Winston Rifle Elk

[whtbuck]

Sure did, I smoked a nice 6x5 at first light...saw a ton of people camped along the river.My shot was the first of the morning.Started hearing shots shortly after.Talked to a guy at the Market store that had a nice 6x6 that could of been my Bull's twin.5 hrs to get it to the truck,Feels like i went 12 rounds with the Champ still...

[Bigbuckoholic]

Sure did, I smoked a nice 6x5 at first light...saw a ton of people camped along the river.My shot was the first of the morning.Started hearing shots shortly after.Talked to a guy at the Market store that had a nice 6x6 that could of been my Bull's twin.5 hrs to get it to the truck,Feels like i went 12 rounds with the Champ still...

You weren't the guy with the yellow mtn bike were you?

[HntnFsh]

Took my dad out beatin the roads for a bit this morn. Saw some guys dragging out a nice bull about 1/2 way to the top of the hill as you head up to the gate where you drop over to Green river hatchery. 1901 I think.

[whtbuck]

No..we were in the ford ranger with all the rope and tow block

[Ripper]

We hunted the lower end of the unit, 4500 road system I think. Saw 2 cows and only 1 bull in the back of a truck. Everyone we talked to said the hunting, amount of animals seen was the worst they ever saw. I talked to a couple of old timers that have hunted the area for 35 and 40 years, and they said it was terrible!

I agree with the earlier post about not being able to get away from other hunters or roads. I hiked in many skidder roads only to have someone drive past me or I ran into other roads. I hiked into the dark timber on Saturday to get away from roads and hunter only to have a truck drive by about 70 yards away! Here I thought I was in the middle of nowhere, but I just hiked to the next road! I'm going to go back down Fri and Sat hopefully. I need to find a new area of the tree farm to hunt.

[kentrek]

Everyone we talked to said the hunting, amount of animals seen was the worst they ever saw. I talked to a couple of old timers that have hunted the area for 35 and 40 years, and they said it was terrible!

thats weird...esp since archery didnt do so well

[fireweed]

Heard the opposite. Lots of bulls down opening day.  Two killed on our family tree farm.  One had bad hoof rot on three feet.  Sad.  True, only time Weyco. opens the gates, and they have opened every gate this year.  They want the elk gone.  Because they spray for "total vegetation control" the clear cuts don't have the feed they used to--just tansy and thistle.  So what do the elk and deer eat? Trees!  The elk even pull them up.  That's why the WDFW wants the heard reduced 25% (at King Weyco's command).  Just wait, once the population is down, they will lock up full time.

[Button Nubbs]

We hunted the lower end of the unit, 4500 road system I think. Saw 2 cows and only 1 bull in the back of a truck. Everyone we talked to said the hunting, amount of animals seen was the worst they ever saw. I talked to a couple of old timers that have hunted the area for 35 and 40 years, and they said it was terrible!

I agree with the earlier post about not being able to get away from other hunters or roads. I hiked in many skidder roads only to have someone drive past me or I ran into other roads. I hiked into the dark timber on Saturday to get away from roads and hunter only to have a truck drive by about 70 yards away! Here I thought I was in the middle of nowhere, but I just hiked to the next road! I'm going to go back down Fri and Sat hopefully. I need to find a new area of the tree farm to hunt.

id bet it has alot to do with the amount of rifle cow tags they've been giving out the past years...

[Zlebaron]

Up the 19 mile a saw dead bulls everywhere. 18 to be exact. 10 of those were fives or better I have never seen so many mashers. There were people on every corner. I saw 2 elk alive. The best elk I saw was a 7 pt on one side and it was busted off above the third pt on the other side. Killed by a boy about twelve years old.

[kentrek]

Up the 19 mile a saw dead bulls everywhere. 18 to be exact. 10 of those were fives or better I have never seen so many mashers. There were people on every corner. I saw 2 elk alive. The best elk I saw was a 7 pt on one side and it was busted off above the third pt on the other side. Killed by a boy about twelve years old.

  thats the report i got too

[funkster]

We hunted the lower end of the unit, 4500 road system I think. Saw 2 cows and only 1 bull in the back of a truck. Everyone we talked to said the hunting, amount of animals seen was the worst they ever saw. I talked to a couple of old timers that have hunted the area for 35 and 40 years, and they said it was terrible!

I agree with the earlier post about not being able to get away from other hunters or roads. I hiked in many skidder roads only to have someone drive past me or I ran into other roads. I hiked into the dark timber on Saturday to get away from roads and hunter only to have a truck drive by about 70 yards away! Here I thought I was in the middle of nowhere, but I just hiked to the next road! I'm going to go back down Fri and Sat hopefully. I need to find a new area of the tree farm to hunt.

id bet it has alot to do with the amount of rifle cow tags they've been giving out the past years...

I agree 100% about the extra tags. However, it isn't just the modern guys,they give tags to master hunters and muzzy as well.  Last year 515 total elk where harvested. The year before 525 total elk where harvested. The extra tags have taken a toll on the heard population, no doubt about it. A unit cannot sustain that much harvest year after year and not show the effect of it.

[Button Nubbs]

My bad I shouldn't have singled out mf guys. You said exactly what I meant

[Dr. Death]

Ditto....the area will never be what it used to be...

[cem3434]

Took my dad out beatin the roads for a bit this morn. Saw some guys dragging out a nice bull about 1/2 way to the top of the hill as you head up to the gate where you drop over to Green river hatchery. 1901 I think.

There were 3 bulls taken out of that hole over the weekend.

[kglacken]

My little cousin killed her bull at about 1230 on opening day. We spent the rest of the day trying to get it back to the truck. It was the most difficult pack out of a hell hole ive ever been a part of. We had the bull down at 1230 and got him out at 630. Little 4 point with hoof rot, but it was a great experience. I was able to film the kill and will have a video made by next week for you guys to see