gates locked now what?

[kenzmad]

went to our road into stella this morning and the gates are locked. the area we wanted to hunt is too far to walk in so we have moved to the coweeman 550 area. anybody have any info on this area? we are looking at hunting the north and northeast side of the unit. are we on the right track? trying to get away from the crowd but it is hard to do with all the roads in here. any tips and we would be happy.

kenzmad

[DBake]

went to our road into stella this morning and the gates are locked. the area we wanted to hunt is too far to walk in so we have moved to the coweeman 550 area. anybody have any info on this area? we are looking at hunting the north and northeast side of the unit. are we on the right track? trying to get away from the crowd but it is hard to do with all the roads in here. any tips and we would be happy.

kenzmad

Don't know the area, but WDFW and Google maps is how I start my research on new areas.

[kenzmad]

I have looked at every site I can and I know that this is the site for helpful info. have hunted coweeman before with no success but I am sitting in a motel room in castle rock with my elk plans shattered and am now searching for a backup

[DBake]

Well, this is what I would do then.

1. Go to Wal-mart/Target and buy a $100 mountain bike
2. Lighten up your backpack to bare essentials
3. Go to that gate and park
4. Put on your backpack and ride in 15 minutes before shooting time
5. Good Luck

[ridgefire]

the locked gate may be a blessing in disguise. I would not let the locked gate shatter my elk hunting dreams. good luck and let us know how it works out for you

[rosscrazyelk]

Start walking

[littlebuf]

no such thing as to far to walk, just leave earlier

[dontgetcrabs]

Do you know someone with a four wheeler?   

[Tony 270WSM]

no such thing as to far to walk, just leave earlier

Yep. You want to get away from all the roadhunters, right? Locked gates are the best places for that. Just walk.

[kenzmad]

walking the 4 - 5 miles is not an option as my hunting partner and his son are unable to walk that far. did not mention that we are hunting with a front stuffer. thanks for you help

kenzmad

[wildebeast]

Looks like it started to snow in Castle Rock just now, so I would forget the bike.  Dress warm, carry a nice lunch and walk.  Should find elk sooner than you think.

 I live on the Tower Road, just off the Spirit Lake highway on the Toutle River and it's small dry flakes so it should be great hunting in the morning.

cliff

[spin05]

I used to muzzy hunt the coweeman. I cant remember the road# but i went in rose valley or head qtrs rd and went as far back close to the boundry of the toutle you can get.I think i was about 2 miles from the toutle and i was on the leftside of the main rd going in.  Hope that helps

[IBspoiled]

Bummer that the gates are locked.  I called Sierra Pacific to see why the gates are locked and they explained it was due to vandalism.  It isn't keeping out the 4-wheelers though.  My wife and I walked in 5 miles into the Ryderwood for late archery and there were 4-wheelers everywhere.  The Coweeman is a good unit, you don't have to go way back into the unit to find elk, just go where other hunters won't, like steep, nasty holes that elk like to hide.  Good luck.

[WSU]

I hunted 3 or so miles into the stella unit this year for early muzzleloader, which gets you pretty close to the middle.  The gates were closed, and it worked out great.  I took my bike and mainly pushed it in up hill.  Made for an easy ride out since it is down hill to the gates from pretty much anywhere. 

As for coweeman, there are elk everywhere.

[Shootmoore]

Does not help this year, but someone mentioned mountain bikes.  I always strongly suggest good mountain bikes in the hunting arsenal.  We hunt elk down out of cathalamet and those MT bikes are great!  We usually hunt 14 miles of road system a day with em (unless we get into a herd sooner) with our bows.  You would be supprised how good the elk hunting can be behind locked gates.

For this year, good luck I hope your able to adjust your hunting trip to bring success.  but for next year get that MT bike.

Shootmoore