New to elk

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

I'm not much of an archery hunter but one thing i haven't heard mention is i would call up the local fish and game department and ask to talk to a biologist of the area you plan to hunt.

Good Luck in Washington!!
You can find the regional Bio's for the areas in the contact section on the WDFW webpage, but unless you send an email to administration it will take months for an answer,
And then they will tell you they are a "forest practices" biologist, and dont really know about the game populations, and tell you to try "so and so", the only good biologists are in the field.

[ihuntforchrist]

I'm not much of an archery hunter but one thing i haven't heard mention is i would call up the local fish and game department and ask to talk to a biologist of the area you plan to hunt. Then ask him where you can pick up a fireman map of that area. Trust me its a really great tool it shows you every road access and bunny trail and if the roads are gated off or not. Then i would go down to the local sheriffs departmen and get a ORV map of the same area. Best two tools i never go elk hunting without. Once done call up the same biologist and pick his brain a little. Their more then willing to talk to you it is their job. But that's just me and i have had much success weather luck was on my side. One other thing as i seen mentioned. Smell if you smell elk their pretty close by.

I've called and they only told me that there aren't many out there, but the population has been increasing.

I've also made my own maps on mytopo.com and have some from work that cover other areas i am not planning on hunting, but may still go check out.

[sebek556]

  welcome to the battlegrounds  elk in the northeast tend to be small herds and scattered about pretty well. A lot of them know where public land ends and private non pressured begins.  This year it switched to bulls only, some see this as the offset the new pressure on the small herd from the onset of wolves.  One thing I have noticed so far this year is elk move out of the area if wolves are present and hunting. One area I used to keep in my back pocket held a herd of 10-15 elk. The herd has been unseen since this winter, wolves were documented there last fall. Having to callers call back and forth with a combo of cow and bugles has worked well for me in the past. 

[Opportunist]

Ihuntforchrist, Don't shoot Jesus, not cool man, not cool!

[ihuntforchrist]

from what i'm gathering, I just have to find them and then hunt them like any other kind of elk.

I found a spot that has elk now, but i doubt they'll be there 3 months from now. guess i'll just have to burn some more boot leather.

Ihuntforchrist, Don't shoot Jesus, not cool man, not cool!

not exactly what i'm going for with the name. I hope to some day have a hunting ministry called ihuntforchrist ministries. I want to focus on having family oriented hunts. I know from my childhood that hunting with my dad and family only brought us closer together

[ihuntforchrist]

i found some!!! I know it definitely doesn't mean i'm going to kill one, but at least i know they do exist. [smg id=11576]

I saw 3 cows, a spike, and a calf. there were more in the area that i could hear talking to each other, but i didn't see them. i'm pretty excited for Sept

[268bull]

ihfC, don't get down on the site, it's a good place to blog, and just roll with the punches thrown from some folks. They're good people. There really is a great deal of info to be found. I'm not even from these boy's neck of the woods, and I alway's find something interesting. I do live south of you, in Oregon, have been huntin' elk here for the last 35 years, and even had a little luck with it. Couldn't tell you a thing about huntin' the Spokane area though. I'm not an east side hunter either. I hunted twice ( '87 & '88 ) on the east side in oregon, and didn't enjoy either hunt. I love the west central side though in the middle of October down here ( Cascade General Hunt ). 7 day's of grueling, sweating, often soaked to the bone fun. ( It has to be fun, or I still wouldn't doing it at 61 ) I'll try to help you out some. Just supply me with a couple of ? at a throw and I'll try to get some answers to ya. First thing I'd recommend is to buy J.Phelps cow calls, and a couple of his diaphragm calls, then get to work on those. Then, if you think I might help any. I don't mind sharing with you. Bull

[ihuntforchrist]

i'm not down on the site, I was tdy the last month. I'm also not the kind of guy that posts on everything i read. thanks for the tips.

Now that i've found a few animals i plan on spending the few free weekends i have keeping stock of these animals and getting to know there habits. Maybe I'll find the herd bull and forget that i don't know anything about elk.

