WILDERNESS AREA

I like them!

They can be good and bad,turning an area into a wilderness limits access to some,by shuting down all the interior roads,those without horses are screwed because you cant get game out quickly enough during warm weather to avoid spoiling meat,and makes the hunting better due to lighter pressure,this can bring in more outfitter pressure,it has goood and bad results,in the long run those with horses end up loving it.

Out hunting with my Dad this year at Motaqua, they had Rangers passing out maps of new Wilderness areas out there. I thought that was kind of them. I think it's great for habitat. It's not going to be good for road hunters. I have horses too, but hike a lot as well. I know on my Muzzleloader hunt I had a camp come in on the 3rd day of the hunt saying, "Most of the roads for ATV's have been shut down!" This was his old area.
I don't think Lazy hunters will be happy. Even if you have a disability they extend your hunt two weeks before a hunt and 15 days after, if I remember right. WE NEED LESS PRESSURE ON OUR DEER. JMHO

I think there are plenty of areas to dirt bike and 4 wheel. I like the idea of having walk in areas only, wilderness areas. In some cases like the WSA's, these areas are publicized, put on the map and in many cases get more traffic and hunting pressure then ever.

I think it is a great idea for some reasons and a crappy idea for others. We all know it would be great for the herd, and the trophy quality even the outfitter by giving the animals more safe area to hide. On the down side most states in the rockies support the wildlife largly through nonresident tags, and If you take away accessable land then you take away the dollars that pay to support the herds. My dad has horses that I can use anytime but I enjoy the hike and dont want to take the horses all the way down there. As a non resident coming to hunt there I might pick a different gmu to hunt or another state, so the town I would be dumping $1000 into during my stay, will no longer benefit. So I think it would be better to leave it open and maybe cut the tag quota, to improve the herds, bring the dollar, and keep everyone coming back to spend those much needed dollars that some areas depend on.

i agree with you guys completely. the area is not outfitted hardly at all. the area is an amazing area to hunt but all the roads through there really make it hard for even a person with horses or like to hike like myself tough the animals get moved so much they eventually just pretty much go to the bottom into private during 1st season from all the road pressure. the area that i outfit with my boss is wilderness and all of our hunters are out of staters and they love bein packed into an area and dropped off to hunt they are damn near alone throughout the seasons and they love it. we get a pretty good harvest rate and it has helped the herd in our area a ton. so from what ive seen with there plans is it is way to big of an area to make wilderness because they are proposing like 9 areas to be made into wilderness and i think they need to focus on just a couple areas imo. but in a way i hope they go through and another i hope they dont. the area i hunted this year is perfect elk and deer country just amazing imo but there were so many people up there it was hard to hunt anywhere you would find a good place to go walk 100 yards off the road and there is a guy sittin there just waitin. and you want to hike way down and around and everything but cant cause you cant even walk off the road without bumpin into anyone and my dad seen a guy shoot a doe right in the middle of the road and someone else shot another deer 50 yards off the road from what we seen we had the best success rate in our area that we hunted. but if it was wilderness area the area would blow up with animals and pressure would most likely be gone

Wilderness areas can be a good thing for wildlife, the only thing is that responsible logging benefit the forest and the wildlife by allowing new growth to flurish to feed wildlife and replinish the forrest with new growth and in wilderness areas neither will happen.

If they really wanted a wilderness area they shuold make it a walk in only. I've hunted these areas in a number of states and IMO they may as well call em outfitters areas. The greenhornes they bring in help me out more than they hinder. Poor guys end up walking the same trails and ridges day after day. Makes easier to patern the critters some times. Takeing motorized vehicles out of the equasion makes for a more pristine hunt. I'm for it, at least until I can't walk anymore. Whitch ain't to far down the road.

I think that wilderness can be a double edged sword. I think that some areas definately should be protected as wilderness areas, but others should not. Having an area classified as wilderness closes the doors on many sustainable uses of forest resources and ties the hands of land managers. I like the idea of what Idaho has done in many areas. They close forest roads in strategic areas during hunting season to limit motor access while allowing normal forest management proctices to happen throughout the rest of the year. To me, this gives the best all-around result.

