Context: live in western WA, and want to work towards my first OTC roosevelt elk. This year will be my first time hunting Roosevelt elk. Overall a novice elk hunter. [If you check my forums history, I got my first bull last year but it was a Utah super premium tag I lucked into].
I thought i found a good spot:
- industrial timber land that recently changed hands and now allows public access (vs formerly rather pricey trespass fees), so I thought maybe marginally less pressures than other areas? Maybe not everyone realized it's open now?
- plenty of sign on the ground, can't walk more than a dozen paces on logging roads without stepping in elk poop [but also plenty of coyote and bear poop, so predators are around...]
- pretty good shooting/glassing spots -- plenty of parallel ridge lines with clear cuts or recent reproduction to look into
I went out there this weekend for another scouting run and didn't realize it was muzzie opener.
Every single trailhead had 2-3 trucks parked, most with a couple hunters in them I'd reckon. This is industrial timber land so the spine road is open and the logging roads that branch off every ~500 yards are closed. And literally 2-3 trucks on every single one of these gates for several miles. There isn't much land behind each of these gates, the larger streams and extremely dense old deadfall + reproduction areas that I could not get through even with a machete really cut this terrain into a gris. Basically means you can hike maybe 2-3 miles before it'd be much faster to hike out and come in from another road vs trying to cross very bad terrain.
Is this going to be the same or worse in rifle season? At what point is it better to find a different area ? Or am I overthinking this?
I thought i found a good spot:
- industrial timber land that recently changed hands and now allows public access (vs formerly rather pricey trespass fees), so I thought maybe marginally less pressures than other areas? Maybe not everyone realized it's open now?
- plenty of sign on the ground, can't walk more than a dozen paces on logging roads without stepping in elk poop [but also plenty of coyote and bear poop, so predators are around...]
- pretty good shooting/glassing spots -- plenty of parallel ridge lines with clear cuts or recent reproduction to look into
I went out there this weekend for another scouting run and didn't realize it was muzzie opener.
Every single trailhead had 2-3 trucks parked, most with a couple hunters in them I'd reckon. This is industrial timber land so the spine road is open and the logging roads that branch off every ~500 yards are closed. And literally 2-3 trucks on every single one of these gates for several miles. There isn't much land behind each of these gates, the larger streams and extremely dense old deadfall + reproduction areas that I could not get through even with a machete really cut this terrain into a gris. Basically means you can hike maybe 2-3 miles before it'd be much faster to hike out and come in from another road vs trying to cross very bad terrain.
Is this going to be the same or worse in rifle season? At what point is it better to find a different area ? Or am I overthinking this?
