Post by: Ridgerunner on January 16, 2011, 09:16:36 AM
Post by: woodswalker on January 16, 2011, 09:20:21 AM
Post by: JimmyHoffa on January 16, 2011, 11:06:06 PM
what crowding....there are NO others where i've gone....:yeah:
And the few people I have seen on high hunts are usually heading in on Friday evenings and packing up on Sundays.
Post by: 7mag. on January 17, 2011, 08:00:12 AM
Post by: runamuk on January 17, 2011, 08:35:05 AM
what crowding....there are NO others where i've gone....
this is what I was thinking....the high hunt gets little pressure because it is a workout to get to where you can hunt.... so very few people
wonder where the OP is going :dunno:
Post by: jackelope on January 17, 2011, 09:04:46 AM
Thats where he's going.
You'll see 10-15 vehicles at the popular trailheads accessing the ALW or the GPW if you hit the right/wrong one.
Post by: runamuk on January 17, 2011, 09:07:54 AM
If you hunt in areas frequented by the outfitters, there are tons of people.
Thats where he's going.
You'll see 10-15 vehicles at the popular trailheads accessing the ALW or the GPW if you hit the right/wrong one.
that makes a little mores sense, still no reason to go permit only maybe pick a different wilderness area with less outfitter pressure :dunno:
Post by: PacificNWhunter on January 17, 2011, 11:13:06 AM
Post by: autodink13 on January 18, 2011, 12:27:16 PM
Post by: True Sportsman on January 18, 2011, 01:11:20 PM
Go places where others dont.
Post by: WSU on January 18, 2011, 01:18:23 PM
Post by: Wea300mag on January 18, 2011, 08:06:03 PM
Post by: Skyvalhunter on January 18, 2011, 08:08:15 PM
Post by: deadyote on January 19, 2011, 04:36:33 PM
Post by: PacificNWhunter on January 21, 2011, 07:49:39 PM
Post by: nwalpineguide on January 22, 2011, 12:28:12 AM
I'll be brutally honest, I enjoy the freedom to choose to hunt during the mid September season without the imposition of a lottery permit being forced upon me.
However, I understand that, like many things, the dynamics of managing a limited resource with a large, traditional user group may come at a price someday.
I expect change in some form or another in the next 10 years.
One things for certain, I don't envy those manager's of our wildlife resources who have the un-enviable task of finding the "middle ground" for 6.5 million Washington State citizens. Ok, I'll narrow that number down to a manageable 275,000. Perhaps that number represents the segment of our population made up of deer hunters.
Enjoy!
Post by: Elkaholic daWg on January 22, 2011, 11:10:20 PM
DFW doesn't need to take it away-fully 1/3 of us would GIVE IT AWAY. Comments???
Post by: alecvg on January 23, 2011, 09:05:29 PM
No crowds Here!
I'll be brutally honest, I enjoy the freedom to choose to hunt during the mid September season without the imposition of a lottery permit being forced upon me.
However, I understand that, like many things, the dynamics of managing a limited resource with a large, traditional user group may come at a price someday.
I expect change in some form or another in the next 10 years.
One things for certain, I don't envy those manager's of our wildlife resources who have the un-enviable task of finding the "middle ground" for 6.5 million Washington State citizens. Ok, I'll narrow that number down to a manageable 275,000. Perhaps that number represents the segment of our population made up of deer hunters.
Enjoy!
I love your high hunt pictures! Keep them coming!
Post by: nwalpineguide on January 23, 2011, 11:16:50 PM
A sincere thanks for the compliment about the high-hunt pictures.
At most these images are a bashfull and modest attempt at ... stirring an ant pile or beating a hornets nest with a short willow switch (grin). But polls being polls I must respect the different opinions, nay facts, that some hold regarding the well stated purpose for this one. I suppose it was the vagueness of my brutal honesty regarding those onerous permits that confused some. For that I am eternally apologetic.
Actually, truth be told there is not too much interest in them as evinced by the cacophony cum slurry of private and public responses I've received. This, to my nascent posts.
