wa high buck help

[Surfr716]

New to rifle hunting for deer in the PNW  and am really interested in trying the high buck hunt this season. I'm planning to do some scouting this July into August and September while getting some bear hunting in, but for the life of me I cant understand the wilderness area boundaries. I can see the rough areas of where the wilderness areas are but I have no idea of whats legal to hunt and the reg book is about the most vague thing ever written.

I'm not asking anyone to divulge any of their personal hunting spots but if someone could point me in the direction of a map that shows the actual boundaries of the high buck hunt wilderness areas I would be very appreciative. I would really like to not run afoul of the game wardens come opening morning. Any info on the wilderness areas themselves would also be greatly appreciated, again not specifics or anything just general info on what to expect. It seems from reading this forum that a lot of people start on hiking trails and then spur off from there on their own to get away from the crowds but that's about as far as I've gotten.

[bobcat]

Maps are available either online or at Forest service offices, maps such as this one of the Pasayten Wilderness- https://www.nationalforestmapstore.com/mobile/Product.aspx?ProductCode=WA-11.

Find Glacier Peak and Alpine Lakes and you'll have pretty much all the high hunt areas. The Forest service also has an online map you could use to look at wilderness boundaries:

https://www.fs.fed.us/ivm/

[Bob33]

Don't forget that wilderness areas in the Olympics are also open.

[Bill W]

get a paper map and a marking pen.  We used to draw the boundries on the maps using the description in the regs.

[Henrydog]

The hunt is only in Wildness which makes it easy....the USFS has those maps advailble for 7-10 just drop by a office in the general area.

[grade-creek-rd]

I would think OnX Maps would show the boundaries as well...also, if you go in via a designated trail there will usually be a sign telling you when you are entering the wilderness. If you stay at that elevation or higher you should be ok (should be the key word) and be aware if you are hunting near a National Park boundary where it is at, as those lines can become fuzzy and not worth the risk!

Good luck...this will be the first High Hunt I've missed in 10+ years...unless I get too depressed and go for a quick trip...as my son drew a mudflow youth cow permit and I drew a White River bull permit so we are concentrating on those hunts (and both my boys drew muzzy doe permits).

Grade

[Surfr716]

I'll have to try the onxmaps should keep me within boundaries and show on my GPS what's available

Thanks for wishing me luck, best of luck on your draw tags as well

[jackelope]

Just remember, you're not necessarily following GMU boundaries...You're following wilderness boundaries so have the proper layer turned on in your OnX. Also remember it's not all wilderness areas. This may be obvious, but some folks don't seem to realize it. In terms of the reg's on the high hunt, it's pretty cut and dry. Inside this or that wilderness boundary is legal.

Google is your friend. Open this link, then if you open up the map, it will show all of the wilderness areas in the state.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/okawen/recarea/?recid=79427

[boneaddict]

Not sure how it works but Id be worried about cell service in most of the wilderness areas I frequent.   Is onyx a cell thing or a satellite thing?  If I could give you any help, I think that most areas seem to follow a ridgeline or some sort of geographic feature.   Another hint would be dont be confused if you see other people hunting.  I find people hunting outside the boundary all the time.   Apparantly they werent smart enough to ask, and do their homework like you are trying to do, or they just dont care and like to cheat.

[jackelope]

Not sure how it works but Id be worried about cell service in most of the wilderness areas I frequent.   Is onyx a cell thing or a satellite thing?  If I could give you any help, I think that most areas seem to follow a ridgeline or some sort of geographic feature.   Another hint would be dont be confused if you see other people hunting.  I find people hunting outside the boundary all the time.   Apparantly they werent smart enough to ask, and do their homework like you are trying to do, or they just dont care and like to cheat.

OnX is a GPS thing or a phone app thing, but with the phone app, you download maps before you leave cell service and then it works without service.

