Hunting in snohomish county

[smdave]

We always took it as if the state, county or city does not plow it in the winter it is not maintained.

This is what the state says.
"It is illegal to hunt, shoot at or kill any animal or to shoot at any object from within, into, upon or across any public road. It is illegal to shoot across a body of water, except in the lawful pursuit of wildlife."

One thing also they told me was that you had to be 200 feet away from ANY road, maintained, closed or otherwise.

Now if my reading is correct, when it says "any maintained portion of the roadway" well if its an over grown mess, thats not a maintained roadway is it?

I'll just say this one more time- "they" told you wrong. There is no such law. You only have to be OFF THE ROAD, not any particular distance from it. And this only applies to public roads. Read the 2011 Big Game pamphlet from front cover to back cover and you can see for yourself.

[ydeardorff]

Oh I have, and thanks!

I have the printed and the PDF versions.

I have found as of today a couple of places that I got some snorts and stomps. I couldnt see them, but I could hear them.
I have a couple more spots to check out. In Oregon the apple thing is a BIG NO NO. they see it as the same as placing a salt lick.
Now if you happen to stumble into an apple orchard, thats fine. you just cant bring thr apples your self. LOL

[NWBREW]

No salt or mineral licks in Oregon? Really?
Don't let the area fool you. There are deer all around. If you are not seeing them or sign......look in the reprod. Their there.

[ydeardorff]

Funny I have an old codger next door. Great guy, but he swears  "there ain't no deer in them hills" . Id love to see the look on his face, if I were to get a buck and bring em home.

[jackmaster]

Funny I have an old codger next door. Great guy, but he swears  "there ain't no deer in them hills" . Id love to see the look on his face, if I were to get a buck and bring em home.

welcome to the good ole washington gray ghost, there is no harder animal to hunt in the world IMO, and they are there, instead of lookn along ways away try looking no further than 75 yds and really pay attention at distances of less than 50 ft, you might be suprised how well a blacktail will hold in descent cover, and right now this weather is not to condusive to the good ole blacktail, they tend to love crappy weather... good luck to ya

[ydeardorff]

I talked the DNR just a sec ago and I found a closed DNR road due to cedar stealing, they said the road is open to foot or bicycle traffic, and hunting. It will be a 3 mile trek in, but with all the fat, lazy hunters here, to include the back door poachers, this will be too much effort for them to get into, and might actually result in a decent place to go.
Just packing out a bear, or 3 miles buck will suck. Id be worried Id get cornered on the way out by a predator trying to steal my prize. Or of course having a heart attack trying to drag that darn thing out to the car.
But given the area Im looking at is 448, its any buck. So yes I would love to get a 3 or 4 point, but my freezers empty, and Im going for food, not fun. So Ill take a spike if I have to. Ill just have to figure out wher the best place to place the apples will be without polluting the area with my smell and driving them out of this new spot.

[jackmaster]

if your concerned about the drag out they have these game haulers out now that are just flat bad ass my uncle and hauled a whole cow elk out on one, going down steep hills were a little sporty but it was well worth the money, i actually hooked it to my belt while i hunted my way in on a road that was real steep and it didnt make noise and took very little effort to tow

[ydeardorff]

ok not that I dont trust you guys, but its the law enforcement ppl Ill be talking to , and not you guys when a question of interpretation comes up.
So, I called the WDFW enforcement division and complained. I was put forth to LT Crown, and I asked about the following items for clarification. Blaze  Orange, Baiting, and road ways.

Blaze Orange: any blaze orange is legal, provided it meets the criteria as stated in the guide for this years season, being 400 square inches or more, and viewable form all sides. So camo blaze is fine provided the orange portion of the camo is equal to or greater than 400 square inches.

Baiting: Baiting for deer is legal and not against the law, except for bear, and for fowl.

Roadways: 30 feet from the center line of the road. This does not include roads which have become closed due to washouts, that are grown over, and have barricades in place, or berms placed by heavy equipment. Those are considered trails, and do not fall under the guidelines of a "maintained roadway". If you cant get a car or truck on it, then its not considered a road.
hope that helps someone other than me.

[Curly]

Wow, you are still getting misinformation from Lt Crown.  30' from centerline of the road.....   Where do people come up with this stuff.      The rest of the info he gave you is correct though.

[NWBREW]

30' is not that far from the centerline. ydeardorff, trust me on this. This rule should never come into play. (If your a road hunter, please disregard this post.  ) You will see more, have better opportunity and enjoy more by just getting away from the road......even if just 1/4 mile. More would be better. 3 to 4 year old clearcuts are the key, closed gates even better. Look at the hills and you will see clearcuts and get a map. A lot of that land is huntable. I honestly believe there are deer all over.

You just may never see them. 

[ydeardorff]

Oh I intend to do some hiking. It was more the classification of what was, or wasnt considered a maintained road that was my concern.

With most of seattle and tacoma coming up for a 2 week visit, I need to find something inconvenient to access, even if it means a long trek in on foot. Ive found s couple of places, one is a bluff, over looking a clear cut, looking down on a stream, the other is another clear cut that is a 3 mile trek on foot to get into. Im thinking about taking my bike in there on sunday to get a better look.

[NWBREW]

Take your bike and build or buy a cart you can pull with it. Your on the right mindset. Good luck. PM me if you want a pointer to an area close to Darrington where I know multiple bucks have been taken. I haven't been there in years.....in fact, I killed my very first buck there.

[ydeardorff]

Oh definitely, do share via PM.

I know now where at least one doe is,... my back yard.... Very skinny and small though.

Funny after about 3 tanks of gas worth of scouting, and several days invested and not seeing a thing, I get a doe (very dark gray in color) comes right into my back yard around 8am this morning.

[grizzlyadams]

We have blacktails on our forested 50 acres in Monroe. They still seem to be active during the day...at least for now but it won't be long and you won't seem them at all during daylight hours. The ones around us stay in the thick forested areas and almost never come out of it. You'll see an ear here, or a head profile there and thats about it. I don't even hunt them the are so elusive. Some guys like the challange, but I hate the thick brush they hang out in.

Right around the 3rd week in Sept. the ones around us disappear and go completely nocturnal and they dont have one bit of hunting pressure here. So good luck man... If It were me, I would save my money or split the gas cost by going after mulies with a few people so as not to have to hunt blacktail.  They are truely a frustrating breed....at least for me.   

[ydeardorff]

I went out to one of my spots today.
I saw more deer sign on this trip than I have the entire last month. (excluding the visit to my back yard this morning).
Huge foot prints,  several rub signs on alder saplings, to include bear sign with scat and 3 inch alders snapped clean over with claw marks still on them (old markings that were partially healed). The deer prints were really nice sized, at least tow fingers wide and at least two knuckles long. I found several other places that looked nice for clear cuts, backed by a very steep ridge that is about 80 feet off the clearing floor. But there is no water supply anywhere near these clearings.
The last place I looked with all the sign, and prints, was directly next to a creek. The cover was so dense, Id need a chain saw to cut my way out if I were dragging a buck back out with me. Not to mention with all the bear sign I would probably want to take a partner to keep me company, lest my prize may be questioned on ownership on the way back to the car.

Most of what I saw was a steep ridge backing a small maybe 5 acre clear cut. But all of the clear cuts were lacking water. The only one that wasnt was seriously overgrown, but it was like wildlife grand central station.