My informal poll has it that 99.765 % hate them, find them lacking in subject matter, place, composition, lighting and artistry. Moreover, they find them utterly un-interesting. This fetching coy disinterest doesn't faze me in the least. I'm enured to rejection having been a Trail Blazer. What I found stimulating, in addition to the phone calls and e-mails is the following severe rebuke; don't I ever, and I mean ever, place another high hunt picture on this Forum again. Alas, I consider myself to have been counseled by Kings and Philosophers. Please forgive me. I can't bear the shame of a breach of Forum etiquette.
Odd thing though and I'm a tad confused trying to weave my way through the maze of the threads on this august web site. It seems that images of any merit are frowned upon. Who'd a thunk it?
Granted, and I proffer an apology to the devil, some believe that if not soon, then in the next twenty minutes my 2,345 Washington deer hunting hot-spots are going to be overrun by some variant of parasite that I have yet to be aquainted with. By logical extension I suppose this applies to blurry images of lakes that I fish in the alpine that grow to adequate proportions (to borrow a phrase from my former Trail Blazer bretheren whom I led to perdition a few years ago). Shhh. I got a secret about those hot lakes too. In Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness there is a couple of lakes nestled under the eastside of the North Raker peak that grow...well, head on in there and see for yourself. And in Snohomish county, should you stumble to the shores of Triad Lake, where I placed a modest 200 golden trout a few years ago, ...But I digress.
I wonder if it is internet information brokers...ah, hem, I mean hunters, or the deer I have to worry more about. Ergo, those trophy class bucks being so stupid, common and all. Surely they have not yet adapted (artificial as opposed to natural) to today's hunters and tactics. Nah.
What I really tire of; someone inadvertently pushing yet another trophy buck my way opening morning of the high hunt. Fair and sporting being what it is and all. I guess some think that it's unfair and un-sporting of me to be in wilderness at a good stand at 6,532 feet elevation, seven miles from the trailhead, and two basins over from the nearest one with any way trail or other in it, and have a buck pushed my way by them as they wander aimlessly below me. Yes, I suppose perhaps that it is a little un-sporting, like dynamiting fish at the base of the dam.
The remaining less than 1%. They found the images to be adequate.
Your humble servant,
nwalpineguide
Post by: JimmyHoffa on January 23, 2011, 11:57:38 PM
Post by: Miles on January 24, 2011, 12:55:10 AM
alecvg,
A sincere thanks for the compliment about the high-hunt pictures.
At most these images are a bashfull and modest attempt at ... stirring an ant pile or beating a hornets nest with a short willow switch (grin). But polls being polls I must respect the different opinions, nay facts, that some hold regarding the well stated purpose for this one. I suppose it was the vagueness of my brutal honesty regarding those onerous permits that confused some. For that I am eternally apologetic.
Actually, truth be told there is not too much interest in them as evinced by the cacophony cum slurry of private and public responses I've received. This, to my nascent posts.
My informal poll has it that 99.765 % hate them, find them lacking in subject matter, place, composition, lighting and artistry. Moreover, they find them utterly un-interesting. This fetching coy disinterest doesn't faze me in the least. I'm enured to rejection having been a Trail Blazer. What I found stimulating, in addition to the phone calls and e-mails is the following severe rebuke; don't I ever, and I mean ever, place another high hunt picture on this Forum again. Alas, I consider myself to have been counseled by Kings and Philosophers. Please forgive me. I can't bear the shame of a breach of Forum etiquette.
Odd thing though and I'm a tad confused trying to weave my way through the maze of the threads on this august web site. It seems that images of any merit are frowned upon. Who'd a thunk it?
Granted, and I proffer an apology to the devil, some believe that if not soon, then in the next twenty minutes my 2,345 Washington deer hunting hot-spots are going to be overrun by some variant of parasite that I have yet to be aquainted with. By logical extension I suppose this applies to blurry images of lakes that I fish in the alpine that grow to adequate proportions (to borrow a phrase from my former Trail Blazer bretheren whom I led to perdition a few years ago). Shhh. I got a secret about those hot lakes too. In Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness there is a couple of lakes nestled under the eastside of the North Raker peak that grow...well, head on in there and see for yourself. And in Snohomish county, should you stumble to the shores of Triad Lake, where I placed a modest 140 golden trout a few years ago, ...But I digress.
