Any elk in the Entiat??

[shag]

My friends son who has the same Entiat as my son and I also has a eastside elk tag.  It's either sex in there.  but are there any elk?

[bobcat]

I guess there's a few in there but we never saw any. I think there are more a little farther south, like in the Chiwawa unit, but still not many. Don't count on seeing any. We never even saw a track.

[ICEMAN]

zero in 2006.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/harvest/2006/db/elk_region2_all.php

I have hunted this area for many years, seen zero. Only elk in there is in my cooler on the way to deer camp.

[grade-creek-rd]

Lets put it this way. Gordon Stuart, who was a mountain man and trapper, who lived at Domke Lake (by Lucerne on Lake Chelan) hunted and trapped for over 60 years in the Entiat Valley. He killed two bulls during his lifetime in that area...so yes, there's elk in there and the Game Department figured out a way to sucker a few more dollars from us, by offering "any sex" elk hunts in units that don't "really" have elk. There used to be an elk hunt in Douglas county as well (maybe there still is, but if I remember right, you aren't suppose to shoot an elk with a 1/2 mile of the Columbia River in case one swims the Columbia at Cresent Bar).

By the way, if anyone is interested in some awsome reading about a Washington mountain man, read the book "Mountain Air", the life story of Gordon Stuart. He died while I was fairly young, but we all knew of the mountain man at Domke Lake.

[WDFW-SUX]

yup i seen dead ones hanging they come out of the orchards.  Check the back of the entiat food center next year.

[WAcoueshunter]

There used to be an elk hunt in Douglas county as well (maybe there still is, but if I remember right, you aren't suppose to shoot an elk with a 1/2 mile of the Columbia River in case one swims the Columbia at Cresent Bar).

Yeah, I imagine that could be a real mess if there was hunting on the Crescent Bar side when the elk swim across from the West Bar.  I had a West Bar tag about 20 years ago.  In case you haven't seen it, the bar is about five miles long and one mile wide, with a big cliff on one side and the Columbia on the other.  There were 400 head on the bar when the hunt started, and about 375 of them swam the river to Crescent Bar the first night of the hunt after the 75 tag holders opened fire.  It was like the wild west out there.

[boneaddict]

They are becoming more and more prevalent in the Okanogan, so I imagine that holds true for Douglas as well.  Surprised to see moose there, so wouldn't be surprised about more elk.  It used to be any elk  in the Okanogan if you had an eastside tag.  Don't know what it is now.

[Ridgerunner]

Sounds like some good reading, I'll have to try and find that book

[boneaddict]

The Wenatchee world did a wonderful right up on him.  It was a big article.  I loved it, I had no idea there was a book out on him.  He had some really cool stories in the article.

[shag]

yes thanks for the Book info!

[wrangler]

elk? hmmmm thats a long shot, maybe a few strays but id be skeptical till i saw one and if i did id swear it was the ONLY one. however, i have been seeing more and more rat- i mean whitetails.....  they're like the plague.

[Slider]

Their are hardly any a few in the Chawawa. The Game Dept does not want Elk in the Entiat!!! They are trying to manage it for Trophy Bucks. Hence the any Elk season? Not because they are trying to get more money? Does that make sense? Good Luck

[jackelope]

we asked the bio last year...he said in 10 years as the bio, he's never seen any.

[wrangler]

uhhhhhh 'the game dept is managing the entiat for trophy mule deer'  dude, are you high? you obviously havn't watched the permit quotas go through the roof last few years, hell just look at the numbers between this year compared to last. that along with the lack of enforcement on the poachers is enough to have completely flushed this unit down the crapper. the game dept is too busy watching the money from the enitat roll in to relize that it's being (already been) destroyed by poor management practices. you couldn't have picked a worse unit in the state to have refered to as a 'unit managed by the wdfw for trophy bucks'. one day those bucks will stop coming outa the gpw because there won't be any left thanks to the game dept. 

[shag]

I wonder how many does were shot durning the late season last year?  Also with more tags aren't more "culls" possibly being taken.  It seems to me that alot of people are drivin the roads just shootin any good buck.  As a hunter if you want bigger deer you gotta let the "good"bucks get "great!!!  Not all hunters have the trophy mentality.  That's why every year they settle for meat or get trigger happy on the last weekend.  Unless you are willing to harvest only trophy bucks or does or freak monster 2x2's that are bad for the gene pool than you really aren't doing your part to help create trophy bucks.

Several years in the past have had a better migration going uring the last week of the regular season than the late hunt.  Because of mother nature.  So I've been told.

Seems to me that that hunter's themselves do more to ruin trophy deer than the game dept.  I've had several years in my hunting career where I passed on over 15 buck a season.  Including several "good" bucks a season.  Why?  because I personaly wanta shoot great bucks.  Ate tag soup too many times!

Also what about the guys that shoot 3 or so small bucks a year?  Do you turn them in?  I will.  In a heart beat.  there are alot of hunters out there givin "us" a black eye and shooting "us" in the foot.  They are *censored*'s and I love to spit some beechnut in there eyes!

I plan on shooting only a "great" buck with my late tag.  For me a 170 or bigger is my plan.  I will try as hard as I can to attain that.  If I can't I'll shoot a doe on the last day. This will be hard since I've never shot a mulie. And 160 class bucks can be very tempting.

So unless you don't do your part than you can't really complain about the game dept.?  i'd love to see all of washington become a 2 pt min state for whitetail and blacktail.  And 3 pt or better for muledeer.  people would bitch for a couple years but then when they start killing bigger bucks all will be good.

Like I said I wonder how many late season mulie tag holders end up killing a doe?  Thin the heard. less competition for food is always a good thing. IMO