Three Corner Rock

[elksnout]

New to site. Have hunted Wa state for 38 yrs. now. Has anyone one hunted Blacktails in this area of the Washougal unit ? My son and I have hunted it hard for about five falls now and have taken some forkies out of there. They are logging the beejesus out of this place so the road hunters have moved in. If you try and set up on a landing to glass or God forbid get out the spotting scope you draw attention. So we have moved into the brush. And brushy it is and steep. This past fall during late buck we hunted a small area of about 3/4 of a mile in size. We would try and still hunt and sat alot too on game trails. In the four day hunt we " played "with a noisy, rutting buck but could never get a clear shot in that mess of brush. I think the only consistent way to get bucks here is with treestands. We've never used one so my question is do they work on these ghosts and where do you decide to put them ?

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Welcome to the site.

I don't use treestands yet. This year I will probably invest in one though. It is almost impossible to hunt blacktails successfully in the thick brush from the ground and that is how I hunt them. I did use a bleat can with some success this past year. I was able to call in two different bucks and got arrows to touch them without a harvest.

[KillBilly]

Welcome aboard, hope to hear some hunting stories from you soon.

[Sneaky]

An effective method a buddy of mine used to bag blacktails was to scout the general area on available roads during the pre-season. where you see a deer cross the road, hang a marker and come back as to not spook the deer, then come back to that spot and find the trail, move a ways back off the road and hang a stand. nothing is consistent with blacktails, though.

[dirty.dan4]

I go to the Washougal area to hunt with my cousin.  Where abouts are they logging?  Have you tried hunting further east on Hwy 14?

[Houndhunter]

heard they closed off alot of that area?

[huntnphool]

  Welcome to the site, you came to the right place for blacktail info, some of the guys on here really know their chit.

[dirty.dan4]

heard they closed off alot of that area?

They closed I think 10000 acres of timber do to illegal dumping and the druggies.  If you know the area, hunting alongside the closures will produce a lot of sign.  I havent seen anything smaller than a 3x3 taken there.  You might get lucky and find the elk herd in there too.  Watch out for the non hunters.  For some reason they seem to be very inconsiderate down there.  Hopefully my two cents helps.  Good Luck

[Houndhunter]

personally havn't hunted it much, but seen some big bucks come from there from the past

[Jackjr]

Welcome

[elksnout]

We access this unit from highway 14 @ Beacon Rock. This turns into the DNR 1400 road. No gates. There isn't any logging until you clear the gorge. Then lookout... two falls ago they had logging decks stacked so high that I haven't that in years. No knocks towards the loggers, hey thet gotta work too. And the deer do well in the second growth. The only thing I don't like is they go in and spray to kill the broadleaf. So it takes awhile I think to make good feed. About the same time I do know they had the gate closed coming up from Maybee Mines road. I think they have an upper and lower gate on that road. We spenf most of our time hunting off the 1500 line, sometimes the 1420 during the week days if we can sneak away from work. I have seen a fair amount of elk sign over the years and it sees it's share of presure too from the muzzleloader group. I know of a cow and spike that bowhunters got and one very nice bull who fell to a muzzleloader during the early season. The country coming up out of the gorge in pretty much un-roaded and heavily timbered with hemlock and alder. Big draws filled with tall ferns and devils club. Fun stuff. I have hunted that too. I know they're there. Like I said a tree stand might be the best way to get these guys.

[blacktail luv]

I have persoally never hunted from a treestand, i don't have the patience, but if you do i am sure they would work well.  You know those big bucks will be cruising the edge of those clearcuts during the rut, so i guess you best bet would be to set up in a chunk of timber that is between some cuts on a game trail. 

[ponyboy156]

The only thing I don't like is they go in and spray to kill the broadleaf.

You almost never see broadcast spraying of broadleafs(with the exception of right of ways) nowadays. They will do site specific "spot" spraying or hack and squirt of fast growing light competing species i.e. alder, big leafs, madrone, ... these sprayed species aren't generally first choice deer or elk forage. If the deer are staying out of an area it may be due to a deer repellent. In certain areas foresters have the young doug firs sprayed routinely through the first few years of there life to try and save leader damage from deer/elk browsing. Once these young tree leaders get past browse height spraying ceases.  If there just spraying out competing species, deer should be back using the area shortly. Keep an eye out for pesticide application signs.... they should have the date of the application on them.

Thats my anal response.... in short, I wouldnt worry too much about pesticide lowering deer browse.

[bobcat]

Pesticide???  Don't you mean to say "herbicide?"   

