Hunting Season Willies

[Trainwreck]

My daughter Hannah and I are considering a short backpack this WE in flattish areas in the Whites as I rehab my knee and we try out some new winter gear.
Can anyone tell me if hunters frequently haunt the Pemi or Great gulf areas?
Should we skip the backpack and camp in a campground?
While blaze orange is not flattering, we both wear it(it clashes with my hiking boots, also orange!!)
Any info would be most helpful.
Sandy

 

[kmac]

Here's a site that I found with some info on NH hunting rules and regs


http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/where_hunt_in_NH.htm
http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/hunting.htm

Kmac

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Hunting

It's my experience, and opinion, that hunters stay pretty close to trailheads unless the area is accessible by ATV or snowmobile. After all, if they take a deer or moose, they have to get it back out. What I'm saying is the further in you go, the less likely it is you will see hunters. I wouldn't live and die by this rule, though.

KDT

 

[dug]

Not many hunters want to haul their game out a long way, so they will tend to stick relatively close to the road. Also, they use trails to get to where they want to go...but I've never seen a hunter along a trail - too many people chasing the game away. How often have you seen a deer on the trail?

I think I've only actually seen a hunter once on a trail, and he was trying to find his lost dog.

 

[NewHampshire]

For the reasons stated above you will be quite safe. Most hunters stay WELL under 1 mile from a main road and rarely straymore than 100 yards from a game or hiking trail. 150-300 lbs of dead weight is a major pain in the butt to move around through uneven terrain that is everything from muddy to rocky and anything in between. You should be even MORE safe in the lincoln woods/Pemi area. WAY too many people tromping around there for you to worry about hunters. Indeed, being a hunter myself, I can usually spot vehicles belonging to hunters, and in the White Mountains they tend to stick to old logging roads (a logging cut that is a couple years old or more is a hunters HEAVEN) and snowmobile trails. Most hunters will also avoid having to climb anything greater than a moderate grade, which is why you rarely see them running around the tops of summits

So have fun, enjoy, don't worry about it you are good to go in your two stated areas no problem!

Brian

 

[Stan]

What's been said is accurate but some hunters will haul their game out by ATV so caution should also be exercised in roadless but ATV accessible areas.

A few unscrupulous hunters ... you know, the type with kinship to hikers who trash campsites ... will leave the bulk of the game behind, packing out only a few prime cuts. Some have also been known to shoot a cow in a pasture and leave it there ... point is ... you can never be too careful.

 

[RoySwkr]

Can anyone tell me if hunters frequently haunt the Pemi or Great gulf areas?

Hunters don't like steep trails so if you could pick something that starts off steep that would be great - of course a tougher backpack but I'd say Beaver Brook Trail on Moosilauke would be great

I would avoid the Pemi area as hunters may be familiar with it from fishing, and for the first nearly 3 miles can use a cart to haul a deer out.

 

[Waumbek]

I would not choose the opening weekend of deer rifle season to rehab my knee in "flattish" areas, including the Pemi. This is the weekend to go high and hard (and to stay on a trail), as everyone in this thread has been advising. Even though probably still under-reported, hunting accidents have dropped over the last 30-40 years with hunter ed courses and better regulation. They tend to be hunter-to-hunter or self-inflicted. But still it happens, and it's a question of your risk tolerance. The one thing I would not do, however, is to seek out lowland hikes deliberately this weekend. Where you sleep is less important than where you hike. You can always go over the border to Maine on Sunday, when hunting is banned, for a lowland hike.

 

[NewHampshire]

What's been said is accurate but some hunters will haul their game out by ATV so caution should also be exercised in roadless but ATV accessible areas.

A few unscrupulous hunters ... you know, the type with kinship to hikers who trash campsites ... will leave the bulk of the game behind, packing out only a few prime cuts. Some have also been known to shoot a cow in a pasture and leave it there ... point is ... you can never be too careful.

Which also reminds me, unscrupulous poachers may also poke into less accessible areas too to avoid detection. But deer jacking is, I believe, more prevalent further north than in the Whites.

Brian

 

[NewHampshire]

I would avoid the Pemi area as hunters may be familiar with it from fishing, and for the first nearly 3 miles can use a cart to haul a deer out.

Regulations state hunters need to stay 150 yards away from 1) Campsites (13 Falls is far enough away from ANYTHING anyways that staying there should be no issue, same for Franconia Falls which I believe falls under dual protection as you will see) 2)Developed recreation site (i.e. Lincoln Woods itself would fall under this) 3) Faorest service road and trail (i.e. Pemi East Side and Wilderness trails.) Honestly I highly doubt given all these restrictions a hunter would bother with the Lincoln Woods/Wilderness Trail/Pemi East side trail area. And once you get to the WIlderness boundry, cart or not cart, I HIGHLY doubt anyone is willing to go that far . I could be wrong, but with other quieter, less clustered and easier accessible areas to be had I just can't imagine heading into that part of the Pemi.

