High Buck Hunt...which one?

[Little Fish]

If you were going to pick one of the high buck areas to hunt which one would it be? I've done the Pasayten Wilderness several years back, but am thinking of trying one of the other east side areas this coming fall.

[muleracks]

That is almost like, someone from the crowd at a stealhead clinic, asking what fishing hole do your recommend?  The WDFW has fish production per river and they also have harvest data for each of the High Hunt units (don't expect that to be very accurate).

You only have 4 choices (on the east side) and all of them should be productive.  Scouting in August and early September is really the best way to locate a real trophy but there are plenty of legal bucks around.  Get on ridge tops and high open country and you will do okay.

[bobcat]

This year after all the snow I wouldn't count on any of them being very good. If you go, just plan on enjoying a nice camping trip and getting lots of exercise. If I had to pick one for this year I'd go with the Pasayten but that's not necessarily because it's better.

[boneaddict]

This is a secret tactic.  He wants to know where you all would go and then he is going where the least amount of votes came in.     Sorry Littlefish.

[MichaelJ]

Funny Bone! lol either the Apline lakes or Glacier Peak would be my choice for two reasons... the first being that the snow in Chelan CO melted fairly rapid on the south slopes and the winter die off hasn't been bad at all compared to other parts of the state, and the second reason is that it's close to my home town...

Michael

[Skyvalhunter]

I say to go right back up to the Pasayten!! The others will be covered in snow..

[muleracks]

MichaelJ is from Wenatchee and knows what the winter was like south of the lake.  If he wasn't so honest, he would send everyone north to the Pasayten where the deer struggled in their winter range. The Chelan County deer enjoyed mild temperatures and a normal snow fall.

Everyone, enjoy a camping trip in the Pasayten and let us have the rest of the High Hunt country.

[Little Fish]

Thanks for the input guys. Muleracks...I didn't mean for this to come off as "where is your honeyhole". I'm just doing the usual research before picking a place to explore further. I was under the impression that all these wilderness areas are pretty large and the number of guys who hit them is relatively small. Even the Pasayten which seemed kind of crowded at the trail heads was vacant after I jumped off the beaten path. In fact I didn't run into a single hunter after leaving my truck. Am I wrong?

At any rate thanks for the information on winter conditions MichaelJ and your advice on areas I might check out. Its hard to get that info when you don't live locally.

For me the experience is more important than the trophy so if someone said hey this area has awesome scenery, better weather is more isolated...whatever I'd be more inclined to check it out. Hopefully I can pick up some of that information from prior posts people have put up.

LF

[Skyvalhunter]

Well you will find that any of the access points via trail to get to the Wilderness area's during the high hunt chances are there will be foot, horse, or other traffic. With all the hunters in Wa that want to hunt the high hunt areas they are concentrated to these access points. So if you know a good place or can find one on a map where you can get into the wilderness areas that is not via a trail then there will be alot less hunters.

[Little Fish]

Skyvalhunter...I agree with you. There are a limited number of ways to get into the wilderness. In the Pasayten we either went in on the trailhead or parked relatively close to the boundary and bush whacked our way into the wilderness area.

Most likely I'll hike a trail in and then jump off and go cross country. I thought about having a packer drop me off somewhere then going cross country, but where there are packers there's probably a greater concentration of hunters. I've also thought about accessing one of the wilderness areas with a boat, but need to explore that option further this summer by taking a boating vacation and checking it out.

[Skyvalhunter]

If you are serious about a packer then you might want to jump on that soon as they are filling up. Maybe finding an area you would like to hunt, see who outfitts in that area(find out if they don't have someone alreadys in there), then take have them take you in. One thing is that if a outfitter does a drop camp for you they probably have to get a permit to take you in unless they already have set something up to take another hunter in there. I know Icicle outfitters has already met with the Forest Service to get the permits for the hunters they will be taking in this fall. Just something to think about.

[MichaelJ]

MichaelJ is from Wenatchee and knows what the winter was like south of the lake.  If he wasn't so honest, he would send everyone north to the Pasayten where the deer struggled in their winter range. The Chelan County deer enjoyed mild temperatures and a normal snow fall.

Everyone, enjoy a camping trip in the Pasayten and let us have the rest of the High Hunt country.

And where might you be from?  Telling someone to go to the GPW or the ALW is like telling someone you shop in the city, but don't tell them what store... if you're here to criticize and discourage helping a fellow sportsman find a good hunting area, then you can take your butt elsewhere as that is not wanted here...

Michael

[edmondshunter]

I did the alpine Lakes Wild. for the 06.  We entered at middle fork Snoqualmie river on the dingford trailhead and ran across tons of hikers that boo'd and tisked us all the way in.  We hiked in by foot and had a very wet trip.  Made it up to about 3500 ft and never say a shooter buck. 

I think that most of the areas will be effected by the above average snow fall.  But I'd still go with Alp. Lakes Wild.  A lot of access points from Hi. 2, and a few from 90. 

Good luck.

[Armadillo]

How far can you drive up the middle fork of the snoqualmie?. Is dingford creek the best to spearhead your way into that area??

[Skyvalhunter]

I heard that the Middle fork was washed out down low. If a person ahd a motorcycle you could probably get quite a ways up there a couple years ago I drove my four wheel drive to the end of the road and there was a few tricky spots then. We hiked into Williams and camped. I wouldn't say that area is condusive to a good huigh hunt. Got to get into those Alpine meadow areas where you can do some glassing but everyone knows that.