The long dry spell is over...

by jgt, Saturday, December 21, 2013, 10:50 (3933 days ago) @ pokynojoe

I really relate to your post and want to take this opportunity to thank you for your ethics as a hunter. THANK YOU!!! And CONGRATULATIONS on a very nice, well earned harvest.

After Mt.Saint Helen blew it's top, the game dept created a "Red Zone" On the map in a big circle around the volcano. It was a no-hunting zone for ten years after that. At first it looked like another world with ash from inches to several feet deep. Trees blown off from two to eight feet off the ground. Downed trees everywhere. Old burned up rusty logging equpment.

Eventually, they rebuilt the Spirit Lake Highway up to the base of the mountain and even built a visitors center there. As the years passed, every time it rained, more ash went into the ground or was washed away as erosion. Plants started to grow. Trees were planted and underbrush sprouted up and it became a young forest again.

The men I knew that were allowed in on the work crews took camera's to work with them and brought back pictures of big herds of elk with massive racks. The wild life flurished. When they opened the area to the public one still could not hunt or camp but I use to go up there to spend the day. The deer grazing on the side of the road paid you no mind. I could walk to within fifteen to twenty feet of small herds of elk before they began to move off. Then it was not the stampeding run you get when hunting. Just mearly an uncomfortable "you're in my space" kind of move. I felt honored to get to experience such a place. It was almost sacred. I'm a hunter, but I think hunters are alot better at conservation than any tree hugger will ever understand. Thank you again for you post it brought back some fond memories.