Margaret Unit

[mpetersen]

Called the Vancouver office and was told the reasons for dropping the Margaret from the quality unit permit was the 7,000 acre timber sale and success rate being down.  This reasoning does not make sense if you look at the stats from last year, the Toutle unit had a 50% success rate and the Margaret was a little over 73%.  How can they leave the Toutle a quality hunt if it had a lower success rate than the Margaret ? (if you go by their own stats).  The guy also told me they were in negotiations with the timber company to allow hunting access for the future so the Margaret might again be moved to a quality permit !  I lucked out and scored a Margaret tag last season and there is no lack of elk if you get off the roads (got a decent 5x5).  Guess you have to put in for both quality and bull apps. to make sure you have both covered for the future. This is gonna be a nice money maker for the state !

[PolarBear]

Probably because the number of "quality" animals are way down.  There use to be a bunch of really nice bulls in that unit but I have not heard of hardly any big bulls coming out of there for quite a while, and by that I mean 6x6 or bigger.  To me a "quality" hunt is not not overall numbers but average size of the bulls.  Margaret stopped being a "quality" hunt years ago.

[bullcanyon]

They did that so they could sell more general bull permits. Most put in for Margaret and Toutle on one permit. Now you have to buy two in order to put in for them. Smart move on their part.

[mpetersen]

Yes is was a smart move for a money maker,  watch for the Margaret and Toutle flip flopping in the future. Probably not gonna see both covered by the same app. again.

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

It wasnt closed to fire danger last year?

[mpetersen]

The fire closure only affected the archery hunt and maybe the muzzle, rifle was open the full week.

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

Do you think they shut it down again this year?  It would suck to eat a permit.

[mpetersen]

I couldn't imagine how upset I would be to finally score one of those tags just to get locked out by the weather !

[buckhorn2]

When I had the toutle tag it got locked up because of the mountain.

[Huntbear]

There are PLENTY of BIG ASS BULLS in that unit if you know where to go, and are willing to hike a trail 4-5 miles in.....  I have seen numerous 7x7 bulls and bigger with bellies almost dragging the ground they are so fat...  You just have to know where to go and be willing to hike...

This is nothing more than those property owners greasing the palms of WDFW to get the unit downgraded so they can build a lodge, and have rich hunters come in and hunt for trophy Roosies...

The WDFW did nothing about the purchase  - seems they have money for other purchases of land...  this is right along the blast zone so should have been declared critical habitat for the elk..  besides being right next to the National Monument area...  Hell, RMEF did nothing either... so maybe those slime balls are in on it too, since they promote rich people hunting, not hunting opportunties for NORMAL working class people....

[buckhorn2]

And now the guys who have waited to build up points and have 13 points get to put in against the guys who drew last year as a quality and get to use there points again on any bull so good for some bad for others.

[kentrek]

There are PLENTY of BIG ASS BULLS in that unit if you know where to go, and are willing to hike a trail 4-5 miles in.....  I have seen numerous 7x7 bulls and bigger with bellies almost dragging the ground they are so fat...  You just have to know where to go and be willing to hike...

This is nothing more than those property owners greasing the palms of WDFW to get the unit downgraded so they can build a lodge, and have rich hunters come in and hunt for trophy Roosies...

The WDFW did nothing about the purchase  - seems they have money for other purchases of land...  this is right along the blast zone so should have been declared critical habitat for the elk..  besides being right next to the National Monument area...  Hell, RMEF did nothing either... so maybe those slime balls are in on it too, since they promote rich people hunting, not hunting opportunties for NORMAL working class people....

  i heard that rmef did nothing because it wasnt ROCKY MTN ELK..    the high lake country is "gods" country not rich peaples country

[HntnFsh]

[/quote]    the high lake country is "gods" country not rich peaples country
[/quote]

WAS not IS

[bowhunterty]

But they are not true Roosies by P & Y or B & C boundries.

[Huntbear]

But they are not true Roosies by P & Y or B & C boundries.

They are considered Cascade Roosies...  But still, you get into some of that backcountry, there are some monsters...  I have personally seen a 9x7 that I am sure would have gone 1000 + lbs.  His legs looked really short, because he was so thick from front to back...