The forest service installed a gate at the dingford trail head. You can hike the road from there past the washout to another trail head, cant remember the name off hand, but the road closure ads like 5 miles to the hike.
There are a few trail heads along middle fork road, before you get to the gate, but you have to get above 3500 ft to see any bucks that time of year so dingford trail is your best bet to get up high fast