How far off trail for the high buck hunt in GPW?

[yakimanoob]

Hey folks.  Simply because I cannot get the high buck hunt off my mind: how far off trail do you recommend for the high buck hunt?  I've been e-scouting some places and have some proper scouting trips planned, and I'm curious what to be looking for in terms of terrain. 

Most of the areas I've picked out are a draw or two away from any trails -- trying to balance solitude with the realities of packing out an animal.  Most likely it will be me and my best friend (who is stupidly capable when it comes to physical activity) so I'm sure we'll be fine, but it's still worth trying to balance.  I don't want to want to spend all my scouting time in an area I won't end up hunting for pressure or lack thereof. 

I've never done the high buck, so I don't have a good context for how much company I'll have in Glacier Peak / Henry Jackson areas accessed from the east side. What do you think?

[Stein]

There aren't a ton of deer and plenty of hikers.   Load up and check it out, assume you won't see anything and hike as hard as you can.  If you get in that mindset you will have a great hunt.


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[Jpmiller]

I've never done high buck but assuming you won't see anything is probably the best way not to see anything lol

[muleracks]

It's okay to camp near the trail.  Hunt your spot (not your camp) use headlamps and be there before shooting hours.  Glass for feeding deer, stalk closer if you need to or watch where the one you want beds and go get him after about a half hour (let him relax).  He will get up again in a few hours but you may be able to go in and get him up.  Probably want to be at the edge of timberline or glassing a fairly open avalanche shoot or open hillside.

[Seahawk12]

Tip for getting info on a new to you area:
Go to the Washington trails association site and look up hikes in the area you're interested in and read up the hikers reviews.
There's alot of great info hidden in those reviews.
Good luck.

[ian_padron]

Tip for getting info on a new to you area:
Go to the Washington trails association site and look up hikes in the area you're interested in and read up the hikers reviews.
There's alot of great info hidden in those reviews.
Good luck.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh  but seriously WA trails is the motherload, just takes a lot of lookin to find a nugget or two.

If you haven't been up at least a couple times already this year, you're WAYYY behind amigo! The GPW is MASSIVE country and it takes a long ass time to figure out. If I were you, I'd put together at least two 3-day trips up there before the season to pound some ground and find a couple areas.

It's critical to have a plan A,B,C when you hit the trailhead on the 14th.

T-minus 1 month.

[yakimanoob]

Finally got to do some quick after-work scouting (my job takes me to Wenatchee occasionally).  Spent about 3 hours in the area I'm hoping to hunt, got the lay of the land and saw 3 bucks, two of whom were legal and one was pretty big (spotted from 1.8 mi). 

TONS of ripe huckleberries and I accessed the area on a very popular trail (nothing but bootprints in the dirt, and tons of reviews on wa trails ).  I did plenty of off-trail work and was surprised by the lack of bear sign given the berries.  I guess they're still hanging out down low  .

Anyway it has me PUMPED for the hunt.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Being out of sight of the trails is more important than distance, IMHO. 

[yakimanoob]

Being out of sight of the trails is more important than distance, IMHO.

Makes sense.  There's an unmapped trail (may have started as a game trail but has certainly become a person trail now) in the area and I was within shouting distance of that the whole time.  I can't imagine there aren't bears in that area, so I'm sure with more work I would find their little pockets.   Found some of the deer though