Elk Area 5051

[kenzmad]

My hunting partner and my dad got drawn for the mz antlerless tag. WDFW sent a letter that told us which gates will have the padlock removed and a combination lock installed. we had the combo for the locks. on opening day only one of the gates had the lock on it. this was the gate at Kid Valley. just inside the gate was a large tree across the road. everyone was forced to walk in. It worked out OK for us as we got permission from a couple of landowners so we were in deeper than most. we did harvest a cow on Thursday. in 5 days of hunting we saw 12 bulls and 4 cows. most of the bulls were small but 2 were monster 6x6s. It was BS that none of the gates were open to allow anyone to access the unit. game dept says it was Weyco that did not open the gates due to logging operations in the area. we walked in on most of the gates and never heard or saw any active logging going on. going back down on the 17th when the AHE guys get to hunt to check if the gates are open for them. If so the WDFW and Weyco are going to get an earfull from me.

[ICEMAN]

From the looks of things....get used to this. Anymore, I expect to encounter gates, closures, problems, etc.... This seems to reinforce the importance of prep work, nailing down what you will do, and having a contingency plan to fall back on if things do not work out as planned.

[kenzmad]

I new there were gates in the area as I hunted the coweeman area over thanksgiving. all the gates were open during the general season. my beef is that if the game dept is going to tell me that the gates will have a lock and provide me with the combo, then the locks should be in place. had I known that there would be no access through the gate we wanted to get through then we would have camped somewhere else instead of on the complete other side of the unit. they issued 30 antlerless tags to help control the herd and then do not allow access into 80% of the hunting unit. Other than our cow, I know of only one other cow taken in the first week of the season. everyone was parked at the gate on opening morning at 6:00am. only saw 2 hunters all week. I think that once people realized that they couldn't get in, they just went home.

[ICEMAN]

Ya, I get your point, I would be peeved too. Atleast you guys converted bad to good. Good job.

[WDFW Hates ME!!!]

Congrats for filling your tag and freezer.

I wish WeyCo would close all there gates, the animals would be better off, and there would be less poaching.

[kenzmad]

I hear ya on leaving the gates closed. seems every road that dead ends in the woods has at least one carcass on it. I found 4 spots that had 4 elk carcasses as well as a couple of deer that had the rack sawed off. some of these are in plain sight, right next to the main road. I heard somewhere that for every legal elk that is shot, there are 3 that were poached. kind of hard to manage a herd when you can't control the harvest.

[Wahoo]

Kenzmad,

I was down there on Sunday scouting for my 5051 AHE hunt and every proposed combo lock gate we encountered had key locks on them and we never saw one logging operation actively running the entire day (which we didn't really expect to since it was a Sunday). Even the one at Kidd Valley was locked with a key lock. I think I will go into my hunt expecting the gates to remain locked.

As far a scouting we saw a lot of deer but no elk and not as much sign as we expected to see. We definitely came to the conclusion we have our work cut out for us. If you would be willing to share any specifics of your hunt I would greatly appreciate it or if anybody else has experience with this area and is willing to offer suggestions that would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Wahoo

[Ridinshotgun]

I would go in by the sediment retaining structure. its been a few years since i've been up there. there should be animals all over. if you have to ride in on a bike you'll be rewarded.you should see a ton of elk 1 to 3 miles in.

[kenzmad]

the area near the sediment dam is not in the 5051 hunting unit. it would be a long bike ride to get into the unit from there.

kenzmad