More gates

[baker5150]

Your right about age being a factor in hiking long distances and I'm not at that age yet but I understand how you see it. I just don't agree with people on ATV's making there own trails just because they can fit between 2 trees. That's crap. There is nothing that can justify that. I still feel that there are more roads to drive and hunt than anyone can cover in an entire hunting season and if that's not enough then what is? A road every 100yds across the forest so you can scan and see everything without having to leave your pickup? Doesn't sound like good habitat to me?

 



FYI : Motorcylces and 4 wheel drive vehicles do ALLOT more damage in the woods than any ATV will. Also, it's perfectly legal to drive anyplace on state land, that is our land and not certain peoples land.

Uh, that all depends on a TON of circumstances.  Most important of all being the operator.

[Jonathan_S]

More gates are fine! I welcome the added challenge of getting my quad or truck around them

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[CAMPMEAT]

Your right about age being a factor in hiking long distances and I'm not at that age yet but I understand how you see it. I just don't agree with people on ATV's making there own trails just because they can fit between 2 trees. That's crap. There is nothing that can justify that. I still feel that there are more roads to drive and hunt than anyone can cover in an entire hunting season and if that's not enough then what is? A road every 100yds across the forest so you can scan and see everything without having to leave your pickup? Doesn't sound like good habitat to me?

 



FYI : Motorcylces and 4 wheel drive vehicles do ALLOT more damage in the woods than any ATV will. Also, it's perfectly legal to drive anyplace on state land, that is our land and not certain peoples land.

Uh, that all depends on a TON of circumstances.  Most important of all being the operator.

BINGO on the operator. Everybody is different, the young don't care about results of their actions etc....

[Jonathan_S]

...I still act like I'm 18 and never act my age, why, I say to myself, you only live once..

   gotcha

[CAMPMEAT]

...I still act like I'm 18 and never act my age, why, I say to myself, you only live once..

   gotcha

Looks like a  liberal media spin from another forum on here.....

[LDennis24]

Your right about age being a factor in hiking long distances and I'm not at that age yet but I understand how you see it. I just don't agree with people on ATV's making there own trails just because they can fit between 2 trees. That's crap. There is nothing that can justify that. I still feel that there are more roads to drive and hunt than anyone can cover in an entire hunting season and if that's not enough then what is? A road every 100yds across the forest so you can scan and see everything without having to leave your pickup? Doesn't sound like good habitat to me?

 



FYI : Motorcylces and 4 wheel drive vehicles do ALLOT more damage in the woods than any ATV will. Also, it's perfectly legal to drive anyplace on state land, that is our land and not certain peoples land.

I never said anything about motorcycles, and I don't leave the road in my pickup unless I've been given permission by the landowner.
FYI: It absolutely is not legal to drive anywhere you want on state land. I know plenty about it, my home is surrounded by several section's and it is off limit's to motor vehicles unless you hold a farming or grazing lease on it or have the lessee's permission to access it.

[CAMPMEAT]

Your right about age being a factor in hiking long distances and I'm not at that age yet but I understand how you see it. I just don't agree with people on ATV's making there own trails just because they can fit between 2 trees. That's crap. There is nothing that can justify that. I still feel that there are more roads to drive and hunt than anyone can cover in an entire hunting season and if that's not enough then what is? A road every 100yds across the forest so you can scan and see everything without having to leave your pickup? Doesn't sound like good habitat to me?
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FYI : Motorcylces and 4 wheel drive vehicles do ALLOT more damage in the woods than any ATV will. Also, it's perfectly legal to drive anyplace on state land, that is our land and not certain peoples land.

I never said anything about motorcycles, and I don't leave the road in my pickup unless I've been given permission by the landowner.
FYI: It absolutely is not legal to drive anywhere you want on state land. I know plenty about it, my home is surrounded by several section's and it is off limit's to motor vehicles unless you hold a farming or grazing lease on it or have the lessee's permission to access it.

ATVs are a scapegoat for everybody to blame. It's what all the greenies do. You can drive on state land where I live, so you must live in the city.

[Critter Ritter]

Glad there will be more Gates. That could possibly scare more people away cause they cant drive. And it will be better for the people who love to Hike.

[furbearer365]

Bring on the gates.  The guys that use the excuse that they are getting up there in age should stop with pulling the heart strings. The world of hunting has come a long way in all aspects. I will admit that driveable access is becoming harder to come by, but with that, technology and the ability to scout from your couch has made venturing out ridiculously easy. With the touch of an Ipad screen, I can zoom into anybodies backyard and look at interactive aerial photos of every inch of the US.  Phones of today can pull off what only NASA could do 20 years ago. There are GPS' that allow a guy to know that name of who owns the very land they are standing on, and will change within a second with every step you take. The equipment nowadays is off the charts. The average Joe has the ability to shoot a gun 600 yards with very little practice.  What I'm saying is, there is give and take.  With today's ability to scout from behind the screen of a phone and use the equipment that companies have come up with, adding a few more gates is minuscule. While there are a few without the ability to put the miles on their legs anymore, take into consideration the new age of hunters that are just getting started, and will never have that luxury of having a "secret spot".  Or hunt an area that someone can't just look at from Google Earth.  I'm not saying the older generation should feel bad for the kids of nowadays, but this whole technology era is making it a little too easy to find areas, so in a sense, its tougher for the youth now have a "honey hole".  30 years ago it was relatively uncommon for hunters to venture out and find new areas, now guys are finding new spots daily