[elksnout]

Here's the deal. We see less deer each year. Some area's you could walk the whole perimiter of a cut and see little track. More clear cuts and roads = more people and less animals. I'am sure the " night shift " get's their fair share too. And to be honest last winter was long and snowey. As far as hericides go, which is my hunch those cuts look awful brown and skimpy for quite awhile. Gates would help I think. Where we hunt elk is behind gates and we get elk. Kinda cool to roam country without rigs all over the place. Anyway, like I said we have moved into the brush and are looking at using either tree stands or some type of ground blind. I think we will just be better off and less frustrated with a higher quality hunt. Which is where I'am at in my life. I'am not going to fight for a spot , I hunt where there are less people and sadly less animals.

[ponyboy156]

Sorry for gettin off the point Elksnout. I get a little carried away sometimes on forestry related subjects. I like to hunt thick reprod of 10-15 years old. Plenty of food and cover. Vantage points are definately the biggest issue. I use some stands and other times just try and find that one spot where you can see through the grain of the terrain.

...and Bobcat yeah your right at herbicide over pesticide. The only weird part is that when you take the class to be a certified applicator it winds up being a pesticide applicators license rather than an herbicide applicators license. Guess its cause many of the plants that are targeted are considered "pests". I just call them all pesticides..... maybe I should watch that.

[joethewrangler13]

About the same time I do know they had the gate closed coming up from Maybee Mines road. I think they have an upper and lower gate on that road.

Does that mean that the main road from Maybee Mines to Three Corner Rock is closed?  That would probably mean some decent hunting for those that would actually get out of the truck and hunt.  There is a lot of ground over there.  I haven't spent near as much time around Three Corner Rock in the past few years, as I once did but I used to know the area pretty well.  I actually got my first deer up there, a pretty heavy horned 2 point with eye gaurds.  The area that I got it in was on the south side of Three Corner Rock, not far from the powerlines.  The last time I tried to drive in there (about 2 years ago) that road was closed too, that may mean that a bunch of that area would be walk-in only, but I would need to get in there and explore some more.  On the subject of elk in the area, I never saw the heard but have seen sign and I know someone who shot a wall hanger up there.  I assume that the logging is off of the 1440 road, near where the trail crosses it.

[Dadbear]

Lace up your boots, put your tree stand on your back, and get in the deepest, nastiest stuff you can find. Then, plan on staying in there 'til long past dark. Never leave your stand so you can "hunt your way back to the rig". Stay put. If you really want to enjoy the experience, try this with a bow. Blacktails are amazing. Big ones are nearly completely nocturnal. Hunting for them this way isn't for everyone, but it is AWESOME.

[elksnout]

As I mentioned we come in from the gorge at Beacon Rock. No gates. There are two gates on the Maybee Mines road. One on the lower end coming from below and one from above several miles apart. I've seen them closed during fire season or when there has been heavy logging use. But they seem to be open during hunting season. Way too much action around there for me. Dadbear, that's sound advice. My son and I have tossed that idea around for far too long. There's just the country you are talking about to the east of our little chunk of land we have been hunting. Steep, heavily timbered with plenty of ground cover. Lots of finger ridges with creek bottoms. Maybe take a stand where two or three creeks come together ? Or a saddle in the ridgeline ? Come on October !!!

[Ghost Hunter]

Pesticide???  Don't you mean to say "herbicide?"  

Pesticide is a general term that covers herbicides, fungicides, germicides, insecticides, ........you get the idea   At least for those of us that have to deal with unfunded mandates

[bobcat]

Yeah I guess you're right. I looked it up and the term pesticide does include herbicides. I always thought of pesticides as being for insects, or other critters. Thanks for the education.

[shadowless_nite]

all i have to say is.... i wouldnt go back to that area to hunt. i went there with some buddies when i got started hunting (2 years ago) and we went there for modern but tons of road hunting, garbage dumps from people partying. and way too much human traffic. i know tons of people head up to there to go wheelin. hence all the constant on and off road/ gate closures through out washoulgal. as well as property owner changes and more and more sections of the washoulgal becoming private or closed to public access.

the deer there are probably pretty accustomed to human pressure whether it be from loggers plowing over everything or drunk teenagers shooting at misc crap all year round. so im sure they know very well to stay away from there and probably are most likely very nocturnal. best bet before using a tree stand is to stop guessing on trails and set out some cameras. and if your gonna set some out in that area id say if your worried someone might see it or take it then chances are your probably right.

good luck. and hopefully you find something there