Chewuch Quality Buck Tag

[7mmfan]

Just hope he's not on private where he was most all of last season.

If he is, he is. Will be good to look at anyway. It's always nice seeing caliber of bucks like that spreading their seed around. Sanctuary areas like that really are beneficial even if they're frustrating .

[bigmacc]

Thought id post this here because 218 is in this turf...Be prepared this season in the north Methow, lots of closers, I know its already been noted before, just got word from my brother who's been over since last Saturday. Lots of roads gated, burmed and cement barriers in place along with "no entry" signs all over parts of the north valley. He also said a lot of roads have new gates on them that are ready to be closed if need be. He said he's been in some areas parked on roads and you can hear trees falling. Just a heads up.

[7mmfan]

Thanks Bigmacc. I'll be curious to see how the forest service and WDFW do this weekend trying to manage the horde that is descending on the valley. That's part of why I'll be there. Also not expecting a few of the areas I really want to see open, open come the late season so I need to spend a little time exploring some back up options.

[OutHouse]

So a few years ago I was about one mile west of Boulder Creek campground (you can see on maps/good earth that there is a large more open area/slope. Right in that large open area saw several large bucks feeding. This was during late October I believe. MIght be a good place to glass up on your hunt. Best of luck!

[7mmfan]

So a few years ago I was about one mile west of Boulder Creek campground (you can see on maps/good earth that there is a large more open area/slope. Right in that large open area saw several large bucks feeding. This was during late October I believe. MIght be a good place to glass up on your hunt. Best of luck!

Thanks Outhouse. That is a bonafide area. I spent some time this last weekend looking at that ground and approaches to get in there. There is a lot of good ground between Boulder Camp and Rendevous, most of it you just have to work a little to get into and get eyes on all of it. We camped in 1st Creek this last weekend I ran around in a fair amount of it.

[7mmfan]

On the note of the closure area, I drove around the perimeters of it a fair amount this last weekend and I saw only a couple of rigs parked at gates into the closed area. What I didn't see at all though was any enforcement. Did anyone else notice anyone enforcing the closure areas?

[OutHouse]

On the note of the closure area, I drove around the perimeters of it a fair amount this last weekend and I saw only a couple of rigs parked at gates into the closed area. What I didn't see at all though was any enforcement. Did anyone else notice anyone enforcing the closure areas?

I think some of the closures lifted. At least on the other side of the valley. The 100 road up Sandy Butte is closed about a mile into it, but they took the sign down that said the area was under closure so we hiked in and hunted it. My bro took a decent mule buck right in the burn area. In fact, there were tons of deer in the burns. Saw several does chewing on burnt sticks. I think they like it.

[7mmfan]

On the note of the closure area, I drove around the perimeters of it a fair amount this last weekend and I saw only a couple of rigs parked at gates into the closed area. What I didn't see at all though was any enforcement. Did anyone else notice anyone enforcing the closure areas?

I think some of the closures lifted. At least on the other side of the valley. The 100 road up Sandy Butte is closed about a mile into it, but they took the sign down that said the area was under closure so we hiked in and hunted it. My bro took a decent mule buck right in the burn area. In fact, there were tons of deer in the burns. Saw several does chewing on burnt sticks. I think they like it.

The ones I saw were definitely still closed per the current FOrest Service closure and map thats updated on Inciweb. Also in the Chewuch area. I guess I'm just curious how strict they are really trying to be because there are a couple gates I'd really like to walk in at.

[KP-Skagit]

Drove eightmile over cub pass to cub creek last weekend.  Some spurs were closed but the mainlines were open.

[deerlick]

On the note of the closure area, I drove around the perimeters of it a fair amount this last weekend and I saw only a couple of rigs parked at gates into the closed area. What I didn't see at all though was any enforcement. Did anyone else notice anyone enforcing the closure areas?

