Western WA Roosevelt Tips, Tactics, Stories, Media, Etc

[bricketts]

Hey all, long winded title for this one I know! I’m a long time member here, fairly successful blacktail and muley hunter(far from an expert), but have severely caught the elk bug, specifically Rosies.

I’ve never hunted elk before but used to call a lot as a hobby and had luck calling some dandy bulls in for pictures on Hancock between archery and muzzy season, and have been listening to every podcast with Phelps as a guest I can find learning about speaking the language.

I located some good bulls via trail camera on public land last year but didn’t have the time to hunt the seasons I’d liked to have and never quite found their “core” area(I believe it’s on nearby private fields), they just occasionally passed through, and this year in a different public area picked up a smasher of a shed, and the area is littered with fresh and old elk sign. I mean you can’t walk without stepping in crap. I’m familiar enough with the area to know it gets low hunter pressure, and am ready to go down this rabbit hole head on and for as long as it takes to get an elk on the ground.

I’m proficient with rifle, bow, and muzzleloader, and the smoke pile season is what I have been planning on hunting but I’d like to hear opinions on this matter of which season to hunt.

And as the title says, I’d love any advice you seasoned vets are willing to provide, any podcasts you found helpful, any anecdotal stories of successes and mistakes you made along the way, calling tips, you name it. I appreciate any and all of it fellers, thanks in advance!

Picture of the 12 pound, 296”(with 40” spread credit) 48” main beam monarch I picked up last weekend!!

 

[DenimChicken]

The Born and Raised guys hunt Roosevelts in Oregon. If you're after stories or more info, that's a good place to start.

Archery or muzzleloader are your best bets. Earlier seasons and less pressure. Depending on area, archery can also open up cows if you are looking to stock the freezer and not after a trophy bull. Good way to cut your teeth on the whole process and learn a lot.

 

[bricketts]

Thanks @DenimChicken I’ll check out Born and Raised, haven’t ever listened to their podcast!

A cow would put me over the moon, both archery and muzzleloader season in my area allow for cow harvest. A bull would put that much more of a grin on my face but man do I just love game meat. Appreciate you taking the time to reply

 

[DenimChicken]

You bet. I'm still trying to get the whole Rosie thing figured out myself. I've been rifle hunting Rocky Mountain Elk but now that I'm back in the PNW I am all in on archery Roosevelt.

 

[blackveltbowhunter]

You really need to decide what style of hunting you wish to do. Calling them in is by far the most fun and exciting way to kill one, and if you truly have a secret spot it could be money!
For calling to be fun you really need unpressured elk. The more unpressured elk the better. Calling ( making elk noise and communication ) is the easy part. The setup is the hard part. Bulls that are pressured put themselves in locations that make setup on them difficult. Ridge points and creek bottom elevations with fickle winds, in large vine maple patches or jackfir that make stealthy approaches very difficult or impossible, on a herd edge that has multiple sentinels to sound an alarm if anything gets hinky. Most importantly they are very tight lipped if you can get them to sound off at all. The flip side is unpressured elk may spend the day in stands of old growth with moss covered floor silencing your approach and shooting lanes for days. Or they might bed in a cool flat creek bottom with steady thermals, and pop off randomly at any cracking branches and come running to a hoochie mama like a lab pup to a milk bone.

For reference, of my last 5 archery bulls not one was killed by "calling it in". I used calls a couple times, but the bull was never committed to me, these are high pressure public land bulls and while they will vocalize, they are extremely wary. I have had more success shadowing a herd until they make a mistake and place themselves in a vulnerable location and strike only when the iron is hot.

If calling is going to be your method, then archery and muzzy are the only real options. But there is more pressure in those seasons IME. Having the multi season tag last year opened my eyes to the fact that at least where I have historically hunted, the rifle season was the least busy season.