Indian Heaven!!! Anyone been there?

[kerrdog]

Hey Y'all,

We hunted Ryderwood in early season last year. They opened the gates at the last minute after we scouted the place on mountain bikes; we thought we'd have an edge! We saw the back side of one elk that was far away but saw hunters and trucks everywhere.  We had our first morning hunt wrecked by three guys on quads.  We busted our asses climbing down a ravine to get there, and there they came making sooo much noise.   Are quads supposed to be in there?

Has anyone hunted Muzzleloader in the Gifford Pinchot near Indian Heaven?  I really like the name!  Can you even hunt there?  It looks sweet on the internet!  The Pacific Crest trail runs through it! 

[kenjo]

Indian Heaven Wilderness Area is open to hunting, closed to wheeled vehicles. Depending on when you hunt and how much snow is on the ground, you may encounter backpackers; it's a very popular hiking area.

[JackOfAllTrades]

There are back packers but they tend to stick to the PCT and some adjoinging trails and certainly less of them as you get deeper into fall. There are some nice meadow camp areas in middle/southern Indian Heaven. Look at some of your boundry intersections of 560/572/574 as you might be able to hunt deer and elk the same week. (double check that... I think archers overlap, maybe not front stuffers) I would advise you to stay out of the little lava bed. Most sections, your compass will spin. If you hate vine maple... stay away.  This area can suprise the heck out of anyone with weather changes. Go prepared for anything. I've seen sun and 55 degrees one day, then snow and howling winds two days later.

-Steve

[elksnout]

The Indian Heaven is in the Soiuxon unit # 572. I'm pretty sure there isn't a general M/L season there. Isn't there a permit only anterless hunt for the 572 in early October? Beautiful country, lots of meadows, huckleberry bushes, high lakes, old growth, etc. Before Labor Day the bugs can be bad and yes the trails get pounded by hikers. By mid-Sept most of them have left depending on the fall. Jackofalltrades is right about the weather. But heavy, here to stay snow usually comes late Oct or in time for rifle elk.
The perimeter country outside the wilderness is typical cascade forest. Old growth, 20-35 year old reprod. A decent amount of blocked roads either gated or bermed. Decent road access. Terrain isn't too bad until you move south into the creek drainages in the Wind river unit, north into the Lewis river watershed and of course west into the Wind river valley. I spend a lot of time spring to fall up there but my response is from a rifle hunters point of view. That's why I say I'm not 100% sure on the M/L thing up there.   

[fair-chase]

Yes it is unit 572 and there is no general muzzle loader season there. I think there is a muzzle loader special permit for the area but don't quote me on that.

As mentioned before, stay off the pacific crest trail if you want to avoid hikers. Also the Indian Racetrac Loop gets a fair amount of activity. The northwest corner of the wilderness will have the least amount of people due to the lack of trails but it is also fairly difficult to navigate. There is a lot of steep terrain with large shale and the river bottoms are really thick. The hardest part of hunting elk in here will just be finding them. It's a fairly small number of elk that actually inhabit the area.

[blacktail luv]

There isn't a general muzzy season in the siouxon but there is a permit cow hunt that takes place during the early elk season.

[Houndhunter]

watch out for bugs, one of the worst areas i know in august