Free: Contests & Raffles.
...Which begs the question as to why any more people should be encouraged to go there in the first place?Newbies are far better off either teaming up with existing camps or learning the ropes and paying their dues closer to the rig. That way, everyone's chances at putting tag on something will be better.
FWIW, I didn't mean to come off as harsh, but I did want to spell out the reality of the situation by conveying that some of the information floating around out there is flat out wrong and may be setting up new people for not only their failure, but also the failure of guys that already have considerable skin in the game.The far flung places are already being hunted hard by others. And some are an absolute zoo of people, camps and pack stock. That's just the reality....Which begs the question as to why any more people should be encouraged to go there in the first place?Newbies are far better off either teaming up with existing camps or learning the ropes and paying their dues closer to the rig. That way, everyone's chances at putting tag on something will be better.
Quote from: Bushcraft on June 30, 2016, 05:59:33 PM...Which begs the question as to why any more people should be encouraged to go there in the first place?Newbies are far better off either teaming up with existing camps or learning the ropes and paying their dues closer to the rig. That way, everyone's chances at putting tag on something will be better.I disagree. A new guy out there has just as much right being out there as you or I or anyone else. If he's willing to do the same work as you, then he should have at it.
There are a lot of guys who know a lot about the high hunt on this forum. I'm not one of them. I'm trying to learn though. A few suggestions before charging out; There is a podcast called hunt backcountry that is a pretty good listen, Several episodes are devoted to the high mule deer hunt . Although not always specific to Wa., I find some gems of information on there. Robby Denning has a good book, "Hunting Big Mule Deer-How to Take the Best Buck of your Life". His Rokslide forum has a lot of good information on it also. He's talking mostly about Idaho, but the book has good information for anywhere. In the last year, besides Google Earth, I have purchased tons of maps including the OnX map app for my phone. I also think find some spots NOW and get up there and sit still and glass all day NOW. The animals are easier to see and your mistakes, if you make any, won't ruin anyone's day but your own. There will probably be tons of guys there in September, but watch the habits of the animals and practice your own skills. Look for an unobtrusive place to camp away from where you would hunt. You wouldn't camp under a treestand. Finding a beautiful basin to live in the middle of is just not going to work. Learning about the thermals is important too. Also then you will have some frame of reference for what the country looks like for real when you are looking at Google Earth.
Quote from: jackelope on June 30, 2016, 08:49:23 PMQuote from: Bushcraft on June 30, 2016, 05:59:33 PM...Which begs the question as to why any more people should be encouraged to go there in the first place?Newbies are far better off either teaming up with existing camps or learning the ropes and paying their dues closer to the rig. That way, everyone's chances at putting tag on something will be better.I disagree. A new guy out there has just as much right being out there as you or I or anyone else. If he's willing to do the same work as you, then he should have at it.Josh,You're not actually disagreeing with me, you're just paraphrasing part of what I said or perhaps missing it entirely. So let me rehash this...I'm speaking to the people that don't actually put in the same work as me or the other guys that like to go deep for a week or two at a time. If a guy nuts up and puts in the same pre-season scouting sweat equity on public land, he ABSOLUTELY deserves to be there just as much as myself, you or anyone else does.Again, for what might me the umpteenth time (trust me, I'm smiling a friendly smile here as I say this man), what I can't abide by is the advice all to often given to newbies (or the advice lazy newbies give to themselves when they don't do any actual boots on the ground research), is to go to what they mistakenly believe are the farthest flung most off the beaten path basins in the High Hunt wilderness areas in an effort to get away from other people. That advice is 100% pure BS since everyone knows those places are already being hunted by crews that have been in there for many, many years. So, the newbies that are being lied to - or are in effect lying to themselves, are screwing not only themselves out of a potential opportunity, they are also screwing the guys that scout the heck out of it all summer long and have staked their proverbial claim on in it, year, after year, after year. That doesn't mean that the most remote basins are the only ones that hold deer. The entire country holds deer. So, instead of messing with the far flung places that everyone knows are already "taken", set up in some good pockets closer to the trailheads.What pisses me and others off are the bumbling idiots that haphazardly stumble 15-20+ miles into an area only to throw their packs down and screw up an entire drainage with their farm league antics because they are so whooped that they can't even think straight...or simply haven't bothered to do their research on mature mule deer behavior. Is it public land?...Yes. Do they have the right to be there?...Well, that's somewhat debatable depending on whether or not they actually pay anything in taxes to the public coffer. Do they "DESERVE!" to be there when their bodies have failed them and they don't have the <bleeping> foggiest clue what they are doing?...way more often than not the answer is a resounding No. Switch gears...let's talk elk hunting. I've been hunting a particular area in a particular wilderness area for a long time. It's not often, but I occasionally bump into people at the trailhead, usually before the opener. We don't know each other, but we all exchange pleasantries and all know roughly where everyone else hunts. Some lines are drawn in the sand. It's an unwritten rule or understanding among these men that you don't infringe on the other guys' turf. I know where they generally like to hunt. I nor anyone I've invited to share my camp infringe on their area under any circumstance. And no one from their camps would even think about stepping foot into where we hunt. We don't because we all know we'd effectively be screwing someone else. Heck, the outfitters know the areas are already taken and won't take people in there otherwise they run the risk of having their reputations run through the mud as well as having some very unhappy clients. That's just the way it is. There's a gentlemen's understanding.My advice stands... 1) if someone doesn't really know what they are doing, try and hook up with an established crew. 2) If that doesn't work out, hike and scout your freakin' butt off, pattern some bucks and damn well earn it come game time. If you're not willing to put in 3-4 multiple long-bomb weekend trips where you show up to the trailhead on a Friday late evening after work and hike through the dark into an area where you can glass the critters up as the sun rises and put them to bed and then keep tabs on them throughout the weekend before bailing for the trailhead to sleep in the back of the rig late Sunday evening so you can wake up early Monday and drive to work in time. (Been there, done that...a lot.) Or 3) don't bother since others are already way ahead of you and you're just wasting your and other's time. Instead, just go hiking some other weekend.
I've certainly benefited from having others in the field during general season hunts. It usually entailed running up the side of a mountain in the pre-dawn hours to sit above a natural game funnel and waiting for the hordes of pumpkin colored hunters below to push them up to me. It's basically taking advantage of a game drive.That doesn't happen during the High Hunt simply because a) you usually don't have that many hunters to create a "drive" effect, and b) most guys, if they are smart, are just hunkered down behind glass anyway.
There is also a problem in that there are not all the same skill levels out there that hunt the high hunt just like the regular season. Just the same as skill levels there are also those that are more serious than others.With that being said chances are your going to have the level of hunters that just go in blow things out for hunters already there by making a bunch of noise, camping in an area where the wind blows their scent all over and thus putting the animals on alert, and etc. It's just like the regular season when on the opener there is a ton of hunters out and on the day after the opener before heading home they want to shoot their guns because they are bored or didn't sight their rifle in. For some its more of an extended way to drink and party but in the woods. Then after the weekend opener it gets quieter. It's when they start affecting the hunters that take it serious that I have a problem with. Yea everyone has a right to be out there but in the same token need to be respectful of others.
