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Author Topic: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?  (Read 33002 times)

Offline willapawapiti

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #60 on: April 25, 2015, 07:15:40 AM »
Might have met you while deer hunting / elk scouting on Sawtooth with my daughter?? Was blowing like a bugger that day, snow sideways?

Offline nwhunter

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #61 on: April 25, 2015, 08:17:46 AM »
They both can produce great bulls with the Blues obviously being the topshelf elk hunt. With that said it comes down to which area you really have time to scout and hunt because no hunt is a slam dunk and trying to kill a true big bull isnt easy. The most important to me that I see people get in a bind with is after they draw these awesome tags they have nobody to go with them to help. It takes a team for a good elk hunt especially in the tough country not only to hunt but to pack it out if successful. Most of the guys I have guided in the Blues are good hunters but didnt have a partner willing to give up their own hunting to go with them. Take a good look at the success rates on these hunts and realize it isnt just crappy hunters that arent killing their elk and many of the bulls killed are not even 300 inch bulls. I think the guys drawing tags like Peaches Ridge every 5-10 years are happy people are waiting lifetimes to hunt the Blues.

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #62 on: April 25, 2015, 08:57:59 AM »
They both can produce great bulls with the Blues obviously being the topshelf elk hunt. With that said it comes down to which area you really have time to scout and hunt because no hunt is a slam dunk and trying to kill a true big bull isnt easy. The most important to me that I see people get in a bind with is after they draw these awesome tags they have nobody to go with them to help. It takes a team for a good elk hunt especially in the tough country not only to hunt but to pack it out if successful. Most of the guys I have guided in the Blues are good hunters but didnt have a partner willing to give up their own hunting to go with them. Take a good look at the success rates on these hunts and realize it isnt just crappy hunters that arent killing their elk and many of the bulls killed are not even 300 inch bulls. I think the guys drawing tags like Peaches Ridge every 5-10 years are happy people are waiting lifetimes to hunt the Blues.
Like you know anything about big bulls in the blues!! :chuckle:
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Offline stew pidasso

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #63 on: April 25, 2015, 02:10:49 PM »
Might have met you while deer hunting / elk scouting on Sawtooth with my daughter?? Was blowing like a bugger that day, snow sideways?
Very possible I guess. I am all over the west Wenaha the whole deer an elk general seasons. I just remember meeting someone out there with more than 30 pts once. I think they were on horseback though.
Don't forget your spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch.

Offline willapawapiti

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #64 on: April 25, 2015, 02:18:23 PM »
No horses here, well, my daughter's 4-H horse, but no hunting horses yet :) 

Offline rosscrazyelk

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #65 on: April 25, 2015, 04:29:39 PM »
I have been in both units. They are both amazing places.. I know the Dayton unit the best and I will say having hunted the Dayton unit for years. You get what you put in. I have been blessed to have been drawn twice for a bull tag there and I have not harvested a true monster. Yes the possibilities are there but it is not easy..
I feel I have been very lucky in my success there partly because I will go anywhere and I have learned a lot by hunting there for many years..
My advice would be put in for where you have the time to do the homework.. I cannot tell you how many times I have ran into guys who are lazy or never been there before who say they have not seen anything while I am seeing many animals a day.
Like I said you get what you put inand with a lot of luck.. That's my belief anyway.. If you get drawn down there I am more than willing to give out some info.. Barring none of my friends draw ;)
If its brown knock it down

Offline rosscrazyelk

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #66 on: April 25, 2015, 04:42:44 PM »
Both bulls I have taken there..Significant size difference
If its brown knock it down

Offline magnumb

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #67 on: April 25, 2015, 06:22:31 PM »
I just went through the same dilema.  I hunted the Nooksack herd for many years and took 12 bulls that I still remember as some of my most memorable and favorite hunts (no matter how wet.....very wet).  Much younger then and alot more energy.  That area held some of the most majestic bulls I've ever seen.  That area was closed down in '91 (?) and I started goin' over the pass.  It's certainly a change now in that we can only pursue 'true spikes' where my buddies and I currently call 'elk camp'. 

I've managed to collect 18 elk points and have stuck it out so far, but with so many years behind me and many less ahead of me, it does cause one to rethink their game plan.  But as usual, I will likely continue to try for my current hunting units 'quality bull' tag, even though they hand out only about a handful each year.  I know my current elk area so well (23 years) that my confidence is quite high that a real wall hanger is possible, but each year I have less faith in getting drawn and getting that opportunity. 

I've taken many spikes and true spikes since my forced move east in '92 and cherish each one of those, as well.  There's no better table fare to be had, but even though I've taken many nice Nooksack bulls, I really miss the opportunity to go after a major bull on the eastside.

Age and our physical condition certainly has a bearing on many aspects of our daily lives.  The fact that some of us are creepin' up on perhaps our last opportunity to get drawn for a 'quality' hunt, is a bit tough to come to terms with......at least, for me.  Becoming older, albeit not nearly as exciting as the day of you're 21st birthday, can have many wonderful benefits.  Being older with less than 100 elk points is not one of them........... :).

Good luck being drawn for your special/quality hunts to all those with such dilema's and to those 35-40ish aged guys and gal's out there.........as I and many others thought when we were your age, the possibilities for being drawn for several or many special/quality hunts before you're 'final hunt' may not be as likely as you might imagine.

