Margaret Unit to be opened to everyone??????? Is this true?

[Antlershed]

Well, scouting was limited to weekends, but we were up there every weekend for a while. My dad shot him the second or third day, cause we hadn't seen anything bigger in all our scouting time. I'm not saying the big bulls don't exist, but they aren't as abundant as people think.

[saudog]

Well, scouting was limited to weekends, but we were up there every weekend for a while. My dad shot him the second or third day, cause we hadn't seen anything bigger in all our scouting time. I'm not saying the big bulls don't exist, but they aren't just up there running everywhere...

You mean you have to hunt to find a big one in that unit?  What a bunch of crap!

[bigbeamhunter]

they are there in every unit you guys are talking about we seen them all the time you got to out of the truck and put some time in i hunt the sioxon unit and that bull you got is the average and a nice bull...i dont score my elk be fore i shoot them my goal is to shoot a heavy horned bull dont care about if its a 4 5 6 as long as its got heavy horns .dont get me wrong i would like a 300 plus bull like you see on this forum those are few compared how many of us on here ..i have shot some nice bulls real heavy horned roosies no 300 probaly 240 280 ..but son turned 15 last year and hunted with us last year and we and we gave him the green light to shoot anything legal .because where we hunt and the terrain is tough we shoot big beams or nothing ..hears my opening day story last year he hike an hour up a ridge change our sweaty clothes take off at light to our swamp we sit down to listen for awhile and call and he realizes when he left his release where we change clothes so i gave him my release and said use his hoochie mama and ill be back in 15 mins when i got back he had a 4 pt bull in front of him i called it in the rest of the way and what does he say..to small small beams i said shoot it he said listen bulls were screaming every where ...any what i was getting at its not how big is all the time its the quality of the hunt and time you spend with family and friend...then how big it is sorry about the get out trck comment but there are some

[Jason]

I think you guys need to do A little more scouting in the toutle unit for big Bulls, they are there you just need to put some more time in there and you will find them, Today just before we were heading out, I had to make a phone call, and to be able to call someone you have to drive around the mountain to get cell service, well yesterday some one else had to make a call and they went to the same place I was going to call, they said the 2005 clearcut thats down the road from the one we are working on had about 50 ravens in it, never thought much about it tell today, I drove around the mountain to make my call and their were about 50 ravens and 2 bald eagles swarming over something, so i made my call and when I was done I took some pics of the eagles and then decided I would hike up there and see what was for dinner, son of a bitch some  a-hole's shot atleast 2 elk, one spike and a cow and the birds were up the hill another 200yrds eating on something else, they were pretty fresh no magots yet and no smell, legs were cut at the knees and all 4 quarters of both elk were gone, I have pics I will post them Sunday when I get back from hunting, oh yeah I called the WDFW and let them know, also that spike was about 14" or 15 " tall and still in full velvet, thought that was kinda weird.

[bigbeamhunter]

that happened about 6 or7 years ago in the toutle off the 6600 rd i went up with the game warden found 6 dead and they only took what was easy to get to

[fc2038]

No, No , NO. 

[Dameion]

There are some very good points in this thread and some people I get the feeling that some people in this thread may not have spent enough time in these units to make a real educated opinion on it. 

Yes the vegitation is a problem in the Margaret unit and there might not be as many 300+ plus bulls in this unit as there used to be, but IMO you are crazy if you don't think there are a good number of them still.  This unit is still loaded with monster bulls, however much of the unit has grown up where it isn't as accesible as it used to be to "road" hunters.  It was easy 10-15 years ago when you could just drive up the new Mt. St. Helens highway and see the heards of 30+ bulls all between 5 and 7 points hanging out near the Margaret / Loowit border.  Driving up the new highway to Mt. St. Helens or walking down on the mudflows deinately won't produced the same picture or hunting opportunties it used too

This being said I grew up right in the shadow of these two units in a small town named "Toutle" and spent quite a deal of time in camping and hiking in these units, but in locations that require a lot more walking and more time commitment and rest assured there are some beautiful areas still in these units that have plenty of vegitation and hold a ton of animals and some very-very large ones.

Personally I have never once put in for permit in these units, as much as I love the hunt I enjoy a little more kicking by the campfire every night with 7 of my best friends in the world that I hunt with and the group permits don't do groups of 8  .

[CJ-5]

My dad just ate his toutle A tag for this past season and it was pretty disappointing.  That is why it is called hunting i realize.  It seems like the toutle wasnt all it was cracked up to be. Talking with people down there they said over the last 10 years it has gone down hill.  There are elk there, he saw elk everyday hunting and scouting, just not the quantity we thought we would see.  We saw bulls, brushrack 4pts, couple decent 5s, and a huge 6x6 that he could not get a shot at unfortunately after a very long hike.  We were just not able to be in the right place at the right time for one reason or another, and that is all it boiled down to.  I would probably not put in for this tag, dont get me wrong like i say, there are elk there and some nice ones too.  If a guy had a bunch of points build up though i would not want to see them wasted on this tag.  There are better out there if you want a big roosevelt.

[sdwwaverider]

I drew the Toutle Bull tag & my buddy drew Margaret Antlerless archery last year. Neither of us ate tags. We were in elk every day. Big Elk, multiple elk would have scored 300+. I put in for 7 years and it was worth each one. I didn't take a 300 class bull but was close a few times. I missed a 6x6 that in my opinion would have gone 290 dry. I would wait 7 more to get it again. I hope I don't have to but I don't think they should change a thing. If they have to change it, only add more permit hunts and only in increments of 10 and then reevaluate. 

[heavy hauler]

if anyone doubts the quality of elk in the margeret i will  personally take you on a tour in aug 2009.sign up now spaces are limited.

[bucklucky]

I doubt the quality of elk , there all pisscutters in there. Except for a few spots  Where do I sign up 

[heavy hauler]

charlie i will make sure to save you a spot for the 2009 margaret big bull tour.

[Savage3006]

I would like a tour next Aug please!

[NW-Eric]

man a tour just before archery season where do i sign up

[arrowflinger]

Save a seat for me................