[haus]

While I'm not opposed to gates, I just don't see it as being a pure positive. Please consider this is all from a west side perspective: On the west side consolidating access points seem's to have a negative impact on overall hunter densities in most area's where I've seen the change. Are those hunters going elsewhere or are they not hunting at all? If its the later then really that is an issue that impacts all of us in the long run. It's one thing to gate a spur road but when its a main line for the whole area and everyone has to pile in at the same spot then disperse, not so easy to do on the west side. Especially considering the fact that in most cases that gate might not have adequate space for more than a couple vehicles. At that point the gate becomes a deterrent rather than an access point.

Sure in my case this year I got to a gate 2nd and the first pair of hunters got a deer up ahead of us at first light and I got mine in an area they'd already passed through, good for me, but I hardly see it as good for us. That area could of handled far more than four hunters, but the gate was 4 miles away from the first set of spur roads to disperse hunters. Anything prior to that had poor terrain and little to no deer holding in it. Two trucks at the gate was enough to deter the rest even though between four hunters we didn't even touch 2/3rd's of the available access in that section. Now consider the amount of time required to travel further, factor in harvesting a deer that far back, then consider most hunters only have the weekends to hunt and its easy to see why other hunters passed by.

I get it some of you want to thump your chest about being the one who does get out of your truck every day, maybe you 'outsmarted' the others and got yours close to the vehicle, maybe you got in there way before everyone else did and beat the rush, maybe you bailed off into the brush no where near a gate or any other hunters, good for you bravo 'golf clap', but that hardly means good for us in the long run.

Limiting access is simply limiting access, it's not THE solution everywhere, nor is zero gates motorized access for all THE solution everywhere.

[bobcat]

Good post, haus. Yes, the location of the gates is a big issue. Gating of an entire mainline can be very bad for hunters, for the reasons you stated. But all the short little spur roads, now that could be a great benefit. Problem is it's got to be easier and cheaper for them to gate the main lines. A lot less gates needed that way.

[LDennis24]

How about this... the XYZ land management agency is low on funds, they look for a way to generate revenue to pay for all the parking lots they have started building for snowmobiles and 40ft RV's that don't require a CDL yet are bigger than the truck I drive at work and they say to each other "hey you know that one piece of ground we have that's covered with roads up on whatever ridge, why don't we sell that piece off to a developer and they can put in a California housing development with covenant's and a gate and build $300,000 homes, put up an ordinance that it's illegal to discharge firearms and watch the wolves frolic in the meadow off the bluff!" They did it in area's around Spokane and Newport because the area was covered in roads and it was easy to make appealing to developer's.  I'm all for having fun on ATV's and Dirt bikes and Snow machines. But I'm not that old and I've already seen area's with abundant wildlife go to $%&# because they made it too easy for people to go in and thrash the place with not enough repercussion's for those who don't care. Like people who just drive around gate's or use there ATV to cross a stream because it's easier. I get it, you want to thump your chest because you feel that if they make more rules then they'll take everything. I guess already having enough roads that you couldn't even drive on them in your entire lifetime isn't enough? 

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Good post, haus. Yes, the location of the gates is a big issue. Gating of an entire mainline can be very bad for hunters, for the reasons you stated. But all the short little spur roads, now that could be a great benefit. Problem is it's got to be easier and cheaper for them to gate the main lines. A lot less gates needed that way.

Yup Would be nice if mainlines were open to disperse hunters.  Back in the day, Capitol Forest had no roads, but did have railroad spurs that were used for logging. Hunters could catch a ride and get dropped off where ever they wanted and at the end of the day the train came back through and picked hunters and their deer up for a ride back to the road. Heard many stories from my dad and uncles and great uncles about this. The only other way to access most of that country was on foot or by horseback. I believe after they quit using trains, you could also catch a ride on a crummy for some years. My family lived on the Mox Chehalis and hunted over to Porter Creek and Rock Candy Mt.

Anyway, it was a way to spread hunters out. Gates do congregate people.

[LDennis24]

As for being a greenie and living in the city, I live in Revere. There is maybe 10 people in a 20 mile area here. Look at a map... the nearest grocery store is 30 miles from here. Talk all you want about being hillbilly and running your jacked up gas hog around in the mud. We do it here, but we do it on private property or in a farm field where it won't leave lasting damage. You must live in Supercoolville where people do whatever they want cuz they're so BA. Watch me run over this gate!

[logger]

The forest service isn't putting up gates to make it better hunting for the public, it's about control, first step is a gate, next is decomission. Its just a matter of time. If joe wants to take the kids up the spur just because he should be able to, has just as much right to as anybody else, it's public land.     SO FAR! I am not anti gate at all, what I am anti is access to public land being shut down more and more. I see it all the time, I deal with the f.s on a regular bases, I know their agenda, anybody know why the 23 rd was never completly paved over the top of baby shoe pass? It was to keep public use of the high lakes at a controlled rate.