Oregon Hikers

Did a quick over-nighter up Vista Ridge Trail to Elk Cove. As I was making dinner a couple women came along from the other direction on the Timberline and set up camp. Once came up to me and started chatting and mentioned seeing a couple hunters on the trail on the east of Elk Cove as they were coming in. The next morning as I was crawling out of my tent the two hunters walked by me in full camo gear with rifles. They said hi, I said hi back and they kept walking. Later that morning I was hiking back west on the trail towards Vista Ridge and one of the hunters was coming along the trail. I chatted with him for a few minutes and expressed my surprise that hunting was allowed along the Timberline. He told me they were hunting dear and bear.

Is it legal to hunt along the Timberline? Considering the number of hikers it seems potentially dangerous. And considering it's a wilderness area, I can't imagine most of us would appreciate hearing gun shots.

I've met hunters in the same area

I think they were bow hunters

A couple days later I saw them going the other way hauling deer

smallsound wrote: ↑

October 3rd, 2020, 3:52 pm

Is it legal to hunt along the Timberline? Considering the number of hikers it seems potentially dangerous.

Yes, it is legal. Yes, it is dangerous if the hunters are not extremely careful. There are specific rules about discharging guns in the vicinity of roads, trails, or across lakes, but they are not always observed.

I've encountered more archers than gunslingers in the wilderness. Is the bow hunting season longer?

adamschneider wrote: ↑

October 3rd, 2020, 6:49 pm

I've encountered more archers than gunslingers in the wilderness. Is the bow hunting season longer?

Bow season is first, so the hunters can get close to animals that aren't gun shy yet. Then comes musket loaders which I think started today. Rifle season follows. Hunting is allowed almost everywhere except national parks.
That's the bummer about Indian summer. I was in WA a couple weeks ago and was treated to some bow hunters packing out a bear.

pcg wrote: ↑

October 3rd, 2020, 8:36 pm

adamschneider wrote: ↑

October 3rd, 2020, 6:49 pm

I've encountered more archers than gunslingers in the wilderness. Is the bow hunting season longer?

Bow season is first...

I guess that explains why I've seen more of the bow hunters: I'm more likely to be out hiking earlier in the year.

I think that for the most part, hunters do not find animals by walking on trails. They have to go cross-country, tracking animals through the brush. Note that hunters aren't going to want to hunt around areas crowded with hikers as we would scare the animals away. If you are a hiker who likes to bushwhack cross country, you really need to be wearing bright orange.

The legal season does vary a lot by type of weapon and also I think by type of animal?

drm wrote: ↑

October 4th, 2020, 6:49 am

If you are a hiker who likes to bushwhack cross country, you really need to be wearing bright orange.

I agree, even if you are hiking on trail. We always do except for bow season, but that may change. When we encountered the bow hunters who had just killed a bear, we got into a conversation about orange vests. I mentioned that I don't wear one during bow season because I assumed bow hunters always knew what they were shooting at since it was at close range. They volunteered that a bow hunter recently shot another bow hunter in the arm after he "heard a noise in the bush and let one fly". That was a bit unsettling and, of course, an orange vest may not have helped in that case. Bow hunters wear camo and so do we, to a degree, since we are almost always off-trail tracking animals - for fun, not for the table. Bummer that the best season to be outdoors (no heat, no bugs, no people) is also hunting season, although there is a spring bear season as well. This year COVID kept most of the hunters away (trailheads and campgrounds were closed) during spring bear which was great.

Bummer that the best season to be outdoors (no heat, no bugs, no people) is also hunting season

It really does suck, the danger of being shot is very real, and if I had to pass an animal corpse being hauled out of the woods it would completely ruin the trip for me. I don't understand why hunters should be allowed access to practically every area outside of a National Park for an entire season of the year. At the very least there should be a few weeks in October when there is not hunting whatsoever.

NacMacFeegle wrote: ↑

October 4th, 2020, 10:28 am

if I had to pass an animal corpse being hauled out of the woods it would completely ruin the trip for me.

And last year we watched (though binoculars) hunters butchering a goat up high on one of the steep rocky slopes visible from Ptarmigan Ridge, right after you leave Artist Point. We talked to one of their party who was down on the trail, and learned that they were upset that the goat had broken one of its horns when it fell. !?!?!