Fire danger closures begin, PBTF, St Helens Tree Farm

[bwhntr2819]

Just checked the Port Blakely Tree Farm website and got this bad news:

Extreme Fire Danger Causes Land Closure
September 8, 2011

Until further notice PORT BLAKELY TREE FARMS timberland in Lewis County east of Mayfield Lake is closed to ALL public access due to extreme fire danger. This closure applies to foot, horse, motorized and any other form of access.

To report fires call 911.

This notice replaces any prior notices regarding Port Blakely Tree Farms land access.

Bummer.  Hope it cools down and rains soon.

Called the Weyerhauser hotline, they are also closing the St Helens Tree Farm AS of today until "extreme fire conditions" subside.  Gonna wreck alot of hunters early season.

[zackmioli]

do you know where that closure extends to? i was planning to head to the port blakely land bordering the randle and packwood units this weekend. im assuming that area is included but just want to know if anyone knows for sure.

[bowhunter74]

Looks like Longview Timber is shutting down access as well in WA and in OR.

http://longviewtimber.com/content/home/land_closures-23664.html

[bwhntr2819]

http://

do you know where that closure extends to? i was planning to head to the port blakely land bordering the randle and packwood units this weekend. im assuming that area is included but just want to know if anyone knows for sure.

East of mayfield lake + Lewis county= closed

[AKBowman]

Looks like its supposed to cool down to the high 60's on the west side by Thursday. Could be a saving grace.

    pray for rain.

[zackmioli]

http://

do you know where that closure extends to? i was planning to head to the port blakely land bordering the randle and packwood units this weekend. im assuming that area is included but just want to know if anyone knows for sure.

East of mayfield lake + Lewis county= closed

thanks, i went to the site and looked more closely and figured it out. guess ill have to move up more into the gifford pinchot forest.

[Little Fish]

Thanks for the info. That is a major bummer as I usually hunt Weyerhaeuser land. Hopefully things will change next week sometime.

[craigos]

Yep, Hancock Tree Farm in North Bend, WA also shutdown today ...

[xd2005]

Looks like Longview Timber is shutting down access as well in WA and in OR.

http://longviewtimber.com/content/home/land_closures-23664.html

Saw that this morning...GRRRR That's one of my spots.

[longbow11b1p]

One day in the mudflow for bull and poof its over.oh well I knew the problems With the tag when I put in for it. Had a 10 yard shot at a spike but taking it never entered my mind. Also got into a big heard with a good bull just could,nt get close. Not bad for 6 hrs of huntingf, if it opens back up I'll be there ,till then its back to my standby  Spot.

[notellumcreek]

hancock in white river is closed too 

[foambeetle]

Looks like its supposed to cool down to the high 60's on the west side by Thursday. Could be a saving grace.

    pray for rain.

 

[AKBowman]

Pretty much most Timber co east of I-5 and south of Oly is not looking good.

But, like a big fat guy once told me on the side of a steep shale slope wayyyyyy up high in the Chugach range with a nice ram on his back said..."all you can do is hunt and be happy youre alive"

[AKBowman]

Looks like its supposed to cool down to the high 60's on the west side by Thursday. Could be a saving grace.

    pray for rain.

 

We'll still get em' Foambeetle I'm sure of it!

[RadSav]

If you Toutle tag holders are heading south to find open land expect a complete zoo.  Been off the Rock Creek road for a week now and it's a real challenge.  Some real yahoos are parking rigs at every good hunting spot and leaving them there 24 hours a day getting taxied back and forth twice a day to a base camp.  This morning due to the closures up north we need a traffic cop at all the intersections.  Already seen a few bad confrontations I thought were going to get bloody.  Poor hunter etiquette combined with timberland closures and hunting down here is loosing it's appeal really fast.  We'll stick it our over the weekend, but if things do not improve we'll be putting our camp site up for auction and bug out till late season.

Haven't heard an elk bugle after 3 a.m. down here in almost two weeks.  Two of us in the Toutle and five in the Yale and we have seen five elk - 3 cows, one spike and one branched bull in velvet.  All but one hunter with more than 20 years experience and some high success ratios.

I'm not trying to scare anyone away from coming down.  But, be prepared for some less than ideal hunting and a lot of competition for the few areas of access if you do.

I think I will start the bidding for my camp site at $500.00 or $1,000.00 if you want me to leave the trailer and elk pepperoni

[dr.derek]

Haven't heard an elk bugle after 3 a.m. down here in almost two weeks.  Two of us in the Toutle and five in the Yale and we have seen five elk - 3 cows, one spike and one branched bull in velvet.  All but one hunter with more than 20 years experience and some high success ratios.

 

[RadSav]

Guess that's one way to get your post numbers up 

[RadSav]

Well, I guess I need to make a correction.  The newbie in camp took a 5X5 this evening.  Showed up all us old archery elk hunters but good.  By the time I got down there only meat and horns to pack.  Not one person in the group thought to take a picture - idiots!  First bull elk and he'll have to settle for a picture of only the horns in camp tomorrow. (I'll post tomorrow hopefully) Better than nothing I suppose. 

Nice pack job.  Only 150 yards up hill to the truck!  Used the Bear Attack I gave him for Christmas which was sort of cool.

Only thing for us in the Toutle was a stern warning from Weyer. security stating we needed to "get the heck out!"  That takes about half of our hunting spots out of play.

[Cylvertip]

anyone know the status of Rayonier lands out on the penninsula?

[thorne27]

Looks like deer tomorrow up north and late season elk for me.  Unless anyone wants to share their DNR honey hole.   It will be too crowded on the DNR land for me.  Good luck to everyone else. 

[cem3434]

It looks like its going to be a bad year in the early seasons for Archery and Muzzleloader.  If you look at historical data and the current weather patterns, it doesnt look like we will be get any substanial amount of rain until the middle of October. 

I am hunting Modern this year, but I hope the weather breaks for the rest of you stick flingers and front stuffers!

[LC Hunter]

Coast units should still be open right? Bear river?

[bowkid]

Funny thing is that the 1900 rd is open, but the 1901 rd is closed??? Looks like the same trees to me. There are some "W" roads that do not have the orange keep out sign on them, but don't look that great. The only fire danger I saw was where they sprayed and killed all the plants next to the road.  I hope that everyone that reads this contacts W, F&WL, and DON'T buy anything that is made by these ANTI BOW HUNTERS!!! These roads that I mentioned are in the Kid Valley area.

[funkster]

It sucks yes, but we all know that this is a concern each year. It is private land and can be closed at the discretion of the timber companies at any time. Just got back home from down in the SW, the bulls where fired up and bugling. We had no problem getting on elk and got on the biggest bull that I have seen in the winston in years. A lot of work goes into elk hunting but what can you do. Their property is their property and it is more than that, it is their business and livelihood. If a fire did break out it would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. I doubt they open it back up but if they do I know where we will be.

[RadSav]

After that first day of closures the traffic slowed down to a crawl in the south end.  Bulls started to talk a little though not yet aggressive.  The Squaw passed on a small 4X5 this morning at 35 yards.  Not sure where the big bulls are.  We've seen three herds in excess of 10 cows and the herd bulls were all very small.  Makes me believe the cows are not yet in estrus.

Still guys at every Wey. gate walking in behind the extreme fire danger signs.  Not sure what that fine is.  Guess they figure it's cheaper than loosing their early season.  Quite a few guys left the day Security was leaving nasty signs on truck windows and campers. 

Looks like this next week is going to get better.  We decided to stick it out till the end.  Nothing like bone at 35 yards to get a lady's hopes up!