[windygorge]

if you have never killed an elk, be prepared for an undertaking if you do.  nothing more difficult to clean an elk that has lodged itself between trees, or logs or in a hole.  take a small tarp(to throw the meat on once off the animal), game bags(or large pillow cases, but not garbage bags), couple sharp knives, sharpener, packable saw, pack frame, 50ft cord, and pepper for the flies and bees if their bad, and any help you can get.
good luck and i love your handle name my man...........GO JC

[arrowflinger]

One thing I have learned is to learn there escape routes. Last year muzzy hunting I got busted by some elk in a clear cut.  after realizing there was no way to catch up to them, off to the truck I went. Somewhere down the road they crossed in front of me. I pulled out the map and started looking at the best route they would have taken. so a few days later, I was back in the clear cut......busted once again. I hurried to a spot that I figure they would travel and shot an elk. The cool thing was, I was able to use this also during a rifle season for a friend.....the elk did come thru there but we where not successful this time.

[ihuntforchrist]

if you have never killed an elk, be prepared for an undertaking if you do.  nothing more difficult to clean an elk that has lodged itself between trees, or logs or in a hole.  take a small tarp(to throw the meat on once off the animal), game bags(or large pillow cases, but not garbage bags), couple sharp knives, sharpener, packable saw, pack frame, 50ft cord, and pepper for the flies and bees if their bad, and any help you can get.
good luck and i love your handle name my man...........GO JC

I've never killed an elk, but I have packed a lot of whitetails out of the woods. I've also butchered hundreds of animals of all sizes. I never thought about the pepper for the bees.

What game bags do you use?

as far as packing it out. I have a strong back and a weak mind. so it should be fun

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

I've never killed an elk, but I have packed a lot of whitetails out of the woods. I've also butchered hundreds of animals of all sizes.

We had a guy from Pennsylvania come hunt with us one year, killed a cow on opening day.
Luckily he had lots of help getting it hung at camp, but found out that 1 elk equals about 4 whitetail.

[windygorge]

don't get the chinsy cheese cloth kind.  by the time you pull it over the quarter, you mind as well have nothing on it.  there are some you can get that are thicker.  walmart, bimart, and wholesale sports carry them for around 12 bucks for 4 bags.  or the kind that are prerolled up and look like big donuts.  they come in packs of 4 as well.  you can wash them for several seasons.  those huge ones you can get that are as thick as a wall tent are over kill. 
as for comparing whitetails to elk.  not sure there is a comparison, with weight, amount of trips and the crazy terrain.  if you have butchered livestock in a controlled environment, then all i can say is..you have butchered livestock in a controlled environment.  prolly hanging with stainless tables and the sort.  add steep terrain, dirt, grass, bees, flies, where you are, prolly grizzlies, time and distance to a freezer.  the scale has shifted a bit.  especially in NE washington.  i guess every hunter has a learning curve, but don't underestimate the difficulty.  if anything, be overprepared, if there is such a thing.
God bless my man

[ihuntforchrist]

as for comparing whitetails to elk.  not sure there is a comparison, with weight, amount of trips and the crazy terrain.  if you have butchered livestock in a controlled environment, then all i can say is..you have butchered livestock in a controlled environment.  prolly hanging with stainless tables and the sort.  add steep terrain, dirt, grass, bees, flies, where you are, prolly grizzlies, time and distance to a freezer.  the scale has shifted a bit.  especially in NE washington.  i guess every hunter has a learning curve, but don't underestimate the difficulty.  if anything, be overprepared, if there is such a thing.
God bless my man

I've packed multiple deer out (whole and/or quartered) on multiple occasions for many miles. 90 lbs on your back is still 90 lbs.

And no I grew up on a farm where we butchered our own animals. No stainless steel tables with conveyors. Just a dead cow on the ground that needs to go in the freezer, some tarps and a few stainless bowls. Not much different than what i imagine feild dressing to be.

I'm not saying its easy. I just dont really care if its hard. That's what makes good memories. 

[Kingpuck]

ihfc, don't worry you are not alone. This is going to be my first year hunting period and decided to do it with a bow no less. Hang in there. One lesson I have already learned is to get in the gym and stay there during the week and hike/scout year round. Think my new routine is going to be work and gym all week with hikes/scouting just about year round on the weekends.

Might even get good enough to buy a new bow!!