I wonder if it is internet information brokers...ah, hem, I mean hunters, or the deer I have to worry more about. Ergo, those trophy class bucks being so stupid, common and all. Surely they have not yet adapted (artificial as opposed to natural) to today's hunters and tactics. Nah.
What I really tire of; someone inadvertently pushing yet another trophy buck my way opening morning of the high hunt. Fair and sporting being what it is and all. I guess some think that it's unfair and un-sporting of me to be in wilderness at a good stand at 6,532 feet elevation, seven miles from the trailhead, and two basins over from the nearest one with any way trail or other in it, and have a buck pushed my way by them as they wander aimlessly below me. Yes, I suppose perhaps that it is a little un-sporting, like dynamiting fish at the base of the dam.
The remaining less than 1%. They found the images to be adequate.
Your humble servant,
nwalpineguide
Now you did it... :chuckle: You might have to change your phone number and email after this one.
Post by: Miles on January 24, 2011, 01:28:57 AM
Nice pictures by the way. :tup:
Post by: Skyvalhunter on January 24, 2011, 05:54:19 AM
Post by: nwalpineguide on January 24, 2011, 09:30:12 AM
Slow growing at that altitude and place, those goldens should be adequte in a year or two even though they are available to high-hunt and other folks now. Well, not exactly. I'll clarify and say they will be available this summer when the ice comes off. That plant took 51 hours door to door. An easy shag that one was compared to the Horse Lake plant I did the previous weekend when, then 70 year old, Jim Tobler about killed me trying to keep up with him carrying those 340 Whitneys. But I digress.
Sadly, and with fond memories, I left the Trailblazers in 2009 after serving as President (2008) and Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Something like 8 years total planting lakes for the angling publics benefit. I couldn't serve two masters; my wife and small children coupled with the Trail Blazers, or, my wife and small children coupled with chasing trophy mule deer bucks. I chose the less interesting and challenging pursuit of the mulie bucks in the GPW.
Your obediant servant,
nwalpineguide
Post by: Bearhunter on January 24, 2011, 09:49:41 AM
Do you know Larry Anderson in Mt. Vernon? He is my guitar teacher / high lake fishing mentor!
Post by: JackOfAllTrades on January 24, 2011, 12:21:24 PM
Quote
And in Snohomish county, should you stumble to the shores of Triad Lake, where I placed a modest 140 golden trout a few years ago, ...But I digress.
Someone planted Enjar lake long before I ever got there. I was very appreciative for the weekend of fishing I spent there.
If you've never been thanked for planting any high lakes, Here's a hand shake and public thank you.
-Steve
Post by: Skyvalhunter on January 24, 2011, 12:50:57 PM
Post by: nwalpineguide on January 24, 2011, 01:10:31 PM
Attached is a bear back at you (grin).
MQ
Post by: MtnMuley on January 24, 2011, 01:11:52 PM
Post by: nwalpineguide on January 24, 2011, 01:35:37 PM
You are very welcome.
It has been my pleasure to volunteer and give back, just a tad, to a great high lakes resource for those 8 years. That delicate resource has been good to me since I was a small child and had a father that cared enough about his sons to take them backpacking and fishing.
Moreover, I have had the luxury of having stood on the shoulders of GIANTS when it comes to learning about and participating in planting trout in high lakes. An appreciative public is the only reward I seek, well, I like to tussle with a large trout every once in a while also.
I have it on excellent authority (mine) that Enjar Lake was refreshed last year with 1200 mount whitney rainbow trout by a little known trout planting group called, by fortuitous chance, Alpine Trout Coalition. The area bio up your way authorized the plant last season and we completed the mission.
