More gates

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Gee, I wonder how our forefathers hunted before there were roads? Talk about underprivileged!

[Shank]

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

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[LDennis24]

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

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You might have the right to use the land but you don't have the right to destroy it and alter it to suit your need's. I used to hunt an area up north of Chewelah that was awesome for whitetail bucks. It was open and clear for a long ways and held dozen's of legal bucks until one year some guy's decided to turn it into a 4x4 track for there ATV's. It's never been the same since. I have friends who talk of the same thing happening in there favotire spot's as well. If your too lazy to get out of your rig then just stay home. 

[logger]

For me its not about hunting, it's about control, the feds are famous for screwing up a wet dream, They come up with idiotic policies and once they are in place it's a task and a half to get them to change even when they can see for themselves that it's not working. How about joe blow who just wants to take the family for a drive, tank traps and gates everywhere, now for those who say there is plenty of roads left to drive on, well your right! BUT I say to those same people if you want the solitude of hunting in a roadless area, go to a wilderness! We the people own that land, the forest service are the managers which to me they fail miserably. What i see is the f.s is great at tearing them out and reducing the access level even more for everybody young and old alike. there are tons of road sytems with a little work could be in the system again, These huge washouts that occur on alot of their roads could be aleviated if they would do proper maint. The road system is their biggest infrastructure that once its gone its gone, they will never build them again.

[Boss .300 winmag]

For me its not about hunting, it's about control, the feds are famous for screwing up a wet dream, They come up with idiotic policies and once they are in place it's a task and a half to get them to change even when they can see for themselves that it's not working. How about joe blow who just wants to take the family for a drive, tank traps and gates everywhere, now for those who say there is plenty of roads left to drive on, well your right! BUT I say to those same people if you want the solitude of hunting in a roadless area, go to a wilderness! We the people own that land, the forest service are the managers which to me they fail miserably. What i see is the f.s is great at tearing them out and reducing the access level even more for everybody young and old alike. there are tons of road sytems with a little work could be in the system again, These huge washouts that occur on alot of their roads could be aleviated if they would do proper maint. The road system is their biggest infrastructure that once its gone its gone, they will never build them again.

That's what they want, pull up to NFS Boundry and road will be gated. 

[elksnout]

I've got more years behind me now than in front of me and can still get it done. But it's waaaaaaaaay harder and gets more so each fall. I've turned the corner now and "that day" is staring me in the face.Gates have their place for certain reasons and I understand that. You young guns, the extreme crowd, the hooray for me guys and screw everyone else will too someday know what some of us do now. With pay to play, added gates, more hunting restrictions,etc. I can easily make the stretch we'll lose more hunters each year than recruit.

Is that what we want?

Me? I'd like to participate until I choose not to. Not because I'm forced out because of access.

[Turner89]

I've got more years behind me now than in front of me and can still get it done. But it's waaaaaaaaay harder and gets more so each fall. I've turned the corner now and "that day" is staring me in the face.Gates have their place for certain reasons and I understand that. You young guns, the extreme crowd, the hooray for me guys and screw everyone else will too someday know what some of us do now. With pay to play, added gates, more hunting restrictions,etc. I can easily make the stretch we'll lose more hunters each year than recruit.

Is that what we want?

Me? I'd like to participate until I choose not to. Not because I'm forced out because of access.

good post elksnout. I still can get out beyond the gates also, but I know that in 10 years ill consider myself lucky to still be doing it. It defiantly won't do us any favors getting new hunters, and keeping alot of the old.  I think it's a mistake.

[Boss .300 winmag]

It looks like 90% of these roads aren't even a mile long. I saw maybe a dozen in the 15 pages I scrolled through that are even over 5 miles long. Sound's like there are too many road's and not enough gate's to me. Looking at the map it doesn't appear to me that we need that many roads in one area anyways. People who can't walk a long way's will still have hundred's of miles of road's to drive and look for game.

The problem with this next time around it will be another 2-5 miles from that gate slowly but surely Lessing the road system to what my other post said. Gates at the NFS Boundry signes saying walk in only in groups of only you pick the number 16, 14, 10, 8, 6 then it will say closed due to wolf/grizzley sanctuary. 

[RB]

Gates are nice some of the time, but as has already been stated as hunters age (myself included) it is nice to be able to motor into a spot rather than having to park and walk. Nothing worse than laying down some miles only to have someone that is not supposed to be using a motorized rig drive by.

[JimmyHoffa]

So much road access has already been lost that I hate seeing more and more gates on public land.  But I'd definitely take a gate over the standard rip up, tank traps, ankle rolling decommissioning projects.

[westsidehntr]

I'm kind of torn on gates. They provide some good, low pressure, hunting areas to guys who are willing to hike or bike, but at the same time I worry about more and more restricted access to massive chunks of land in the future.

[Rainier10]

I would guess more gated roads has something to do with all the fires last summer. It could be a good thing or a bad thing for hunter's depending on exactly how much area is being closed to motorized vehicles.

This is my guess also.  A couple of gates went in Swakane in 2014, saying road closed due to fire damage or something like that.  This year they were unlocked and open.  I am sure it was easier to install the gate and lock for the one year and then open it back up versus digging a tank trap and then coming back up to fill it in.  The problem is now that the gate is there they can lock it at anytime.

[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?

[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.

[bobcat]

In my opinion in many cases gates actually make it easier for the older/less physically fit people to get get away from other hunters and into areas that have less hunting pressure.

If there are no gates and roads everywhere, often the only places left where a guy can get out of a vehicle to hunt are the extremely steep areas where building roads wasn't feasible.

The roads are in the easier terrain and gates make it possible for people to walk into those easier areas to hunt. If everyone was driving in there it's probably not worth hunting.