Donkey creek area

[mykl05]

I have an opportunity to purchase a hunting lease of about 1800acres in the donkey creek area of grays harbor county. Its on timber company lands I've never been out that way and was curious how the hunting is for elk/deer out there. Anybody have any experience out there? Thanks in advance.

[Coastal_native]

PM sent

[PolarBear]

Two words....  Do it!

[rose673]

I'm just going to bite my tongue on this one Coastal   ...  Hope the lease works out for you though.

[ouchfoss]

As far as deer hunting goes, that area had tons of deer (at least it did when I hunted 3 years ago before it was leased out) so I would imagine it has gotten far better since the gates have been locked.  I got a few pics of a decent 4 point hanging out along side the highway in that area around july of 09 as well of several other spikes and forkies. I never really spent any time elk hunting that area but I cant imagine that the elk hunting is all that bad.

[SkookumHntr]

-Im sure the Elksters are in there too. No Doubt About it!

[Alan K]

Assuming this is one of the Rayonier properties, a starting bid for ones that size start around $2k+ . . .

Unless it's an absolute slam dunk and an elk is worth that much to you I'd say you'd be better off putting half that kind of money into fuel for traveling and scouting and you could be just as successful. 

[CJ-5]

I wouldn't pay money to hunt out there. There are a few animals out there like any place, but it is not great hunting by any means. 

[Alan K]

Did a little more looking. . .

If the one you're thinking about bidding on is RLU Donkey Creek, #821012 . . . That's $2,283.00 minimum bid!  

http://www.rayonierhunting.com/Maps/PDF_R/rlu_r_821012.pdf

The area looks prime for elk, though lots of thick reprod.  A concern for me would be that there is really only one clear cut that is fairly well within the unit.  The rest are bordered by roads, on the other side of which I'm assuming the general public can hunt?  If that's the case, you might worry about people pushing the elk off the property in the mean time when you're not there.  Also, come the week or two of elk season, it's difficult to say whether the herd will be feeding on your side of the invisible line than the other. . . The area all looks pretty similar, the elk could just as easily be on one side or the other.

As for deer, who knows, it's probably good.

Question is is it worth $2,283, assuming you're the only one bidding, for a good chance at a deer and decent shot at an elk?

[dreamunelk]

Just an FYI.  The program is not popular with the locals.  Also remember the home range of elk is several times that on average.  So if they happen to be there during the season you may be in luck.  I am sure CN is bringing you up to speed so I will not bend your ear to much.
Personal I hope the AG takes a look at it and bankrupts them.  This is a bad practice and is blocking access to public lands in several areas they are leasing.  Washington hunters need to get very vocal on this.

[Coastal_native]

Well I haven't gotten a reply for my PM i sent him, so my offer of advice has expired

Actually, all I did was PM him a threatening message warning him not to buy into the evil lease program or else!...or maybe I offered him up my guide services for half the price with a guarantee that he'd have just as much luck with me on public land.

Ok, ok, none of thats true...I asked him for a loan.

[mykl05]

Sorry the army has had me off the grid for a while. CN thanks for the help. I was actually going in on this lease with four other people which brings cost down quite a bit. Two of the four were just interested in camping and that left two for hunting, one archery(me) and one modern. The cost broke down to roughly 600 apiece which isn't bad at all for year round access. Unfortunately the army made me unavailable to get the lease. Oh well it's called service for a reason I guess. Apparently Rayonier is having lots of success with this program and may be opening up more areas, I'll keep my fingers crossed. Again thanks for the help CN the loan paperwork is in the mail I'll just need it filled out in triplicate with supporting DNA samples, letters of reference and your eldest Child.