MQ
Post by: summit creek on March 18, 2012, 06:20:45 PM
Post by: hirshey on March 20, 2012, 12:25:20 PM
what crowding....there are NO others where i've gone....:yeah:
Post by: MtnMuley on March 20, 2012, 04:24:10 PM
Post by: colockumelk on March 25, 2012, 07:10:07 AM
Keep posting pics of your areas, and I will guarantee you'll see people. Sad but true. ;)
Not saying its impossible but I doubt people will start showing up. Look at Cameron Hanes. He writes about, takes pictures and video, documents his shows on cable tv. Yet his area in Oregon isn't over run with hunters. In fact he hasn't seen an increase in the past 10 years. So I doubt a few pics on this website are gonna open the flood gates to his spot.
About 1% of people are willing to put in the effort to work that hard. And most of them are the type of people who want to hunt their own spot so they can be away from others. Hunting someone else's spot would defeat that. :twocents:
Post by: Salmo on March 25, 2012, 09:24:23 AM
Just curious as to what people think about this. I really like being able to do this hunt on an annual basis but could see how it would be more enjoyable if the number of guys was limited so that crowding might be reduced. Then it could be a real quality experience.
The best thing for the high hunt is to stop freekin talking about it online. So if you like it. STFU.
Post by: Elkaholic daWg on March 25, 2012, 09:51:17 AM
Post by: BrushChimp on March 25, 2012, 10:05:37 AM
Keep posting pics of your areas, and I will guarantee you'll see people. Sad but true. ;)
Without a doubt.
Post by: JLS on March 25, 2012, 02:45:25 PM
Just curious as to what people think about this. I really like being able to do this hunt on an annual basis but could see how it would be more enjoyable if the number of guys was limited so that crowding might be reduced. Then it could be a real quality experience.
The best thing for the high hunt is to stop freekin talking about it online. So if you like it. STFU.
Because it's top secret? All you have to do is pull up any outfitter's web page and you can see pictures of deer that are taken on the high hunt.
Post by: JPhelps on March 25, 2012, 04:12:06 PM
I will give my :twocents: for what it is worth.
The reason I feel people get so worried or concerned over pictures is the relative ease in finding exactly where you are hunting within a matter of minutes on google earth. In almost every high hunt picture that gets posted on here with a informative background I/we have been able to track it down to exact locations within minutes usually.
A lot of time guys may have camps or hunt somewhat close to the pictures that others are posting. Most of the time there is a bunch of sweat and hard work involved before settling on a camping spot. All to be given up for free in an internet picture (This is what probably upsets most people). If you don't believe me, I can direct you to another forum where two groups of guys had a huge conflict with a picture that got posted and the next year the place was overloaded with hunters. It didn't help that there was an eastmans article that showed a monster buck taken in the same general area.
I will never "carve" someone's hunting spot. I take too much enjoyment in finding/researching my own areas and following through with them. I would caution you though that there are people out there that will not hesitate to go to exactly where your picture was taken and set up hunting camp.
On the other side of the coin everyone is eager to "show off" their animals, camps, scenery for everyone else to enjoy. Everyone has the right to show their pictures. You would think this would be harmless, but I beg to differ. Just trying to help protect a few peoples hunting spots.
Post by: Miles on May 08, 2016, 06:56:53 PM
Post by: bowhuntersd on May 09, 2016, 08:27:02 PM
Post by: JustinC on May 10, 2016, 07:56:48 AM
Just curious as to what people think about this. I really like being able to do this hunt on an annual basis but could see how it would be more enjoyable if the number of guys was limited so that crowding might be reduced. Then it could be a real quality experience.
I've been hoping for this for years. I would love to see guys have to either draw this, or at least choose between putting in for the other draws, and doing the high hunt. If you make everyone choose what's most important to them, the odds get better for the hunts you really want to do instead of having everyone putting in for everything. Hope that makes sense?
Post by: bobcat on May 10, 2016, 08:33:12 AM
I've been hoping for this for years. I would love to see guys have to either draw this, or at least choose between putting in for the other draws, and doing the high hunt. If you make everyone choose what's most important to them, the odds get better for the hunts you really want to do instead of having everyone putting in for everything. Hope that makes sense?