[X-Force]

New to rifle hunting for deer in the PNW  and am really interested in trying the high buck hunt this season. I'm planning to do some scouting this July into August and September while getting some bear hunting in, but for the life of me I cant understand the wilderness area boundaries. I can see the rough areas of where the wilderness areas are but I have no idea of whats legal to hunt and the reg book is about the most vague thing ever written.

I'm not asking anyone to divulge any of their personal hunting spots but if someone could point me in the direction of a map that shows the actual boundaries of the high buck hunt wilderness areas I would be very appreciative. I would really like to not run afoul of the game wardens come opening morning. Any info on the wilderness areas themselves would also be greatly appreciated, again not specifics or anything just general info on what to expect. It seems from reading this forum that a lot of people start on hiking trails and then spur off from there on their own to get away from the crowds but that's about as far as I've gotten.

On your scouting trip get off the trail as much as possible. Lots of areas will have no one in the summer and as soon as season starts you could wake up to a basin full of hunters.

I would look at Henry Jackson or Glacier Peak because of your proximity to them and the ability to get more scouting in.

Don't expect success but you will have great views, fall colors and probably want to carry a bear tag.

I like to use wilderness.net it outlines the wilderness boundaries and has multiple layers.
https://umontana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a415bca07f0a4bee9f0e894b0db5c3b6

[Surfr716]

x-force, I've been looking a lot at the henry jackson area on google maps, it looks like good country at least from sat photos. i was up in the area last weekend scouting for bear and ill likely do the same this week as well, hoping to find some deer obviously as well but with bear opener in 2 weeks i'm getting pretty excited to grab my pack and rifle and try to put some meat in the freezer.

[yakimanoob]

Welcome Surfr!  The high buck is magical; you'll have a blast no matter what (or, you'll at least have a blast telling the horror stories later, which is about as good!). 

CalTopo (https://caltopo.com/map.html) is, imo, by FAR the most underappreciated map tool out there.  For the wilderness areas, I find the new/2016 USFS maps to be the easiest to read. 

If you're an iphone user, check out TopoMaps+.  It has loads and loads of maps, and the MapsPass is worth its weight in gold. 

[teanawayslayer]

The hunt is only in Wildness which makes it easy....the USFS has those maps advailble for 7-10 just drop by a office in the general area.

in some wilderness areas all of the wilderness isn’t included in the high hunt area. I know for a fact that the pasayten and glacier peak are that way

[yakimanoob]

The hunt is only in Wildness which makes it easy....the USFS has those maps advailble for 7-10 just drop by a office in the general area.

in some wilderness areas all of the wilderness isn’t included in the high hunt area. I know for a fact that the pasayten and glacier peak are that way

Care to elaborate?  I don’t remember seeing anything to that effect in the regs

[bkaech]

The hunt is only in Wildness which makes it easy....the USFS has those maps advailble for 7-10 just drop by a office in the general area.

in some wilderness areas all of the wilderness isn’t included in the high hunt area. I know for a fact that the pasayten and glacier peak are that way

Fact??

Where in the regs does it say that. The regs tell you which wilderness areas are open and say nothing about limitations within those areas.

[bobcat]

All we have to go by as to what is open for the high hunt is what we see on page 17 of the 2018 hunting regulations. It simply names all the wilderness areas that are included in the high hunt. So it seems to me that ALL of each of the listed wilderness areas ARE included in the high hunt.

What may cause some confusion is that the boundaries for the high hunt are not the same as certain GMU boundaries, such as GMU 203 (Pasayten) and GMU 249 (Alpine). A person might think that the GMU with the same name as a particular Wilderness Area would have the same boundary, but they don't. For the high hunt you simply need a Forest Service map that shows the wilderness boundary.

[X-Force]

There definitely is some confusion. Parts of 218 are in the pasayten wilderness and are open, I’m sure some other units that boarder wilderness have confusion gmu/wilderness boundary’s.

Use OnX with the wilderness setting and that will give you the areas open for high buck.

I wish the new WDFW mapping system had high buck as an option.