willapa hills

[NW-Eric]

well saturday im off to hunt the second week of elk... i will be staying in bay center (williams creek gmu) but was wondering if anyone can give me any info on the willapa hills area, i think i have a better shot at a good bull there... or any other recomendations are welcome.

thanks in advance.

[Bean Counter]

Try finding some blocked off old railroad grades that run along a river.  Great place to find 'em, not too difficult a hike, and you immediately get away from people.  Good luck and report back.

[chester]

its a great area to hunt. try to head a little north though. i was down there til this morning with a friend trying to fill his tag. we had to bust our a** for the first two days. alot of elk there though. seen bulls both days and this morning we got his bull. a nice lil 5x5.ill try to get you a pic before too long. the only one i have is from my cell.

[Little Fish]

Chester....a couple of questions. Were the elk talking when you were down? Also did you run into a lot of other folks hunting?

As far as access you can get in on the main line that divides Ryderwood and Willapa Hills from the town of Pe Ell.

[rackattack]

Little Fish, the last I heard is that the 1000 line out of Pe Ell is closed due to bridge damage from tlast winter and will not be open until next spring.

[chester]

they were talking early in the mornings and just before dark. not alot at all though. there was alot more hunters talking then anything.

we went after a bull on tuesday morning that we had seen in a field earlier and drove by up the road a ways, then  a truck came in behind us and slammed on the brakes, it was almost like a starting gun went off for the elk, so we headed up and tried to cut off the heard. my buddy had a shot at a cow but let it go to wait for the bull we had seen,  a little while went by then we thought we heard a cow closing in on us and snuck around on it and it was 3 people headed up the hill cow calling every ten feet ,then we heard a bugle and tried to get ahead of them to cut it off. it turned out the bugle was another guy going after the cow call. he didnt see us so we backed out and tried to cut the tracks of the elk. we found them and left the other guys to hunt eachother.lol.
 
they are starting to talk more. we had 3 bugling back at us at one point on wed. but there are alot of people out there in the obvious spots. best bet is to try and head as far back in the hills as you can. bugle from the ridge tops and hunt the more open spots of timber

[Little Fish]

Thanks for the info rackattack and chester. I didn't know the bridge was blown out as I haven't gone in that way for a couple years.

I hunted Mon-Wed and found it to be pretty quiet compared to last year. Quite a few more people too. I planned on hunting through Friday, but pulled the plug early with the intention of using my vacation days for the last 3-4 days of the season. Crossing my fingers the animals will be more vocal when I get back out there.

[NW-Eric]

did your buddy draw a cow tag... because theres a 3pt min in willapa hills.

and thanks for all the info guys.

[chester]

i guess i wasnt specific enough on that, no he didnt draw a cow tag. we were in unit 673, not 506, im originally from Raymond,and iwillapa hills is just what we've always called the south side of hwy 6. i know a little further east it goes to 3pt min only, but it was 3pt min or antlerless where we were hunting.