Monday, August 31, 2009

Bow Hunting and Wilderness Access

Hello fellow bow hunters,

I'm getting sort of antsy. Bow hunting deer season opens tomorrow in Washington state. I have commitments so I can't head into the woods until Saturday. We plan on heading out on Friday to set up camp. We'll get up early Sat. morning so as to be in prime deer hunting area by first light. Archery elk hunting opens on the following Tuesday so we will be finding out, hopefully,where we want to be early Tues. morning.

I live on the left coast so our hunting areas are tenuous at best. Every year we have more and more forest access cut off by gates. It seems as though the large land owners in this part of the world are in sync with our flavor of politicians. Bow hunters, at least, are being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas. Its interesting, the pamphlet shows the areas to be open for bow hunting but when you get there all the roads are gated and locked. This is extremely frustrating. I can spend several days scouting and planning in an open area and then when archery season rolls around the roads are gated. They also add signs saying no motorized access. When I call the number on the sign to ask what my options are or when the road will be opened they rarely have an answer other than I can walk in.

Invariably, the gates are located miles downhill of where the elk and deer play. I don't even like to ask as to WHY we are denied vehicle privileges. The excuses, explanations, we get are sometimes quite hilarious. Last year the gate was open to our favorite hunting area. We have been hunting there for over 25 years and know the area very well. We were excited that we got to our favorite place and had camp all set up with opening season for bow hunting elk starting the next day. We spotted a small herd of elk about 1/2 mile from camp just before dark which included a royal elk. We were pumped.

It had been raining for the past 3 days, the ground was saturated and quiet. It continued to rain so our scent wasn't an issue. Just as we were heading into the woods, a truck drove up and 2 guys got out. They said they worked for the lumber company and that the gate had been left open accidentally by a logging truck operator. The area was closed to bow hunting due to FIRE
Danger. Even though I asked the 2 guys to show me how to light a fire using the blow torch I had sitting by the fire pit, they concluded that it would be difficult. To make a long story shorter, We ended up having to break camp and find a new area on opening day. Obvious to everyone, there was NO fire danger but the dictum had come down from above.

I would be interested in hearing if others are having problems similar to ours. I feel like we are losing more and more freedoms every year and unfortunately most people don't care unless it affects them personally.

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