out the crowds a little. and force people to get out and actually hunt for thier deer. dont get me wrong id much rather just drive down the road and take the easy way but thats not why i hunt.

[Dmanmastertracker]

 Where are you finding these reports? I didn't think they published that data but from hunting there 10 years, I have yet to see more three points than forkies through the gate, rarely do I see a three point or better buck come out of there, I can count on one hand the number of bucks that size I've ever seen there personally, compared to dozen's of forked horns. If your relying on the photo board, the dinks are not posted on there, generally those are the handful of nicer bucks harvested out of there on the board.

 I would like to see the tree farm 2 point or better, it has worked well in other nearby units.

[Antlershed]

They have graphs posted on the photo board at the check station which breaks down the harvest numbers for the last few years.

[Dmanmastertracker]

They have graphs posted on the photo board at the check station which breaks down the harvest numbers for the last few years.

I have not seen that, I would still be very, very skeptical more 3 points are harvested than 2 points, based on what I've seen in 10 years there. The average buck is nearly always a spike are forky, I have seen one 4 point, my own 3x4 and another three point. I have heard from the check station personnel of another dozen or so nicer bucks over the years, but if you look at the opening day reports in the Olympian, you rarely see a mature buck posted in any given year, perhaps one or two. At any rate a 2 point rule actually would protect more 3 points, it takes just that much more time to put that 3rd point on them before they are gone...