Weyerhaeuser hunting in Oregon

[Hunter12]

Take this with a grain of salt, so to say. I guess.
I don't mean to ruffle feathers but I'm sure this will. I guess I just need to vent but i really feel what I'm about to say is true. Maybe I'm just selfish but, please hold off on killing everything you tree on Weyerhaeuser permit ground! When a bobcat has to cross atleast 2 to 3 roads at a minimum to feed at night because there is a road every couple hundred yards. It is very easy to hunt them out in no time at all and it has already shown it's self after only a few short years. This new system is a great deal for us. These permit areas are great training grounds for our dogs, especially pups. They are also great to take the family and kids hound hunting on, because it is so easy to get them too the tree. I also love it because you get to listen to every part of the race up close and personal with road access being so good. But the population is dropping fast because of all the things mentioned above. You can't take cats like you do elsewhere with out hurting the population big time. The road system is just to good. I went up today after a snow storm on a new moon. I hunted from daylight to dark, covered over 50 miles in the snow only cut 4 tracks. Most where snow covered and to old to run. I sure hope I just had bad luck today. Even just a year ago I would have expected to have 2 good races. Today none. Maybe I'm just selfish that I would like to go above my house and be able to have a race or two on any given day? I guess flame on, but the price of western Oregon furs ain't worth it in my opinion.

[1bludawg]

I don't think it's so much hunters taking to many cats, I think it's to many hunters that can catch cat. If that makes sense ?
Oregon has an overabundance of successful cat hunters.IMO

[Tim Cook]

You hit the nail on the head hunter12, I also agree with 1bludawg. Weyerhaeuser ground or not, it doesn’t take long to put a dent on an area. To each their own for what ever reason someone wants to hunt cats but for me it’s about the dogs and taking my family and friends out and listening to a cat race. I know you need to nock some out to the dogs but not as many as what people think. My dogs get to grab 3-6 cats a year and I would bet they do just as good as anyone’s dogs. Also those 3-6 cats a year are most of the time big toms. Sometimes we do mess up though.

[david]

Tim Cook rose up from the dead? Or maybe you never died, and I was just worried that you had.

That sure sounds like a paradise if all the guys could agree to leave the cats for the kids and wives to look at; and try to kill only big headed toms like Tim said, or only kill on the edges of huge roadless areas. I wish we could come up with a way to police ourselves instead of relying on the state to control us, and then pushing state law to it’s limit. A cat hunters park is what you are describing, if only you could go there and have something going in the first 20 minutes or hour of hunting. There is a book somewhere that describes a cat hunters paradise like that, where everybody agrees to catch and release; like the special catch and release trout waters that become so sacred to fly fishermen.

I wonder if Weyerhaeuser might let you guys put up a sign asking the cat hunters to please release the cats in this area for the children to see with their daddys.

Hunter 12, your day of hunting describes most days of bobcat hunting in some parts of the U.S. The only difference is you actually cut 4 cat tracks. There are guys who know any one of those snowed in tracks would be the ONLY track they see that day, they feel like this is their lucky day, and they walk it out till a dog can smell it, however long that takes. I hope you guys appreciate and feel blessed by what you have out there.

[al baldwin]

Yes roads make it easier for old folks like I to hunt the hounds. However without good tracking snow I find those roads make it more difficult to catch bobs once they learn to use those roads as an advantage. I sure wish I had an area like you are describing however, here there are large rocks, steep brushy terrain, blow down & short seasons. Agree one only needs to harvest a few cats to train dogs. Please don/t contact Weyco. to complain about cat numbers, hear they receive enough complaints from the deer & elk hunters. Just my experience & thoughts. Al

[Tim Cook]

Yep David I’m still around. I didn’t buy the Weyerhaeuser permit this year. Didn’t really feel like I it was any better than the “public” ground. It is nicer for shorter walks to the trees but I guess the up side is I get in better shape giving piggy back rides to the kids. I hear guys say all the time to leave some seed but when I’m checking in my 2 or 3 toms I see those same guys checking in 10 females and that years kittens lol. Usually they’re trying to keep them hidden so you don’t see them. Like I said to each their own, been this way for ever and don’t suspect it’s going to change.