So, something similar to what Idaho does with some of their special permit hunts that are in wilderness areas. Instead of making these a general season hunt open to everyone with a deer tag, it's a permit hunt you have to draw but the number of permits is unlimited. Which of course means it's a guaranteed draw, but if you choose that hunt you cant draw anything else.
Post by: JustinC on May 10, 2016, 08:36:22 AM
Post by: MountainWalk on May 10, 2016, 08:39:59 AM
Plenty of room for everyone.
Post by: Ridgerunner on May 10, 2016, 09:36:59 AM
Post by: pianoman9701 on May 10, 2016, 09:49:26 AM
Post by: Bushcraft on May 23, 2016, 06:41:30 PM
In a word...No.
People can plan on seeing lots of camps and lots of hunters if they decide to hunt anywhere near a trail system regardless of how many miles they put on their boots. That shouldn't surprise anyone. But, every year excited newbies pull into popular trailheads and march headlong into both near and far flung basins that they assumed only they knew about because they e-scouted it via Google Earth. Then, they don't see any animals and are invariably upset that "their" place has other hunters, that the entirety of the wilderness areas are teaming with hunters.
On the other hand, if you want to scout your butt off in wildly out of the way places you've come to intimately know over the years and pattern a group of bachelor bucks, you'll have opportunities to put a tag on a buck every year. That aspect of High Hunt is really not that big of a deal, relatively speaking. There are lots of deer in the backcountry. What is a big deal is getting all the meat, antlers, cape, rifle or bow and camp gear out without the meat spoiling or capes slipping. More people think they can hack that sort of death march than actually can. Even more are poorly equipped for the wild swings in weather. T-shirt and shorts sweating your balls off one day and then the next wearing three layers under rain gear while rain, sleet, snow and high cold winds hammer you. Given the rarity of monster bucks to begin with, why subject yourself to lugging out an average sized deer in those conditions just for the meat?
The overlooked truth of the matter is that logistically it’s much easier to kill a buck for meat later in the year close to the road during general season in other parts of the state than it is to death march a 100+ lb. pack umpteen miles and thousands of vertical feet out of remote wilderness areas back to the rig. But, some crazies like me relish the fine and pleasant misery.
If someone manages to scratch and claw their way into my favorite spot only to find that my hunting partners are already there and have been for years, then I say more power to them. It’s public ground and they definitely put the sweat equity into getting there. What I don't appreciate is when the same exact person comes back the very next year, knowing full well that we'll be there, and screws up everyone’s opening day hunt thereby wasting all of our valuable scouting time and energy. Have some common decency and go someplace else.
Case in point...a couple years ago I observed a father and son walk over a ridgeline I like to sit on during High Buck. The area doesn't have monster buck genetics, but it does hold deer if you know where to look…during the right times of day...with multiple sets of eyes looking. ;) Not having seen anyone up there before I was genuinely surprised to see them but nevertheless waved hello and struck up a conversation with them. They were visibly deflated to see someone else comfortably bivied up there and even more so when I told them that my hunting partners and I have hunted the area every year for a long time and will continue to do so until we are old men that can't. They climbed up a hellacious route and claimed to not have seen a thing all day which wasn't a surprise to me at all given how few deer there are on that side of the drainage in dry years. It was obvious they were on the steep part of the learning curve but they were giving it the ol’ college try and seemed to be enjoying their time in the backcountry. Good for them! I was envious that I hadn’t been able to share that sort of experience with my father. It was late in the day and they were a little anxious to find a way off the mountain in the dark and back down to their camp. They did not want to go back the way they came and asked if I knew a better way. I could have kept my mouth shut and let them bushwhack their way down through alders and cliffs, but I kindly gave them some insightful instructions on the fastest/easiest/safest way for them to get back down. They thanked me and off they went. I wished them well and didn’t expect to see them again.
Flash forward to the next year….My hunting partner and I had patterned a group of bachelor bucks and had their usual daily routine dialed in. We were intent on taking a 4x4 apiece on the opener. Not huge bucks by any stretch of the imagination, but the rest of our fall season was jammed up with other hunts and work and family related responsibilities. This was our chance to put some mule deer in the freezer so we decided a 1,2,3 BANG! was the thing to do. Much to our surprise consternation, through our bino’s at daylight we noticed two youngers guys in blaze orange standing a few hundred yards below us on an outcropping of trees and rock near where we had patterned the bucks. There was no sign of the bucks but a couple of does were feeding not 50-60 yards behind them. You could not pick a worse place to sit and glass if you were hunting the area.
