optic, and jimmy, thank you for your replies. I can appreciate your mention of no hunting in the parks optic-honestly I've been very spoiled up here in AK-as I live very close to a State Park. Now, there is what is called a "special use hunting area" and I mean it's OLD FASHIONED. What I mean is this-the hunters and trappers work very hard to preserve the right to harvest game in this particular area...Even though it's a state park, there is a small sliver of land (which on foot is actually enough to demand a 2 or 3 day hike just to cover all the ground, honestly) sheep, moose, and small game can all be taken here. However, despite the Alaska law being written to say that you can shoot an animal within x-number of yards from a road, the State Park Ranger (a de-facto game warden who also serves in law enforcement functions to include effecting arrests of fugitives and wildland firefighting operations AND broken down four-wheeler removal-the guy's position is versatile) basically breaks it down this way-"please hike in to point x before you begin shooting" thus it's a gentleman's agreement. Now the reason for this is that the trailhead is at the end of a road that also includes a lot of aging hippies and people looking for peace and quiet. It would be diplomatically speaking, unsound practice to go against that request, and it leads into one of the curiosities I have about WA and it's many forest service roads, and a point that was alluded to by Jimmy. Alaska used to have a TON of roads, pull-outs and the like, that used to be accessible when I was a kid back in the 90s. Because of greenies transplanting to Alaska to ruin wilderness access for those using motorized transport...in addition to youngsters and tweakers destroying them...the various landowners (whether BLM or DNR or Native Corporations) would gate them off and give no access at all. This, I will bet is a more recent development than the current structure in WA...I mean even in regular campgrounds we have drunken fights with people shooting each other. Gun battles at a place called Maude Road or "Jim Creek" here have made a cross section of those who are out there to look pretty bad. The isolation of a lot of these spots is what makes criminality easier to get away with-is this more limited in WA? Besides Duckabush, are there other places to avoid to keep away from the junkies and children? In the past, when I've left my vehicle in a place for longer than a night, I just leave a note on my truck saying there is nothing of value inside and threatening extreme violence (tongue-in-cheek, not serious, but the perp doesn't know that) should I find someone breaking in. I'd like to not feel the need to do that any longer...LE in AK basically shows up after trouble. Is the policing in the area reasonably effective? I will check out those links and see what I can learn about access.
