I don't mean I've never seen one in town, since I can remember I've been all over the woods between The canadian Border to St Helens, and I've never seen an elk farther north than NorthBend/Snoqualmie area, and never south of Highway 20 in between Hamilton and Rockport... and even those sightings, or people talking about them, were rare.
But these are THICK western Wa woods we are talking about. Never say Never...and again, it was not a Decoy. Unless there has been a TON of money dumped into them recently, and they now walk around and jump gates and etc...