Black Rock Ranch question

[dvolmer]

Just wondering if anyone on the forum has had the Black Rock cow permit and if they have, during what time of the season do they usually hunt them.  I notice that the season is like 6 months long for that permit.  I also know that they contact you for the hunt time and when they do, you need to be able to go on the spot just about.  Just wondering if these hunts are in September, October, November, December, or after the new year?  I think the permit dates go all the way into March or so.  i know they give out one youth cow tag, one adult cow tag, one adult bull tag, and one youth bull tag.

My son had a bad youth experience when he drew the Silver Dollar ranch cow tag and never got a chance to hunt at all a few years back.  Also my co-worker drew the Pine Mountain Ranch cow permit last year and had a terrible experience and was never allowed to hunt and contacted the ranch many times and they would never respond to him or his messages.  He contacted WDFW after the season and they gave him back his points because of the experience and WDFW said they were going to make changes to the landowner program this year because of this.  I know that Black Rock is a totally separate ranch then the above mentioned.  Just wondering when the hunt usually takes place?

[Limhangerslayer]

Just wondering if anyone on the forum has had the Black Rock cow permit and if they have, during what time of the season do they usually hunt them.  I notice that the season is like 6 months long for that permit.  I also know that they contact you for the hunt time and when they do, you need to be able to go on the spot just about.  Just wondering if these hunts are in September, October, November, December, or after the new year?  I think the permit dates go all the way into March or so.  i know they give out one youth cow tag, one adult cow tag, one adult bull tag, and one youth bull tag.

My son had a bad youth experience when he drew the Silver Dollar ranch cow tag and never got a chance to hunt at all a few years back.  Also my co-worker drew the Pine Mountain Ranch cow permit last year and had a terrible experience and was never allowed to hunt and contacted the ranch many times and they would never respond to him or his messages.  He contacted WDFW after the season and they gave him back his points because of the experience and WDFW said they were going to make changes to the landowner program this year because of this.  I know that Black Rock is a totally separate ranch then the above mentioned.  Just wondering when the hunt usually takes place?

I call complete bs on the pine mountain ranch comment.   He's A good friend of mine and I've helped on multiple hunts up there.  He has a lot on his plate running that place.  Did your co-worker ever leave a message?  Every other tag holder was up there last year.  Something sounds wrong on his side to me. 

And you're complaining about these private ranch hunts but you put in again this year?

[huntnfmly]

Where's my popcorn imoji?

[dvolmer]

Just wondering if anyone on the forum has had the Black Rock cow permit and if they have, during what time of the season do they usually hunt them.  I notice that the season is like 6 months long for that permit.  I also know that they contact you for the hunt time and when they do, you need to be able to go on the spot just about.  Just wondering if these hunts are in September, October, November, December, or after the new year?  I think the permit dates go all the way into March or so.  i know they give out one youth cow tag, one adult cow tag, one adult bull tag, and one youth bull tag.

My son had a bad youth experience when he drew the Silver Dollar ranch cow tag and never got a chance to hunt at all a few years back.  Also my co-worker drew the Pine Mountain Ranch cow permit last year and had a terrible experience and was never allowed to hunt and contacted the ranch many times and they would never respond to him or his messages.  He contacted WDFW after the season and they gave him back his points because of the experience and WDFW said they were going to make changes to the landowner program this year because of this.  I know that Black Rock is a totally separate ranch then the above mentioned.  Just wondering when the hunt usually takes place?

I call complete bs on the pine mountain ranch comment.   He's A good friend of mine and I've helped on multiple hunts up there.  He has a lot on his plate running that place.  Did your co-worker ever leave a message?  Every other tag holder was up there last year.  Something sounds wrong on his side to me. 

And you're complaining about these private ranch hunts but you put in again this year?

I am not complaining.  I'm telling you the exact truth.  Up until this last year, I had heard nothing but super things about Pine mountain and maybe they just had a rough year.  The guy that had the tag last year is an instrument technician in my plant out at the Hanford site.  I covered him multiple times a week as his Radiation Protection specialist.  I saw how he tried multiple times a week for months to try and get a hold of the ranch to find out when his hunt was.  He left multiple messages with the contact number given to him and was never contacted.  As the time frame of his season started to approach the end, he finally called WDFW multiple times to find out what the deal was and why he hadn't been contacted.  WDFW tried to contact the ranch but the season soon ended.  He filed a petition to WDFW to get his points back because he never was allowed to hunt.  WDFW granted his request and he received his points back.  Why and for what purpose he wasn't contacted, I have no idea.  But if a ranch is receiving land owner permits from the state that they can give to others and charge a large trespass fee, then they need to honor the tags that are in the general draw that sportsman pay for and put in for.  The only reason these ranches agree to these hunts is so they can get these landowner tags that they can use for themselves or give to others and make bank on.  These animals belong to the state and not the landowner.

