Washington state woes

[wcasey755]

So the title says it all, man I struggle with elk. I consider myself a pretty efficient blacktail hunter. Even have a nice buck with a recurve. I kill ducks, bobcats, coyotes. But man that elk eludes me. I hunt the coweeman unit in cowlitz county. My question for all my Washington peeps. The numbers where I’m at are low, the hoofrot is high. Can anyone point me in a direction? Anywhere in Washington. I don’t want OnX waypoints or honey holes. Units? I just want to have a better opportunity than 6%. Even just being able to see more sign would lift my spirits. I don’t want any trophy class animal. Just a better chance at a legal bull. I’ve looked at harvest reports but it’s hard to tell what has draw only or no public access. So I thought I’d check here first. I just Bring one home to my three year old girl next year (shameless pandering).

 

[Thejet]

Probably not going to find anyone on here that’s willing to point you to a unit. If you put a little effort in you can find unit by unit harvest stats and cross off areas with higher hoof rot.
Do some research this off season and put yourself in a unit with higher success, higher population, and less hoof rot. Scouting the place you picked wouldn’t hurt either.

 

[eightyeight mag]

Elk hunting is hard.
It’s been 6-8% success rate for years in general hunt units. Well before the hoof rot debacle.

Hoof rot has been significantly reduced due to the mass culling by the wdfw. Cow tags have been mostly eliminated in SW Wa to rebuild herds.

You still have 5 days left in the season to go out and find your bull. They are out there for guys willing to work.

 

[wcasey755]

Elk hunting is hard.
It’s been 6-8% success rate for years in general hunt units. Well before the hoof rot debacle.

Hoof rot has been significantly reduced due to the mass culling by the wdfw. Cow tags have been mostly eliminated in SW Wa to rebuild herds.

You still have 5 days left in the season to go out and find your bull. They are out there for guys willing to work.

While I agree. Hoofrot is far from gone and it makes hunting a area null and void unless you want to roll the dice on that meat. I definetly do have five days left and im going to use them! this season has just been defeating.

 

[wcasey755]

Probably not going to find anyone on here that’s willing to point you to a unit. If you put a little effort in you can find unit by unit harvest stats and cross off areas with higher hoof rot.
Do some research this off season and put yourself in a unit with higher success, higher population, and less hoof rot. Scouting the place you picked wouldn’t hurt either.

Ive been working on that but where can you find statistics for hoofrot to cross refrence units? I am doing research, I just thought someone might be extra nice and cut the time off it.

 

[Thejet]

You can find areas listed that are worst than others. You would have to overlay the areas vs units as I didn’t find anywhere they broke it down to a unit level.

 

[shootnrun]

If you find a unit with more elk you'll have to start a new thread because there are too many people.. WA is a grind. There are no secrets and nothing is sacred. Only way to be successful is with a fair amount of preparation and a whole lot of luck. Won't kill em from the couch.

 

[Kingofthemountain83]

West side elk hunting is difficult... I've got one west side bull out of three years hunting them... Was just lucky... Called him in... During muzzy elk...

 

[wcasey755]

West side elk hunting is difficult... I've got one west side bull out of three years hunting them... Was just lucky... Called him in... During muzzy elk...

Yeah thats another thing. Coin flipping if the rut is gonna be late or not with your season. Brutal. But fine work on harvasting! im 0-8 seasons so far

 

[StupidLightweight]

I grew up hunting Roosevelt elk in southwest WA. It's as challenging as big-game hunts can get. My last season was 2011, so it's probably many times harder now. The keys to success are 1) scouting before season, 2) getting lucky, 3) out-hunting other humans, and 4) using archery equipment. If you're only rifle hunting, instead of glassing clearcuts, still hunt nasty areas where others don't want to go. Take a few steps and glass, glass, glass. Repeat the process. It might take you all day to cover a mile.

I killed a bull doing this in 2007, though I got lucky because it was bone-dry in early November and I heard a lone bull breaking twigs as he fed. I snuck up and found him. Even then, it was a snap shot to break his hip going away and another shot through the vitals to anchor him. It was a hunt to hang my hat on because I beat a bull on his own turf.

If I were planning to hunt WA again, I'd go to the Olympics (again, archery would be my first choice). Bring a tough buddy who won't complain, find the most brutal area you can to weed out other hunters, and spend the week living in the elk jungles. It might take a few seasons, but eventually, you'll find success. It might be a raghorn, or it might be a palmated monster with crowns.