Brian

 

[Tony]

Nevertheless...

While I think all of the above sounds both true and wise, I nevertheless tend to stick to State Parks during hunting season. Taking even one bullet tends to ruin my whole day.

 

[NewHampshire]

While I think all of the above sounds both true and wise, I nevertheless tend to stick to State Parks during hunting season. Taking even one bullet tends to ruin my whole day.

Hunting is allowed in New Hampshires State Parks as well

http://www.nhparks.state.nh.us/stat...r-recreation-offered/hunting-and-fishing.aspx

Brian

 

[max]

You have better odds of getting into a fatal car accident on the drive to the Whites than being the victim of a hunting accident. Not trying to be the grim reaper here, but in over 30 years of hiking, including a LOT during hunting season, the only time I ever saw a hunter was on the Wapack trail on the MA/NH line, and he was about 1/2 mile from a road.

 

[Fisher Cat]

So far what I've read has been accurate. All my years hunting in NH I never even saw a hiker, or much of anything else either, at times. I only hunt with a flintlock anyway, but for myself, I always feel a bit safer during the archery/muzzleloader season, as both those require solid target ID and closer range, which lends to better ID. Rifle iseason is a whole different thing, but even then, knowing there were other rifle hunters out there never dissuaded me from hiking because as everyone has highlighted, they prefer certain areas over others.

 

[Trainwreck]

Thank you all. I think we will stay home. I don't want to see a dead deer in a cart anytime. Thanks for your advice. See you all on the trails at the end of hunting season.
Sandy

 

[spider solo]

Though I've about self exiled myself from any of the hunting threads these past couple of years, I think that the other New England states have no hunting on Sundays, so you could still might have a chance to stretch your legs.
Couse I would double check to make sure.
good luck.spdr

 

[el-bagr]

To step back in from hunting-camp exile, Maine does not allow any hunting on Sundays.

 

[AndyF]

Hunting is allowed in New Hampshires State Parks as well

Very true. The place I've seen the most hunters while hiking is in Pawtuckaway State Park.

I went hiking today and saw a hunter in the trail. This was on the Wachipauka Pond Trail going towards Webster Slide Mtn. This is part of the AT. I passed him on the way in and on the way out. He was within a mile of the trailhead, but had gone a ways up Wyatt Hill where it gets steep. On the way in he was right on the trail. On the way out he was 100 feet off the trail. On the way out I flushed a grouse or pheasant just before I saw him. Luckily he didn't shoot at it.

So I survived hiking with a hunter present. Take that for what it's worth.

 

[NewHampshire]

Very true. The place I've seen the most hunters while hiking is in Pawtuckaway State Park.

I went hiking today and saw a hunter in the trail. This was on the Wachipauka Pond Trail going towards Webster Slide Mtn. This is part of the AT. I passed him on the way in and on the way out. He was within a mile of the trailhead, but had gone a ways up Wyatt Hill where it gets steep. On the way in he was right on the trail. On the way out he was 100 feet off the trail. On the way out I flushed a grouse or pheasant just before I saw him. Luckily he didn't shoot at it.

So I survived hiking with a hunter present. Take that for what it's worth.

And this weekend will probably be even worse there. Today was opening day of Rifle season, and a guy I know from work (also a hunter of course) told me once Pawtuckaway is a hot spot for the Orange Army. Ya should have asked him "did ya see any wasscally wabbits!?"

Brian

 

[forestgnome]

Back in '97 I encountered a local hunter hiking out on the Lincoln Woods Trail on a busy Saturday morning with a rifle in his hands. He had shot a huge bear and had to go find freinds to help get it out. He gave me directions to the site.

The bear was shot while it was reaching for a bait bag hanging from a branch at his camp site, which was trashed with beer cans and had a fire still smoldering. The site was about a mile inside the wilderness boundary, about 75' from the Wilderness Trail. The hunter did not get the bear out in time to save the meat because he couldn't get it out until the next day, and he couldn't afford the taxidermists fee to even keep the pelt. I observed the whole process along with unhappy rangers as this meatball tried to get 500lbs of dead weight to the wilderness boundary.

My point here is that while 99.9% ( or whatever ) of hunters are no danger, it's the one meatball I worry about and their behavior cannot be predicted.

Another point is that hunters can shoot from the trail; they do not have to stay 150 yards from a trail.

You are safe around the vast majority of hunters, but by definition a yahoo does not behave as expected and does not observe rules and traditions.

my $.02