One thing that I don't like about wilderness is that many times forest fires are allowed to burn uncontrolled for weeks, destroying vast tracts of land, such as in the Yolla Bolla wilderness in northern California last year. Huge groves of old growth red fir were destroyed when fires were allowed to simply burn all summer. This seems wasteful to me. I know others think this is "natural", but some of my favorite places burned to mineral soil and those 350 year old trees won't be back in my lifetime.-----shooter

Its already been said a bunch of times but if you have the horses and gear this is good news for you. Anytime you close down roads in an area it benefits the herd. Anytime they close down an area it always makes me nervous because if you give them an inch they usually take a mile, or hundreds of miles, in the long run. But if its a good area and its being done for good reasons then great.

Wilderness is all I hunt. I love working hard to get in thier and am usually all by myself. I think it gives the best opportunity for us guys who cant go just buy a guided hunt.

http://www.archeryguru.blogspot.com

I love wilderness areas. I have gone down to the book cliffs wilderness area the last two years for the rifle elk hunt and it was amazing. Hard work, but seeing all of those animals was so worth it. We saw trophy elk and deer right off the horses. You seldom see this at other public hunting places. Honestly I wish there were more closer to where I live.

im gonna say it again bigantlergetter! i dont like it i have drove up redtable road since i was born and i dont want to see that being closed. a wilderness area for the redtable are is not a good idea no for like unit 44 makeing that a wilderness unit and closeing all but the main road from hardscable to gypsum creek is a good idea same with the sylvyn lake area that would be perfect for a wilderness area but not redtable

Colorado if you woulda been up there during huntin season you woulda seen how bad it is all the guys up there that wont get off their fourwheelers even to just move a small sapling pine in the way they just drive up and around it cause they are to damn lazy to do anything about it. and turning it into wilderness will benefit the herd the biggest herd of elk i seen up there was 8 this year cause they knew the smaller the herd less chance of finding them. there were guys that would walk their asses off and push the animals around right to a guy takin a nap on a fourwheeler i seen it. and bein one of the guys that has always hiked his a$$ off to find animals and coming up short alot but watchin other guys kill the animal you were after by sittin 15 yards off the road gets real old. i had a guy this year ask if i new where any does were i said yes and told him and he looked at me with the dumbest face i have ever seen and said "can i drive my four wheeler down there so i dont have to pack it out" i mean come on ](*,) ...heck last year i was goin after a big big 7X7 bull and the plan was to push him outa this little bowl i new he would go onto the hillside in the open and he did just then a truck that came down a old nasty trail came down seen him and shot at him 9 times at 50 yards with their guns rested on their mirrors and they ended up gettin him. and yes i did call the game warden but he could not catch them they were off the mountain before i could get a signal to call. but it gets real discouraging hunting your a$$ off year after year and comin up short. so wilderness area would make that area so much better to hunt yeah people are gonna be pissed cause they cant drive up and down the road waitin for one to step out but hunting wasnt made to be done outa a truck or off a four wheeler its a chance to get out enjoy the outdoors and see mother natures and the good lords true gift of life...the good lord put these animals on the earth for us to harvest and keep alive and thats what hunting is about gettin out there and seein this. but thanks to everyone elses replys i doubt that this will all go through as a wilderness area but it woulda been nice guess im just gonna find a different area to hunt where i can put my time in and be rewarded with out lettin other lazy hunters get the rewards.

lazy hunter! dude you know i cant really walk that far others cant nether i've seen those guys on wheelers they drive to the back country then get off and walk and walk and walk. just because people use wheelers dont mean there lazy. you should know that. and you remember huntn with me in the flattops wilderness how many people was huntn that yea so just think bout that

colorado where i was at i watched and talked to about everyhunter up there and most of them were not even wanting to walk and im not sayin everyone that uses one is lazy there are guys out there that will go walk but now your pullin up the same stuff gabe did that one night. read into wilderness areas and stuff and you will see what can happen

I'm brand new to this site and don't wish to step on toes as all of you bring up good points and I know nothing of the area you are speaking of.Shooter I live in extreme northern Ca. and I know of many fires like you are talking about in and out of Marble Mts. and Trinity Alps wilderness areas and the reason they are overburned is usually because of rugged terrain or (more often) too much fuel because healthy burns have been extinguished for too many years. Having hunted these wildernesses many times I feel the need to tell you all there are slobs in the wilderness too. I have seen big bucks that we scouted early ,hanging stiff in trees at daylight on opening day and ATV tracks and even an ATV on the trail one time. I like to hunt the wilderness but I have a horrid back and now have 4 kids 5yrs.to 15 yrs. and enjoy hunting with them and that is kinda tough in there.They are indeed good and bad depending on perspective.Bill