Compare that to Washington's 4,800 elk harvested in 2011.
General harvest. Total was over 7,200. But yes, their numbers are much higher. But also consider the competition for them. Colorado is 'known' to be one of the good elk states, and it is the closest elk state to the South; so you get lots of out of staters from there. NM and CO get masses of hunters from Texas like Eastern WA gets wetsiders.