I think some of the closures lifted. At least on the other side of the valley. The 100 road up Sandy Butte is closed about a mile into it, but they took the sign down that said the area was under closure so we hiked in and hunted it. My bro took a decent mule buck right in the burn area. In fact, there were tons of deer in the burns. Saw several does chewing on burnt sticks. I think they like it.

The ones I saw were definitely still closed per the current FOrest Service closure and map thats updated on Inciweb. Also in the Chewuch area. I guess I'm just curious how strict they are really trying to be because there are a couple gates I'd really like to walk in at.

laws dont seem to mean much these days, whats the worst that could happen

[7mmfan]

On the note of the closure area, I drove around the perimeters of it a fair amount this last weekend and I saw only a couple of rigs parked at gates into the closed area. What I didn't see at all though was any enforcement. Did anyone else notice anyone enforcing the closure areas?

I think some of the closures lifted. At least on the other side of the valley. The 100 road up Sandy Butte is closed about a mile into it, but they took the sign down that said the area was under closure so we hiked in and hunted it. My bro took a decent mule buck right in the burn area. In fact, there were tons of deer in the burns. Saw several does chewing on burnt sticks. I think they like it.

The ones I saw were definitely still closed per the current FOrest Service closure and map thats updated on Inciweb. Also in the Chewuch area. I guess I'm just curious how strict they are really trying to be because there are a couple gates I'd really like to walk in at.

laws dont seem to mean much these days, whats the worst that could happen

I don't disagree, I guess I still try to follow the rules when I can.

[OutHouse]

On the note of the closure area, I drove around the perimeters of it a fair amount this last weekend and I saw only a couple of rigs parked at gates into the closed area. What I didn't see at all though was any enforcement. Did anyone else notice anyone enforcing the closure areas?

I think some of the closures lifted. At least on the other side of the valley. The 100 road up Sandy Butte is closed about a mile into it, but they took the sign down that said the area was under closure so we hiked in and hunted it. My bro took a decent mule buck right in the burn area. In fact, there were tons of deer in the burns. Saw several does chewing on burnt sticks. I think they like it.

The ones I saw were definitely still closed per the current FOrest Service closure and map thats updated on Inciweb. Also in the Chewuch area. I guess I'm just curious how strict they are really trying to be because there are a couple gates I'd really like to walk in at.

Ahh gotcha. I didn't even check online to be honest. When the 100 road was closed the barrier was right at the beginning with a sign attached that said no entry whatsoever. But then they removed that but had a new gate about a mile in.

I always advise people to follow the law but enforcement could be tricky here. If its NF land then it might need to be a federal officer to patrol and give tickets unless there is cross jurisdictional agreement of some type. The other issue is if it is truly a federal issue then getting caught would mean some type of trespass charge under federal law. That would be taken up in federal district court which is a whole other can of worms compared to state court. At this point, the should just allow access its ridiculous.

[7mmfan]

Hunted Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we got good conditions for about the first hour or two of daylight for glassing, didn't turn up much. Made a plan to hunt a couple of higher elevation bowls. Had the fog/snow roll in just as we got into position for the first spot. Ended up still hunting through it most of the day. Didn't see anything until right before dark when it cleared up, small bucks and does.

Sunday overslept (thanks daylight savings time and auto updating cell phones!) Hit the road for where we wanted to go after daylight. Blessing in disguise I suppose, we saw 4 bucks while driving through state land, two 2-pts, a big framed 3 pt and nice 4x3 with eye guards. Did a long loop on a closed road, saw two bucks, a 2 pt and a very nice 4 point with eye guards. He was ear width, equally tall, and had good mass. Short forks though. He was in the process of destroying an innocent tree when we walked up on him. He trotted off with most of it still hanging in his antlers.

What we didn't see any of was does. We covered a lot of ground, and put eyes on lots of likely areas. So 6 bucks was the tally for the day.

Back on Thursday afternoon and getting after it for real on Friday.

[2MANY]

Best of luck.

[cbond3318]

Go get em’ man. Hope the hunt is everything you imagined.