Physht Merril and Ring.

[MountainWalk]

Have any of you gentlemen ever hunted M-R land? I understand you have to buy one of their permits. Ive heard of great bulls coming out of there and how little pressure there is there. Is most land in this unit M-R? Anything pertinate would be appreciated.

[Angus]

I archery hunted in there back in the 90's when you paid like $7/day to drive thru the gate, quit hunting there when they started making you buy an annual pass for a couple hundy. I mostly deer hunted in there and did pretty well, if I couldn't fill a tag in eastern Wa. during early season I could almost always connect in there during late season.
In the 6 or 7 years I hunted in there I didn't see alot of elk but I usually saw a few every year, 1 year I spotted a herd about a half mile away and put a stalk on them, I closed to within about 50 yards and spooked a bedded doe and she put a quick end to that stalk, that was the closest I ever came to shooting an elk in there. That herd had a 4x5 raghorn which was probably the biggest bull I saw in there.

[MountainWalk]

Good to know. Thanks Angus.

[nwhunter]

The M&R  Tree Farm has some dandy bulls and quite a herd of elk now. Problem is only 3 lucky people get to hunt it each year. They sell a max of 200 - 250 access permits each year(not sure how many exactly) which lets you deer hunt and recreate on the tree farm. Everyone who purchases a permit gets put into a drawing for those 3 elk permits. If you draw one you get to hunt with whatever weapon you choose in the legal season(state). Oh did I mention the access permits are $250. If you did draw one of the elk tags you could kill a monster no doubt. nwhunter

[MountainWalk]

   Say! Thanks nwhunter! I appreciate that. I mostly hunt elk on hoko rd or sekiu river rd and on the way there have always looked at it and wondered. This early ml season, one of the locals was saying five years ago he took a great 300 bull out of there.  Well, i have til next year to think about it....

[Westsidebowhunter]

Ive drawn the tag in their twice and had a lot of fun its as good as roosevelt elk hunting ever can be but it is hard to put down 250 a year when 200 people are in the drawning pot for three tags and then they let the native hunters in with out having to draw but thats anywhere you go. My first time i was thirteen and got a big 5pt the next time i was 16 and got a 6pt but i feel its getting harder to find the big boys now because they seem to be splitting up and staying more hidden then they used to. Oh and no offense to the tree farm the deer hunting sucks! its good for elk and bear thats about it

[Angus]

Oh and no offense to the tree farm the deer hunting sucks! its good for elk and bear thats about it

Damn, that sucks, back when I hunted there it was pretty common to see 10-15 deer a day and not uncommon to see 20+.

[bwhntr350]

Oh and no offense to the tree farm the deer hunting sucks! its good for elk and bear thats about it

Damn, that sucks, back when I hunted there it was pretty common to see 10-15 deer a day and not uncommon to see 20+.

 My two biggest bucks came from the tree farm. We used to get in there and hunt the timber hard. You could only see 20 or 30 feet in places but once in a while you could see out to 30 or 40 yards. We stuck with that recipe and about every two or three years would score a dandy buck.

 My Dad, and I do not know what his problem was, missed a big 3 point at 50 feet once. A few years later missed a monster in a clear cut at 150 yards and the same year wounded another monster at 15 feet, yes, 15 feet. Never found that one.

 As far as elk, we had seen them twice. Both times they were in the South Fork of the Physt River. Once in timber the other time in a clear cut. Decent 5 point in the herd the one time.

 We hunted out there a lot and only managed to see elk the two times. It seemed to me like it was only the one herd that was sort of isolated out in that area, but I may be wrong.

[Westsidebowhunter]

dont get me wrong deer hunting there can be good my dad has hunted it for 30 years and he kills big bucks every year but thats from knowing the land so well and also seems like lately alot of the big bucks are throw backs and are just giant 2pts ( nothing wrong with that) but it seems harder anymore to find 3 or 4 pts the elk used to hang out mainly on the north side but with in the last 3 or 4 years they have really expanded into the reprod of the south side making finding them hard but this year we saw a bachelor group in a cut that had 11 bulls and all were 4 1/2 years old or better just unreal to see roosevelt elk like that when your used to hunting the westend!

[bwhntr350]

dont get me wrong deer hunting there can be good my dad has hunted it for 30 years and he kills big bucks every year but thats from knowing the land so well and also seems like lately alot of the big bucks are throw backs and are just giant 2pts ( nothing wrong with that) but it seems harder anymore to find 3 or 4 pts the elk used to hang out mainly on the north side but with in the last 3 or 4 years they have really expanded into the reprod of the south side making finding them hard but this year we saw a bachelor group in a cut that had 11 bulls and all were 4 1/2 years old or better just unreal to see roosevelt elk like that when your used to hunting the westend!

 That's awesome! Seeing good bulls in there is encouraging.

 I never, not once, saw elk on the north side, lol, but, then again, I spent more time on the south side.

 I tried to contact M&R about the permits, I was interested. I filled out their card at the entrance one morning and dropped it into the box and then e-mailed them and never heard back from them.

 That's OK though beings I live in Spanaway, now. Figured I could head home, to Forks, spend the nights at my Dad's and then hunt the land that hunted when I learned how to hunt. So much for that, I gave up.

[RifleRidge]

I am not familiar with Physht Merril and Ring. I am guessing they are not around the SW part of the State...

[Angus]

I am not familiar with Physht Merril and Ring. I am guessing they are not around the SW part of the State...

Olympic peninsula, Pysht river.

[RifleRidge]

  Thank you

[TheHunt]

I know of a guy that got drawing this year.  First year of archery hunting and shot three arrows came up with nothing. 

[plugger]

They limit the tribes also. They to have to draw a permit. Thats why there are big bulls in there. 3 for the whities, 3 for the tribes.