Forks Wa Youth Antlerless Muzzleloader Help

[kerrdog]

I used up my my Son's youth points and he drew a tag for antlerless Muzzleloader Elk in Forks Washington (DEC 16-31)  I should have done my homework first because it seems most (or all) of that unit is in and around the town of Forks and private property.  It looks like there's a tiny section of state land down Sportsman's Club Road.  Does anyone know if that's ok to hunt? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

[huntnfmly]

Congrats to your son on the tag.
Sorry I can't help I don't know the area
Hopefully someone will chime in with some helpful info and for the people on here who tend to give others a bad time for not knowing the area before they put in for a tag should just keep their mouths shut.
Good luck to your son and plz keep us updated on his hunt

[fishngamereaper]

Knock on some doors...it's a damage control hunt..I don't know the exact bounderies but it would benefit you to get onx maps or basemap app so you know where you are legal at..

[opdinkslayer]

Good luck finding a place to kill one & there are weapon restrictions as well. If you don’t have something set up with a landowner or know the area I wouldn’t bother coming up here for it. A couple of the landowners where 2 of the biggest herds hang out won’t let you on their place to kill one.

[bobcat]

Call the WDFW office in Montesano.

[Crunchy]

You will see a bunch of elk but mostly on private land. Elk move from lot to lot so even if you find one person to let you hunt their land, it is all timing on when the elk are in the right field.  My advice would be to get to town a day early and wear hunter orange or camo.  Go have lunch in town and locals might help you out with some land to hunt. 

[nwhunter]

Its a confusingly crappy hunt.. We have several hundred elk that basically live in Forks and need the numbers to be drastically reduced with these kind of hunts but the City of Forks doesn't allow hunting with a firearm inside city limits .. Unless you can catch them on a piece of property that is still zoned county ,which there are some, or get lucky and catch them on the outer edges of this hunt area boundary you likely won't be successful.. Its like most places with too many urban animals that people complain about them eating their roses ,gardens and hay crops but when a solution is made that involves killing some , all of a sudden most people oppose it. It won't be a slam dunk hunt for sure but if the stars align you may get lucky. Message me when you are in Forks and I will see if any elk are on huntable property and see if I can help your son out

[JimmyHoffa]

Tricky to get any access for that hunt.  A neighbor talked to a guy that assumed some city land with water tanks was the only open spot.  Ended up shooting a cow last year and got arrested for it.

[Chesapeake]

Up that sportsman club road looks like a fair chunk of state along the fr1000. Thats the boundary along the 1000 to the 1200, then off the end of the 1200 to elk creek. The rest looks like small parcel private.

Last year report says 6 cows for 7 hunters. The hunt doesn’t look to exist before 2018.
Seems some folks were able to pull it off. Looks worth a try to me.

[opdinkslayer]

Your avitar says Vancouver, so if it were me I would get in touch with Scott(nwhunter) before hand & see what he might have goin to help you out. Then I would touch base again before I drove 5 hrs up here to look at elk laying in the airport,Thomas’ fields & Dahlgrens where you can’t shoot them & have to get yourself in a questionable situation. Like Scott said it’s a confusingly crappy hunt that really isn’t a hunt, it’s shooting an elk in town with goofy vague rules & uncooperative land owners. The sportsman’s club rd stuff would be great but they rarely hang out up there that time of year & some of it is ugly & thick. Good luck with your timing of being here & the elk cooperating & not finding yourself in a questionable situation. That takes the fun out of the whole experience. 

[sagerat]

Sounds like a great hunt to have in the youth category.

[nwhunter]

 

Sounds like a great hunt to have in the youth category.

It is if your a Forks kid  .. Its like most all the special hunts that state in the regs to be sure and be aware of the private land issues before applying. Its a needed hunt for trying to get the elk numbers down just have yet to get the city to cooperate with using a firearm during these special seasons. There are perfectly safe fields in city limits to harvest these troublesome elk its just not legal at this time..Yet at times you can't land an airplane at out FAA funded airport because there are close to a hundred elk standing on it

[bobcat]

This is what it says in the regulations for this hunt:

"Private lands; access is extremely limited. If you cannot secure access to private lands, do not apply for this hunt."

[Chesapeake]

Having kids I’ve found most all the youth hunts are like this, does, cows, spikes in 3 point areas, land access issues, low success rates, ect... Not sure why WDFW only gives the kids the scraps. Other states have pretty decent youth opportunities, but not Washington. They don’t do much to help a parent help their kids to experience some success.

I’d call the region office and get ahold of the person in charge of land owner relations and damage controll. They may know who will let you hunt.