Is it Worth Paying for Access to Timber Company Lands?

[fishngamereaper]

Not sure about the others but Rayonier is a scam...

Unless u like paying a couple grand.
Cause a few hundred gets you the privilege of sharing the area with a few hundred of your best friends...that all share their keys.
And if you go on the cheap for walk in only..... the areas suck and people still have keys.

They don't manage like Pope did....it's all about the easy $$$.

[huntnnw]

I do as there’s tons of IEP land out my door. It’s $80 for the year for myself and wife.

[pd]

Not sure about the others but Rayonier is a scam...

Unless u like paying a couple grand.
Cause a few hundred gets you the privilege of sharing the area with a few hundred of your best friends...that all share their keys.
And if you go on the cheap for walk in only..... the areas suck and people still have keys.

They don't manage like Pope did....it's all about the easy $$$.

PREACH!

[kramman]

I bought the green diamond permit, as it's where I used to hunt for free. Doubt I'll do it again. Over an hr drive there and it was still packed with people..... but if I lived really close to a gate and could use it yr round I would.

[hunter_sean08]

Something else to consider with permits is not necessarily the access they grant you to a specific property but the access you might get to adjacent properties that would be extremely difficult for anyone else to get to without the same permit.

[ruttnbuck]

I've purchased the WHP the 6 or 7 yrs and I think the only reason I do, is to be up in woods in the winter and spring and not see anyone while predator hunting It's nice to go predator . You hardly ever see garbage strung out over a landing or at a dead end road either.   It does get a little crazy during hunting season at least where I go, but that's going to happen anywhere.  When the kids where younger it was nice to go up and spend the  day doing whatever and teaching the kids too drive.  Only thing i wish they'd do now is offer a family pass that allows the kids that are over 19 to go with they're parent . Alot of kids can't afford the 300-400+ dollars to get a permit. But other then that in my opinion it's worth it if you live fairly close to the area and if you just enjoy being in the woods .

[colersu22]

I buy the snoqualmie tree farm pass and it is worth it to me.  With the pass I can take my 5 and 3 year old up hunting and fishing and makes it easier than hiking in with them.  My father in law also gets the pass so I can go up with him and with a bad back and hips we can get out and hunt still.

[Fidelk]

Paid to hunt Pysht Tree Farm out towards Neah Bay......shot a spike BT one year and crawled over it and saw no shootable bucks the next. They have a drawing for an elk bull. Some people pay the fee with no intent to hunt deer....it's more of a lottery for the elk draw. I learned a bit about elk behavior when I stumbled in very close to the elk herd. I was sitting very close to them with wind in my face and they walked by unconcerned. When they reached where I had walked in, they did a quick about face and changed direction.

[Ingwe]

To me timber company permit is worth the price. Close to home. I am well over 75 and I can’t get out and walk like I used to. I admit I do some driving or road hunting but I see a lot of animals. There are still a lot of places to walk. I walk a lot of small patches of timber and jack fir patches.  Amazing what you can see 100 yards off a road. I see a lot of nice bucks and bulls killed every year. Main thing for me is it is a good place for older hunters like me to go year round just to be out in woods.

[CarbonHunter]

Another thing I do not like about the timber company land is that most of them prohibit target shooting. So if I want to test my skills I am left having to go to public land anyways or to a range.

[cohocrazy]

Not sure about the others but Rayonier is a scam...

Unless u like paying a couple grand.
Cause a few hundred gets you the privilege of sharing the area with a few hundred of your best friends...that all share their keys.
And if you go on the cheap for walk in only..... the areas suck and people still have keys.

They don't manage like Pope did....it's all about the easy $$$.

Interesting perspective. I've been buying a Rayonier permit most every year since they started the program. I paid around $450.00 in 2024 for motorized access although I mostly hunt the non-motorized areas within the unit. You can have 2 people on a permit and split the price and can camp in the permit area. We have had good success elk hunting the area, we don't deer hunt the area. I do agree some folks, mostly locals, share their keys. Rayonier could put more effort into enforcing their own rules. Also, as has been pointed out by others here, this permit gave me access to other properties that I could not have gotten in to without the access through the Rayonier land. Overall, I felt like it was a decent program. Doesn't matter now though as Rayonier has sold the area I hunted as well as most of their properties in the Forks area. Not sure what access to the area will look like next hunting season.

[BigGoonTuna]

I bought weyco vail permits for a couple years. I never got to spend a lot of time in the off season in there, but during rifle deer it was a lot like hunting public land. They’re extremely draconian in their rules also. I’ve heard of a guy that got banned for climbing a tree and posting a picture of himself on facebook a while back (for “vandalism”).

The last year I had a pass for vail, I bought a walk-in permit, only to have the area I liked hunting get closed to access since weyco leased or sold the right of way to a gravel company. I was done with them after that.

Since 2020, I’ve purchased a green diamond permit. It’s further away, but there are areas I can get into from Boistfort all the way to Matlock. The wood cutting alone probably saves me more than the cost of the permit. Target shooting is allowed as well. While their road systems aren’t as maintained as weyco, there are a lot of washouts and decommissioned roads I can get out and walk in without worrying about out anyone buzzing past me. Most of the time I’m not even in the main access area, some of the main lines up by Shelton do get crowded during hunting season.

While I am no fan of paying for access that was formerly free to the public, being able to get in a ways off the highway and not worrying about getting my catalytic converter stolen or my truck broken into is nice. The permit is less than my insurance deductible.

[brokentrail]

I buy the Hancock/Manulife Kapowsin permit every year if I can and to me it is definitely worth it.  The 1 year that I didn't get one, as I was on a plane when they went on sale and sold out, I spent 3 times the permit fee in gas getting to another place to hunt that was about an hour away and I only hunted there on weekends.  With the permit, I can hunt pretty much every night after work if i want to do so.  I can also cut a bunch of firewood that more than pays for the permit if I bought that much wood and I have been pretty successful year after year getting my deer in there.  I hear a lot of complaints that there aren't any deer, only elk, but I haven't found that to be true.  I don't road hunt, I am usually parked at a locked gate and hunting behind it somewhere and I see plenty of deer.

[MADMAX]

Never bought one
I’ve heard the Weyco passes for St Helens tree farm are gone within an hour
Don’t know if that’s true

[Macs B]

It really comes down to if you do or don't have access to good ground somewhere else.  If you live close enough to public lands I wouldn't pay for tree farms.  If you can't get anywhere else then a tree farm is probably your best bet. 

Just keep in mind, tree farms are not good ground for game.  There is little to any food present for hooved game like elk and deer.  The crowds that you see on public ground are still there on timber grounds.  If you want a relatively private hunting area and decent game you can either pay for a lease or find someone willing to give you access either for free or for pay. 

I've pretty much quit hunting public or timber in Washington, just too many yoacals out there that I don't care to be around or associated with.  Spend some time and maybe some money and get yourself somewhere away from the hordes.