Eastern ALW pressure?

[yakimanoob]

Hey folks,

I'm finalizing my plan for the High Buck, and as it stands I will have opening weekend to hunt, then Thursday-Saturday towards the end of the season.  I'm wavering back and forth between, let's call it Area 1, in the GPW and Area 2 in ALW.  Last year I extensively scouted Area 1 and saw very few others, only to arrive at a trailhead with no parking and tons of other hunters on opening weekend (obviously not a shocker, exactly, but I didn't have an adequate backup plan and wavered for too long and wasted a bunch of time).  I've identified two backup plans this year, but business has prevented me from doing any boots-on-the-ground scouting at all this year and so far I've only been e-scouting. 

So my question is, how much pressure does ALW get accessed from the eastern side?  Is it as bad as SE GPW? 

By the way, I'm happy to talk specifics over pm, so send me a message if you like.  I just don't want to leave specific spots where google searches can find them . 

[yakimanoob]

Oh, I forgot to finish the plan: Opening weekend will be spent in either of those areas, with Area 2 being the most likely at this point.  Area 1 pressure definitely trails off towards the end of the season so I thought I would finish the season there. 

There's an Area 3 already decided upon in case 1 and 2 suck.  Mostly I'm trying to get my strategy in place so I don't spend hours sitting in my truck trying to make decisions about where to go - I can just bounce from place to place and spend time behind glass. 

[CGDucksandDeer]

This will be my fourth High Hunt in ALW. It gets plenty of pressure, perhaps not as much as some of the most popular basins that the outfitters focus on in the GPW, but plenty. And more non-hunting hiker presence than about anywhere else, though HJW can come close.

12 trucks and 3 subarus at my trailhead last year the day before opener. I'd expect similar this year, hopefully slightly less with fewer fire restrictions. Manage expectations, and go where there aren't trails. Good luck out there.

[jackelope]

My one and only high hunt experience accessing from the southeastern side of the ALW was a crowded mess come opening day. Same story....we scouted, nobody. Opening morning comes, we're in there a day ahead of time...I swear probably 10-15 people walked through the area we were camped at. That was my first high hunt and we learned loud and clear that we weren't far enough from the road and way too close to a trail. We also had no backup plan. Oh well...it was a nice camping trip.
There were trucks, jeeps, quads all on the jeep trail headed to the trailhead.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I don't believe there is any east side trailhead into the high hunt wildernesses on the east side that won't be full up.  Good options are to either avoid trailheads, avoid the trail from the trailhead, or use the trail to get in but then put at least one ridgeline between you and the trail.  My health doesn't let me hunt back country anymore, but when I did my goal was always to lose line of sight to any trail.  This map shows how I view trailheads.

[Bushcraft]

You'll be hard pressed to find a trailhead or hunting area without a ton of pressure, particularly with the opener on a weekend and significant access roads, trails and areas under fire closure.  That's just what High Buck has become.

It's a bit of a zoo with the usual mix of folks.  There's a distinct minority that works their butts off and have grown to know "their" preferred area(s) intimately after years of scouting and hunting them.  They can harvest bucks seemingly at will year in and year out.  There's a group that are good hunters that want to give it a shot, but don't quite yet know how to hunt high-country mule deer.  Some of them will luck out and they will become addicted to doing High Buck every year.  And then there are the idiots that don't have a friggin' clue, don't really want to learn, are unethical, don't give a crap about whether or not they ruin other people's hunts and valuable vacation time (and sometimes do so intentionally)...and generally screw things up for everyone.

Your best hope is to get away from the idiots, or figure out how to use them to your advantage.

Loads of people have learned the hard way that mileage and elevation gain/loss won't necessarily help you get away from them.  Every year I observe idiots that can hike a long, long ways.

Anyway, good luck!  I hope to not see you or anyone else up in "my" spot(s)!  Haha!    

[yakimanoob]

You may have left out the group I'm often afraid I fall into: well-meaning but new to the game.  I try to be very conscious of other hunters, but I'm always afraid I've blown someone's hunt by accident...  At least I don't target shoot in obvious hunt areas.  This is only my third season and I ran into that issue twice just last year. 

Anyway, thanks for the tips everybody.  I think I'm going to bail on Area 2 in favor of the Area 3 I mentioned.  We'll see how my plan works out... 

Good luck to all next weekend!! 

[jackelope]

Everybody's got to start somewhere. Just do your best. You can't keep everyone happy.

[Bushcraft]

You may have left out the group I'm often afraid I fall into: well-meaning but new to the game.  I try to be very conscious of other hunters, but I'm always afraid I've blown someone's hunt by accident...  At least I don't target shoot in obvious hunt areas.  This is only my third season and I ran into that issue twice just last year. 

Anyway, thanks for the tips everybody.  I think I'm going to bail on Area 2 in favor of the Area 3 I mentioned.  We'll see how my plan works out... 

Good luck to all next weekend!!

From  your posts I suspect you fall into the middle group I mentioned.  Again...good luck, have fun, and be safe out there!

[huntandjeep]

I've done ALW 3 times now ( going again this year hopefully ). Have passed numerous backpackers / hunters going in and coming out , trailhead so full of cars we've parked a mile from it , spend 4-6 days in there ( usually after opening weekend ) and seen exactly 1 other hunter ( my hunting partner ). There are still secret areas away from people .

[HoofsandWings]

Can't you just drop in via helicopter?  Four or so split the fee.

[jackelope]

Can't you just drop in via helicopter?  Four or so split the fee.

Pretty sure you’d have to rappel from the helicopter as it’s illegal to land in a wilderness area.

[Knocker of rocks]

Can't you just drop in via helicopter?  Four or so split the fee.

Pretty sure you’d have to rappel from the helicopter as it’s illegal to land in a wilderness area.

Air drops are illegal too.

[HoofsandWings]

What about 100 yards from boundary?

[Knocker of rocks]

What about 100 yards from boundary?

Perfectly legal.   In Death Valley almost all the roads are 50' from designated wilderness for hundreds of miles.

Whose land will the helicopter land on?  Landing on USFS land of any sort requires a special use permit (decidely not OTC)