From what I have heard from a lot of people, Black Rock runs a great hunting experience.  Don't get me wrong, I agree with the landowner programs.  It helps out all involved.  Them and the sportsman.  Look at Utah for instance, they have a great landowner program that gives permits out to the general draw for landowner permits.  WDFW told the guy I work with when he petitioned for his points back that the state was going to be re-writing these landowner contracts and making changes to the programs due to issues in the past.  What those are, I don't know for sure.  But I am not making this up.  I saw a guy that was super excited and pumped for the season and as the season unfolded, I saw the disappointment he went through.  Pretty sad to see.

But that is not the topic of what I was looking to find out.  I wanted to know when past cow elk permit holders for the Black Rock ranch got to hunt.  And what I mean by that is, what time of year was it.  Why am I asking this you might ask?  Because I was fortunate (if you want to call it that) enough to draw my bull category special permit this year along with my cow special permit.  Not what I would prefer but it happened.  I was hoping that the cow hunt would be later than the bull hunt (Bethel Modern Rifle).  This would give me the opportunity to be super selective in what I decide to harvest on the bull hunt because the cow hunt would be a back up plan for a meat hunt.  Why shoot a rag-horn bull and why not hunt the whole season for a big-boy when you know if you are not successful you still can fill your tag with the cow hunt later in the season.  Also with Washington, Wyoming, and Montana hunts on my schedule this year I'm trying to figure out a somewhat soft schedule.  isn't that what this forum is for?

[Tpetie3509]

Just wondering if anyone on the forum has had the Black Rock cow permit and if they have, during what time of the season do they usually hunt them.  I notice that the season is like 6 months long for that permit.  I also know that they contact you for the hunt time and when they do, you need to be able to go on the spot just about.  Just wondering if these hunts are in September, October, November, December, or after the new year?  I think the permit dates go all the way into March or so.  i know they give out one youth cow tag, one adult cow tag, one adult bull tag, and one youth bull tag.

My son had a bad youth experience when he drew the Silver Dollar ranch cow tag and never got a chance to hunt at all a few years back.  Also my co-worker drew the Pine Mountain Ranch cow permit last year and had a terrible experience and was never allowed to hunt and contacted the ranch many times and they would never respond to him or his messages.  He contacted WDFW after the season and they gave him back his points because of the experience and WDFW said they were going to make changes to the landowner program this year because of this.  I know that Black Rock is a totally separate ranch then the above mentioned.  Just wondering when the hunt usually takes place?

I call complete bs on the pine mountain ranch comment.   He's A good friend of mine and I've helped on multiple hunts up there.  He has a lot on his plate running that place.  Did your co-worker ever leave a message?  Every other tag holder was up there last year.  Something sounds wrong on his side to me. 

And you're complaining about these private ranch hunts but you put in again this year?

I am the tagholder in question on this permit from last year, I know several people that know Cole and family personally and say they are great people so I don't doubt that. However, I did try and reach out to him via the phone number that WDFW provided (and confirmed) and his personalized voicemail came after several rings each time. I called a dozen times or more and left half that many voicemails before reaching out to WDFW. They gave a half-assed effort at trying to reach him and an even larger smoke screen as to why he may have not gotten back to me. I was discouraged to say the least and left with a bad taste in my mouth about the situation. Regardless of how much is on one's "plate" they are responsible for holding up their end of deals they make for personal/monetary gain.

I would have been happy with a 5 minute phone call from him explaining why I wasn't allowed to hunt the tag I had drawn, in fact I wouldn't mind that phone call to this day.

WDFW did reimburse my points but I could care less considering the joke of a system we have in this state. It was mearly to try and save face. I was promised by the Private Lands Access Program Manager that they would do more to hold the private lands access program participants accountable but then again, I see nothing new on the site about the program or a change to the regs for Pine Mountain Antlerless draw permits.

EDIT: I rarely visit this site anymore and had no intentions of bringing this up on a public forum, but since it was out there and being discussed already I figured I'd set the record straight on a few things.

-Todd

[Stein]

My daughter drew the Pine deer tag and we had a great experience, very responsive and helpful.

On the other hand, she also drew a doe tag the state managed and was #2 on the list, never got a call and they wouldn't give points back.

Any time the hunt isn't fixed dates on public land, it seems there is a risk involved.

[Mr Mykiss]

I know a youth that had the any elk tag out there 5 years ago and hunted 10 days and never saw an elk. Things might have changed, who knows.

[Karl Blanchard]

Tpetie3509 is a straight shooter and one heck of a guy. If he said he got no response calling then he got no response calling. On the other hand Cole is also a straight shooter and a heck of guy so I'm betting there was some disconnect somewhere and there was no intentional abuse of the system 

[BRGS]

My son drew the tag a few years back. Did talk with the guy in charge on several occasions and he always mentioned there has been no elk spotted so we never went out on a hunt. very disappointing.