2018 Roosevelt Elk Hunt: Live

[406LIFE]

I leave in the morning for Western Washington for my first Roosevelt elk hunt. The buddy that I am taking with me and I are elk hunters from Montana, but this will be an entirely new challenge. The environment is very different: only 1200' of elevation with 200' changes; wet and cold, rain supposed to be nearly the entire time and hovering in the 40s; and super thick on Weyerhauser land. The permits we got are the ones that let us drive in the unit. We have e-scouted and located many areas that we think will hold elk: clearings near benches that are isolated. The sub-species is also different: Rosies are bigger bodied, smaller antlered. I really don't know what to expect as for behavior differences. Still, we have talked to the WA biologists and the private land biologists and gotten good read on the land and realistic expectations on size and density. Other than that, there is surprisingly little on specifics of chasing Rosies.

So I will try to update daily as we are out there, as coverage allows. We will have one full day of on the ground scouting followed by the opener on Nov 3 and seven days of hunting. My partner will have first right of refusal and three points are the minimum. Neither of us are picky, so I imagine first bull seen will fall.

 

[406LIFE]

Day One: Travel and Camp Prep

Drove the 550 miles here from Montana to Western WA. We got a late start and a short detour through MT Ranier National Park put us here well after dark. Having not been here before we checked out a few locations for camp. We wanted somethig off the main road with decent wind break. There was a good sysyem moving through and each time we stopped we knew if it would work or not right away. We settled on this place and the rain let up nough for us to get the tent up. Two guys in a 10x10 Kodiak Canvas, cots and gear made it snug. We have tomorrow to scout and ooener on Saturday.

 

[Irrelevant]

I hope you see some. I'd consider that a success. And you certainly nailed the weather window. Looks like up to 5-10 inches of rain though Monday morning (starting last monday)

 

[406LIFE]

Day 2: Scouting
We woke up to thick fog that kept us at camp until 10am. After that we set off to points that would give us avenie to glass clearings and youbger regrowth. Many of the spots we escouted were no good because the topography precluded the view or the sattelite easnt UTD and the areas werent target rich. The clouds were still low and took most of the day to burn off. The rain was off and on but just a drizzle. What that meant for optics was the further you tried to see the hazier it got. We managed to see some blacktails, but just glimpses from the road as they moved out of the way. A handful of ruffed grouse, with the red morph coloring were found. We felt like we had the whole area to ourselves, only seeing one truck. A quick lunch and longer nap broke up the day and a couple hours later we found our first Rosies. A herd of 10 cows and one spike. The stood out in contrast to the green of everything. The light faded quick, so we headed back for dinner. We disnt see any bulls, but weve found areas with sign and will be waiting at sunup for them.

 

[406LIFE]

Day 3, 8am: Opener

In 45 mins before ahooting time. Light drizzle. 5 shots at sunrise, somewhere not too far away. Many trucks, mostly diesels drive by our location not knowing we are here. A blactial buck doe pair came through, on the smaller side.

 

[406LIFE]

We have gotten into fresh sign. Still not seeing any. The timber is too thick to try to walk through, cant see them and our noise will push them out. Sitting on a knife ridge glassing both sides at the moment. We did see one bull across the way taken, small 2 year old. It was about 200' down and they were using a winch to get up. So they are here.

 

[BigHornRam]

Interesting looking country. Good luck on your hunt.

 

[406LIFE]

Day 3, End of Day

Lots of time spent in the constant drizzle waiting for a glimpse of elk. The prevailing thought of the locals is that the cold rain brings the animals to clearings to feed and stay warm. They did not get that memo. The only living creatures we saw were banana slugs, a new one for us but not the #targetspecies We will see what tomorrow holds, moving to some new area. The weather is supposed to break and we dont know if thats a good thing. First day of chasing #rooseveltelk and i dont know if I'm sold yet. Still putting togetjer the pieces and engaging new challenges of the Pacific Northwest.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

If you get a chance at a mature Roosevelt and it comes together I think you will be sold. Otherwise you will probably go on with life and feel pity for anyone who hunts them. Definitely a love hate relationship in the rain forest.

 

[Epitome]

Those views are gorgeous. Being from the midwest, I would love to have views like that.

 

[el unit]

Good luck 406. Hope you find one in that thick, forest-jungle.

 

[Sytes]

Looking forward to your updates! Enjoy following along with the adventure. Best of success to you and your hunt partner.

 

[noharleyyet]

Good stuff...keep it going.

 

[Irrelevant]

Forgot to say good luck. It only takes a few second to change a hunt.

 

[406LIFE]

Day 4, AM:

Daylight savings didnt help the fog to get gone any sooner. Pretty much socked in until 830. Then the sun broke through for the first time in 3 days. Not sure how long that will last. The timber is so thick that when we jumped a small forked horn blacktail buck on the road, he ran several hundred yards before he found a hole to jump through. The temp might hit sixty today but with the wind and rain, it still makes a need for layers. I am struggling with reverting to my Rocky Mountain Elk tactics which aren't very helpful. The game is glass clearings. More to come.

 

[406LIFE]

Day 4, Mid PM:
There are still remnants of the great forests that were once here. This stump is over 8 feet wide and now has another hemlock growing out of it. All over these giant stumps dot the landscape. You wonder when they were cut and how old the tree was.

 

[406LIFE]

Day 4, End:
Another day shortening our learning curve. Thermals swirl wherever they want. In Western Washingron, if its 10% chance for rain, that means it will stop raining for 10% of the day. Blacktail will let you watch them until you get out of the truck. But we were on good elk sign, seeing some deer moving. Hunter numbers thinned a bit. Last pic is the ending to another beautiful (in its own way) day.

 

[duckhunt]

Great thread

 

[406LIFE]

Day 5, AM

Sitting on a clearing I found a .280 casing. I wonder if they had to drag an elk the 400 yards up a near vertical slope. Then the rain opened up just enough to make sure we never leave our gortex in the trucks again. Then by way of apology it offered this color in the sky.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Hopefully today is the day! Weather is better down in Oregon anyhow.