[Goose]

Y’all better be thankful Weyerhaeuser even allows y’all to get a permit, down here in the southeast just about all timberland is owned by them,, what used to be a dog hunters paradise is now behind locked gates and unaffordable, all timber company land used to be FREE, but the hunters couldn’t get along and all agree so they started leasing parcels of land to make hunting clubs, now there is no big game hunting on Weyerhaeuser land without having to jump through the hoops and paperwork and the land is now around 20-30$ per acre per year, my fathers lease that he’s been a member of since it was formed now cost 1500$ a year to be able to have half ass quality hunting, to some that may not be a lot of money but to us poor folks that’s a pile of money...

I agree with the original poster, instead of having a resource to enjoy for years to come, the ones that are killing everything are the ones who haven’t hunted long and have never had to hunt all day for a single track and once the cats are killed out and the hunting gets hard and they can’t brag about he numbers they will get out leaving their destruction, I promise you aren’t the only one who deals with this, and it’s not just cat hunting...

It’s unnerving and sickening to see greed and gluttony in the hound world, and say what you want, but most of this can be credited to social media, it’s had been a part of humanity since our beginning but has evermore increased today because social media has created a narcissistic culture globally, very few things are done out of passion anymore,

[macedonia mule man]

I really have no idea what goes on in the western part of the United States when it comes to hunting mentality and why people do what they do. I know in my part of the southeast thefew cat hunters that really get after it year round are not doing much damage to the population. Most of the cats taken here are by deer hunters. Their reason being that they are saving the deer herd. Talked to a game biologist that said cat diet is 80% rodent and birds. Maby a fawn every now and then, most does can whip a cat off their fawns. This same biologist will shoot one in a heart beat. I think it just something about the fact that very few are seen by hunters and the thrill is just to much to pass up. You boys thatare worried about running out of cat need to pack up and bring your dogs down here, hunt for about 6 months and then let me know if you are worried about catching out the cat population.

[brian j cerelli]

some permits are getting hit hard this year, and others not so much, a tom here and there might not be as big of a deal, but like other guys said, there are so many guys able to catch a cat now it would be great if they could learn that killing everything isnt the way to go about it, odds are theirs someone hunting the same area that could wipe them clean out if they wanted to... dont piss off the wrong guy or you could be wasting gas looking for one to run next week.

[Tim Cook]

Well said Brian

[Hunter12]

Brian like I said in my original post. I don't mean to piss people off with my post. I'm sure it probably did somebody. Just hoping to get people to maybe think about what we got before pulling the trigger. I realize some guys just don't care. They will just move on to the next place when things dry up. The are lucky enough to be able to hunt a majority of the season in multiple areas. Nothing you can say will probably change there minds. But hopefully it might make some of the guys in the middle think about it.

Al I wouldn't call Weyerhaeuser. They are not in the business of managing game. The more problems they have associated with the permit system. The more likely it is to go away.

[Northrunner]

4 tracks in one day in only 50 miles of driving from daylight to dark ?! I am currently making hotel reservations, loading up the hunting rig and ready to drive 2000 miles to wherever you are hunting.I would truly feel blessed to have half of the cat population you talk of. What you described sounds like a cat hunters paradise to a guy like me. And I feel blessed compared to the lion hunters out there that drive 3 to 5,12 hour days to cut ONE old Tom track. David described it best, cut one track that you can somewhat follow in the snow and it’s your lucky day. If this is a new permit area that hasn’t been hunted in many years it will never be as good as the day they opened it ? Happy hunting to all

[SSdogger]

we run weyerhauser as well. and the public land neighboring the permit property, main reason for us buying the permit was we kept running them into the permit area last year from public. ive only ran into 2 other guys in the permit area i run. i have not shot a single cat on permit property this year as well as (to my knowledge) 1 of the others i know that runs it. its close to home has a good amount of cats and just like was mentioned good road systems and i would personally prefer it to stay that way. there is a local road that produces good numbers of long and short tail but it is public with a shooting pit at the beginning. a few locals know i run there and have seen them wiping tracks off the road in an attempt to keep us from finding them. few weeks ago someone even dropped a tree across the road.