Sooooo........choose your choices wisely, check out other possibilities elsewhere and make the best of each and every hunt.

Good luck!
« Last Edit: April 25, 2015, 08:56:24 PM by magnumb »

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #68 on: April 25, 2015, 06:42:51 PM »
I just went through the same dilema.  I hunted the Nooksack herd for many years and took 12 bulls that I still remember as some of my most memorable and favorite hunts (no matter how wet.....very wet).  Much younger then and alot more energy.  That area held some of the most majestic bulls I've ever seen.  That area was closed down in '91 (?) and I started goin' over the pass.  It's certainly a change now in that we can only pursue 'true spikes' where my buddies and I currently call 'elk camp'. 

I've managed to collect 18 elk points and have stuck it out so far, but with so many years behind me and many less ahead of me, it does cause one to rethink their game plan.  But as usual, I will likely continue to try for my current hunting units 'quality bull' tag, even though they hand out only about a handful each year.  I know my current elk area so well (25+ years) that my confidence is quite high that a real wall hanger is possible, but each year I have less faith in getting drawn and getting that opportunity. 

I've taken many spikes and true spikes since my forced move east in '92 and cherish each one of those, as well.  There's no better table fare to be had, but even though I've taken many nice Nooksack bulls, I really miss the opportunity to go after a major bull on the eastside.

Age and our physical condition certainly has a bearing on many aspects of our daily lives.  The fact that some of us are creepin' up on perhaps our last opportunity to get drawn for a 'quality' hunt, is a bit tough to come to terms with......at least, for me.  Becoming older, albeit not nearly as exciting as the day of you're 21st birthday, can have many wonderful benefits.  Being older with less than 100 elk points is not one of them........... :).

Good luck being drawn for your special/quality hunts to all those with such dilema's and to those 35-40ish aged guys and gal's out there.........as I and many others thought when we were your age, the possibilities for being drawn for several or many special/quality hunts before you're 'final hunt' may not be as likely as you might imagine.

Sooooo........choose your choices wisely, check out other possibilities elsewhere and make the best of each and every hunt.

Good luck!
BAM!!! Very well said!!!
“In common with”..... not so much!!

Offline CAMPMEAT

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #69 on: April 25, 2015, 07:15:22 PM »
I get confused all the time :chuckle: too many posts.



Read mine, you won't get confused.  :tup:
I couldn't care less about what anybody says..............

Offline magnumb

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #70 on: April 25, 2015, 08:54:27 PM »
Thanks trophyhunt....... ;).

My take is that family and friends should be our priorities, but individually (be it older or younger), we all need to fuel our own tanks now and again or we're worthless to those we most care about.  If friends and family join you on your huntin' trips....all the better!  But oftentimes, their passions are not yours and vice versa.  Totally expected and understandable......such is life.

Life often gets in the way of really living......doing those things that we most love that make us excited and happy because that's who we really are and what we could spend every waking minute doing if given the chance and we were without family and friends.  It's a balancing act, one that needs to be addressed, but in the end, should satisfy you as an individual.

Best to you and yours..... 
« Last Edit: April 27, 2015, 09:04:59 AM by magnumb »

Offline toyman2

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #71 on: April 27, 2015, 04:44:14 PM »
I have helped several people in the Blues with their OIL tag. Some have done ok most have ate the tag.
One thing that has been very common for most I have helped in some way that are from the wet side is almost every person has under estimated the weather and terain. People seem to think it is easy to shoot a monster in the blues, it isnt. I live in Dayton, I am up there all the time, 3 or more times a month at least. They arent easy to come by and you dont see them everyday. The weather can change everything you know, the amount of people hunting can change the way the elk are. The only thing predictable in the blues about elk hunting, is that the weather is unpredictable.

Offline huntnnw

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #72 on: April 27, 2015, 10:00:35 PM »
People say "the Blues" as if it's one unit. Each unit is drastically different in terms of terrain and land ownership.

I say out in for the Nook if you want a big Rosie, and a blues tag if a rocky. IF you put in for the Blues, be VERY honest with your physical ability. I'm tired of hearing people putting in for premier units and finding out that it can be like hunting the Grand Canyon, after they pull a tag. Only to result in a quality tag wasted because they can't handle the terrain.

Stang, this May or may not apply to you. Just a generalization for those permits.

This thread is my dilemma as well. Getting to the point where I have a VERY small chance at a Blues tag, or it could take another 10 years to draw. Do I hunt a "lesser" unit and kill a 300-340" bulls every 5-6 years or wait 12-18 years for a CHANCE at a 380+? Remember, a quality tag doesn't guarantee anything, let alone a monster bull. Most people with those tags end up eating them.

 :yeah: I witnessed over half the archery tag holders in the Mt View unit were not able to hunt the unit due to its steepness.

Offline Elkterd

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #73 on: April 28, 2015, 06:19:24 AM »
True statement, I was one of them, age, and not scouting two very critical items to concider in the Blues,,,,,,,,, :twocents:

Offline mwhunter

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Re: Blues or Nooksack with your Quality Points?
« Reply #74 on: April 28, 2015, 07:16:16 AM »
I got 8 and multi think I will draw it this year?
To me its about the future

 


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