I have been signed up on the site for about a year but haven’t posted much. I enjoy reading everyone’s stories and I’ve learned a lot from them. Some of the recent threads have made me a little hesitant to post a request for information, but here goes. As a little background, I got a late start in hunting - I’m 40 and this will be my 6th year bowhunting. I’ve managed to kill 2 elk in the last 5 years (the last 2 years; I think I’m getting the hang of it), but no bulls. My buddy and I usually hunt the Lewis River unit and have called in quite a few bulls, but haven’t managed to get a shot. I’m hoping to change that this year cause I was selected for the Toutle quality elk permit.
I’ve never been in the Toutle unit and am trying to find out about access into it. I know there have been a few other posts about access into Toutle, but they were for muzzy or modern seasons and I’m going to be there for early archery. As far as I can tell, access is fairly limited. I have hunted in the Winston unit so I’m familiar with Weyerhaeuser’s general policies, but every time I’ve been there the stated policy or access status doesn’t match the ground truth. According to the Weyerhaeuser info line on June 21, the 4100 line is open to the bridge over the S Fork of the Toutle, but other than that access is non-motorized only.
Is the unit ever completely opened to motorized access once the fire danger is low? I saw a thread from a couple years back that they sometimes open the roads only on the weekends.
If it is opened, are all the roads/gates opened or will they do something like open the mainlines, but keep the rest of the gates closed and restricted to non-motorized access?
Will Weyerhaeuser provide access to their land for special permit holders even if the unit is closed, or is that just to access the state land in the north part of the unit?
Is access from the south better/easier?
I guess what I’m getting at is: Do I need to start riding my mountain bike to prepare for some epic number of miles or will I be able to drive through most of the unit then hike or bike the last few miles? Or is it going to be more of a road hunt?
Or does everything change year to year and I won’t know until the time comes what is open and what isn’t?
Thanks.
