2018 Roosevelt Elk Hunt: Live

[406LIFE]

Day 5,PM
When you aren't seeing animals you only take pictures of the landscape. I figured I would change that up a little bit and show you what I have been chasing these are Roosevelt elk with. This is a Browning X bolt Hells Canyon Speed with a Vortex HST 6-20X scope. I have tried it out in the evenings but have not really done much else to it. Lots of rain has poured but no rust on the cerakote barrel. Here's hoping that I get to use it and I haven't just lugged it around.

 

[406LIFE]

Day 5, PM

We spent the past 3 days sitting on clearings in an area where we saw elk in our scouting. We've seen fresh sign as well which made us stay here as long as we have without seeing anything. Tomorrow we're going to add walking spur roads to the strategy. They act us small clearings in an otherwise almost impossibly thick rainforest. It is challenging to stay upbeat when you have not yet seen an elk. Even the black tail have been few and far between. It's almost as if we are putting a puzzle together but we do not know what the picture is.
Atill, the views here are very different than back home in Montana. Fog and clouds are a constant in the elevation changes are just a few hundred feet. I can see why archery hunting for Rosie's is so popular. Being able to locate them with Bugles and try them out of this thick stuff seems to be the perfect tactic.

 

[Sytes]

Really enjoyable following along with your adventure! Nice looking browning! Am I correct, it's a.243 or does it come in other options?
I would enjoy a x20 scope. Dialing it in really nice is always a bonus!

 

[406LIFE]

Day 6, AM
Not an elk but I wont be leaving Washington empty handed. This #ruffedgrouse rouse has a red coloring you dont find often in Montana.@randynewberghunter would be proud that i interupted my #elkhunt for a grouse.

 

[406LIFE]

Day 6, PM

Changed up the area and it paid off. We got into grouse, bears, coyotes and just at the end of the day...elk. It was too dark to know what size, but it was legal. We put them to bed and will get on them in the morning. Three days of nothing and it all turned around in an instant. We still have 2 days and a wake up to get it done so the optimism is at an all time high. This has been my most challenging hunt, but perisisentce is crucial to making it work. If three days was our limit, we'd have been packed up. Now we have renewed energy and a piece to the puzzle we can see. We know what they want to be in, so we will oblige them.

 

[406LIFE]

Morning came and went with no elk. We did see this fat blacktail waddle away from us. The weather cleared up after fogging us out into the nicest day we've had here. We have this evening to get it done before we pack it up.

 

[LuketheDog]

Beautiful grouse!

 

[Irrelevant]

I hunted western WA rifle for 14 years before switching to archery, in that time I saw one legal bull on public land. I'd say seeing one your first season was a success.

 

[406LIFE]

Day 7 and Wrap up:

We were on the coldest morning of the hunt sitting in the clearing. We had about 300 yards visibility around us. Fog rolled in and out all day, but we sat the clearing. Wind was in our favor, which was good, but also cutting on the face. We had numerous blacktail come through, a 3x3 that was a dandy, but no elk ever appeared. We headed back to camp and packed up.

Clsoing thoughts on this hunt:

-Escouting was not very helpful. OnX Sattelite images were waya off, clearings they showed were actually very grown areas. Google earth was better and helped us to identify more clearings to glass.
-This was my most challenging hunt to date. I've been able to get on animals before, but this trip bettered me. I underestimated just how thick these forests are; there really is no getting through them. There has to be a well established trail or road. The fog and moisture in the air made for very difficult glassing.
-The Weyerhauser land we were on east of Centralia required us to pay $300 for a permit. There was the option for walkin for $75, but I don't know who would do that except a local who knew exactly where to go and it wasa within a couple miles of a gate. We still regularly saw other trucks but probably not as many as public land in Montana. I'm not sure I would do it again.
-We talked with locals, biologists, lease managers and the like. We spent 2 years prepping for this trip and our confidence level was high. But being our first Rosie trip, we have a much better understanding now of what the environment and the elk are like.
-We noticed that many had winch with several hundred feet of rope and we watched one bull be drug up a few hundred feet. That was news to us and a useful suggestion int he future.
-I can't stress good gear, especially raingear enough. Had I not had my cloudburst gear and gaiters, I am sure I would have hated life.
-At the end of our trip we met with a guy who lived in the area and hunted it for 20 years. He talked about access issues and the now gated off private timberland. Apparently our unit was low on the end of quality elk numbers. If you get a permit over there for a good area, they sell out in minutes the day they open.
-I would like to go back but in archery season when you can bugle and locate them and call them in. I am convinced this is the most effective way to do it in such thick country.
-While I did not come back with an elk, I have a much larger, informed experience set to put in my tool box. I am significantly more prepared for hunting in that terrain. "Nothing is something" is a truth that is hard earned. We saw few elk and had many days of nothing but there were great lessons in those days.

I received many texts and PMs with encouragement and enjoyment at the live hunt. Thanks for those and I look forward to the next time I do this. (I leave in 2 days for 10 days chasing mulies in SE MT, maybe I'll do the same for that. )