public land

[jwroberts]

anyone willing to share any info on public land around vantage.  Heading over there this weekend with my dad for the first time.  thanks

[sisu]

Try to get the DNR Public Lands maps for the areas you are heading to. I am in the process of buying all of eastern Washington for myself. They are useful when used with the Road Guides ( I forget their names but there is one for every state in the Union), and the quads for very specific information. Also go back to the public lands information that is posted here on Stevens County as I believe a search will show similar data for any place in Washington.
That's all I can offer. Hell, I'm a transplant from Alaska and it gets me down sometimes trying to find places to hunt that has game and access. So far I have had poor luck with the yellow signs on private lands that say get land owners permission and you're good to go. All I get is sorry we filled up long time ago which is funny because I called back in April and got, "Oh, we don't issue letters for access until closer to hunting season." I asked a couple of old boys what the story was and they were honest enough to say they posted the signs but only let their lawyers, insurance agents, and accounts  use the land. Why post it then?

[WAcoueshunter]

I asked a couple of old boys what the story was and they were honest enough to say they posted the signs but only let their lawyers, insurance agents, and accounts  use the land. Why post it then?

Because they get paid to have those signs out...at least in the palouse, I know the farmers get paid a different amount based on what kind of access they allow.  Guys that post the full fledged 'feel free to hunt' get paid more than the guys with the yellow 'hunt with written permission' signs.  At least down there, I believe it's all part of the CRP program.  They also get paid more if they're willing to forego the wheat for the native grasses/shrubs and/or plant some trees for habitat.  I hunted a friend's friend's property down there for several years.  The farmer said it was basically a conservation auction...the guys who were willing to allow more access and provide better habitat got more $$.  He chuckled about planting trees to get more $$, fully knowing that they had very little chance of surviving without regular water.

[radman]

they also got paid more for having "eagle habitat" -- which meant having full sized pine trees growing next to the CRP. 

[jackelope]

i heard a guy talking this weekend that 245 acres of crp brought him $12k/year from the gov. i have no concept whatsoever if this is true or false, but it is what i heard.

[boneaddict]

Deja vu

[high country]

around vantage there is a good amount of public land. you have the ytc, and there is a good amount of state land scattered about, whiskey dick area......that is plenty right there.

[jwroberts]

just got back from vantage.  I hunted a spot just over the bridge and to the north.  didn't see any deer and very little sign but did see way too much coyote sign.  lots of birds flying in the area, getting excited to go duck/goose hunting.  I also went down canyon road in ellensberg, anyone know of a good piece of public land in that area.  It seemed like there was a fence everywhere I looked.  I did see a nice 2 pt feeding along the river, tried to make the third point magically appear.  Get this, as I sat there glassing the deer with my dad a guy pulls up right behind us bumper to bumper, sees the deer and then pulls ahead of us to try to get a better position, give me a break

[jackelope]

you could go to the umtanum(sp?) rec site and cross the foot bridge and wander around up there. there's a lot of public there.

[jwroberts]

thanks for the info.  i think we will be trying that area next year since it is closed now.  thinking about randle/packwood/skookumchuck for next weekend.  see if I can find a blacktail.  I have hunted harder this year than any other year and have only seen I buck, and he wasn't legal.  I got drawn for the multi season tag this year and have been out at least one day every weekend, several camp outs and lots of long hikes.  really hope I don't have to eat this tag! Anyone been into the vail tree farm.