what do you think about the lewis river unit?

[RadSav]

I was a good ways in.  Some what close to one of the previous mentioned areas.  Guess there were quite a few that saw the same nice bull I did when scouting   It is a big unit so I'm sure with more effort I could have found some land to myself.  But dang that area I was in was a complete zoo three years ago.  I'm happy to let you guys have at it

Vast areas of 560 experienced little to no pressure this past AR season and they hold large bulls and abundant cows. You must have setup on the edges of or in the treefarms where everyone expects to get an easy elk.

Didn't know people expect to find easy elk in the Lewis.  Would have taken me hours to find a tree farm from where I was at.  Probably closer to mountain goats than a tree farm.

[Wazukie]

It is a big unit for sure.  When I hunted the archery season up near where I mentioned, we would only see one or two other hunters.  Now if you hunt560 unit up out of Trout Lake, you will see a sea of other hunters for sure. But then again, there are elk there also. 

[elkoholic]

One thing to remember about the Lewis River unit is that it is mostly National Forest land, and come September there is a llllaaaaarrrrrrrggggggeeeeeee amount of berry pickers .  If the berries are in, you can bet every berry field will have pickers in it.  And they like to make a ton of noise hoping to scare off any bears (as well as deer and elk) in the area.  These groups will set camps where ever they want, and leave more trash behind than a 40 yd. dumpster could hold.

Berry pickers a can also work in your favor, I hunt around some large berry fields and have killed several nice deer within a few hundred yard's of pickers, I think the deer are used to hearing people so they are not as skiddish(sometimes)...

[addicted2hunting]

all good info, thanks guys.

[Sliverslinger]

I've hunted the Lewis River unit both with a rifle and also archery since I was 10 years old. Five years ago I made the switch to archery and I still hunt the Lewis River every early season (even when I had a Toutle tag). There are some absolutely monstrous bulls in there if you scout a lot and learn where they hide out. I will also say this, we backpack way, way back in every year and the last three years we have not seen a single other bowhunter. What we have seen is tons of elk, lots of bugling, and loads of sign. You just have to get away from the people and the crowds. We go down into some nasty holes or up around some high ridges far away from any roads. It's a great unit and one of my favorite places to spend time.