My hunting partner and I said, “Well, there goes our morning hunt.” The big glass and the makings for some Starbucks VIA coffee and breakfast came out of the packs.
I put the big Swarovski spotter on them and instantly recognized one of them as the son of the duo from the prior year. "Huh. That's interesting.", I thought. We sat out in the open plain as day making coffee and eating breakfast while soaking up the morning sun and watched them below. They were completely oblivious to the deer right behind them while they ineffectively use their small binoculars to glass the few small visible openings around them around them and far off hillsides. Eventually one of them panned around and they finally noticed us up on the ridge hanging out. We waved and smiled back though they probably couldn’t make out the latter with their binos. The looks of shock and denial on their faces was priceless and we could see them commiserating on what they should do next. Shortly afterwards the does caught their scent and began bounding away across a larger opening. They jumped up and ran after them, apparently hoping they were bucks that they might be able to catch out in the open. Once they realized their folly, the guy in the lead that I recognized finally just sat down out in the open sunlight glassing down into alder choked avalanche chutes. Ha, like that was gonna be productive! I wasn’t particularly happy with them but after all its public land so I calmly made my way down to say hello and see if we could sort out each other’s plans so we wouldn’t screw up each other’s hunts the rest of the trip. I eased down to him and said good morning. His body language suggested that he wasn’t all that happy to see me, but he was polite enough and said hello and that he was up here with his younger brother. I said something along the lines that I remembered him from last year and that I was a little surprised to see him up here again after the conversation we had.
He replied, “Yeah, I thought you’d be up there.”
Wait…WTF??? Seriously??? >:( :bash:
I thought to myself, “So, you thought I’d be up there and yet you still decided to come up here, clearly without having spent any time scouting it, thereby screwing BOTH our chances and wasting BOTH our time and energy when there are a bunch of other places to hunt? What kind of jerk does that???” I was pretty angry with his response, but I kept my temper at bay and let his idiotic comment pass, but not too subtly reminded him that I had already told him that four or five of us have been hunting these basins for years. I went on to say that we probably ought to sort out our respective plans so that we aren’t screwing up each other’s hunts for the rest of the trip. He evidently caught my drift and he rounded up his brother and we never saw them again that season. Hopefully they've found their own honey hole.
Getting back to the topic, if a guy wants to find an out of the way place to go during High Buck, he can and he won't see another soul for ten days except maybe for some mountaineers. That said, if you decide to go to a place that's obviously out of the way, you'll probably bump into others. :chuckle:
Post by: pd on May 23, 2016, 09:56:01 PM
I agree with MountainMan on this one: Limit yourself if you like, but stop with the "permit only" limitations on me. Please.
Post by: Bushcraft on May 23, 2016, 10:39:53 PM
You won't get much in the way of argumentative debate from me on the topic. One glaring fact and too many unknowns.
Fact: Some places grow on you and it's natural to harbor the delusion that those basins are "my" (or "our") fiefdom every September 15th-25th, but the reality is that they belong to any American citizen willing and able to get themselves back in there.
Unknowns: Since I've spoke but few words with the guy in question, there's really no way for him to know with 100% certainty that we would or would not be in there that year. Then too, perhaps he felt a little uncomfortable and chose his words poorly. Who knows? It's anybody's guess and it certainly wasn't worth me blowing a confrontational cork over. That said, we'd have a much more in depth conversation if he didn't learn his lesson and inexcusably tried the same misguided approach in the future.
The minor aggravation aside, I sincerely hope the fellow and his brother stick with it and discover their own secluded honey hole(s) and become successful backcountry hunters. Lord knows we need many more avid and ethical hunters in our voting populace!
Regards,
Allen
Post by: Skyvalhunter on May 24, 2016, 05:20:51 AM