Longview and St Helens Area

[1000rrelkman]

I've taken around 27 elk in Colorado and Utah only missing 4 seasons in over 30 years. We moved to WA last year and had a chance at a decent bull last year in 654. This year we purchased the Longview/St Helens permit to hunt closer to home.

It's a totally different hunt compared to CO. Tough vegetation.


After being overan with hunters in 654 opening day we've concentrated on the Margaret and Winston areas. Haven't had much luck in the Winston even in three of the non motorized area.

In the Margaret we've heard some bugles called in a couple that wouldn't get within site, step out of the brush.  It seems like there is more sign in the narrow strips between roads then we've ever seen.  I'm not use to hunting non wilderness and all the roads and access make it tough to hunt the way I'm use to.


Any tips or suggestions on hunting the timber company permits would be appreciated.

 

Thanks
1000rrelkman

[brokenvet]

I've hunted the Winston are before there was a fee to enter and all I saw was orange vest moving and I could even hear them talk too.  Maybe less people now due to the cost.  Good luck.

[Eli346]

You might get on Google Earth and check out Those same areas you're hunting now but spend more time looking for access (or the hardest places) that will keep the normal Joe out. I like to get 'steep and deep' as they say. It doesn't take much area for a bull to hide in if he chooses to sit and wait it out.

[TheHunt]

Winston is a fun place.   Your doing it right getting out of your rig.

[1000rrelkman]

Thanks to the leftover multi season tag I got in August, I took a very weird small racked 5 pt off of the 3100 road.  It's been three years since I've killed an elk and needed meat bad.  Packing him out to the truck Sunday afternoon, I was kicking myself for doing it with so many seasons left.  After the trouble my hunting partner is having finding a bull since then, I'm glad he's in the freezer.

Great deal different then CO elk hunting.  Very thick.  Bulls bugle alot more, but don't seem to come as aggressive as CO Wilderness areas. 

What is the deal with digging down in the dirt for beds?  Very pronounced in the areas I hunted in the Margaret and 20-30 of them within a couple hundred yards.  CO bulls didn't do this.

My muzzy partner is also a disabled vet and we hunt away from the truck as far as we can get.  It seems alot of the guys road hunt.  We don't see how that would be productive at all as thick as it is.

Hunted areas with more sign then I've ever seen.  When putting out game cameras it's hard to pick a spot.  Colorado elk seem to be more predictable with less travel routes.

I'll post a pic from my phone when I get a chance.

[1000rrelkman]

Pic

[pianoman9701]

Interesting rack on that bad boy. Nice going getting an elk in a new area. 

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Nice bull elk!!!

[MADMAX]

you did good
muzzy ?

[1000rrelkman]

Yes it was with a muzzy. I hunted archery with my two sons, but was calling for them most of the time.

[Bigshooter]

Congrats.  You have killed more elk in WA now than 50% (or more) of the members on this site.

[1000rrelkman]

I saw a nice bull sat evening, but couldn't close the deal.  Shot him Sumday morning at 910 when he followed this cow up the hill to 30 yards. I was taking pictures with iPhone of her and didn't know if he was legal or not when in the brush with binoculars. Just after this pic he followed her with his head on her back. I sat the phone down and pulled up the muzzy and when the smoke cleared I could see her running in the timber and heard his last exhale. No blood or hair and he was piled up in 30 yards. No exit wound.

[1000rrelkman]

Here is pic of where they dig or beds. I haven't seen that in 30 years of elk hunting in Colorado and Utah. Do all WA elk do it? 

[1000rrelkman]

Hard to get use to all the large rubs here.

[Chesapeake]

That's not a bed, its a scrape, like whitetail do. They will dig that up with their horns then piss on their hind legs in it. They usually smell very musky and I only see them active during the rut.

 

[Chesapeake]

All elk do that. That's where they get the ivory tips, digging in the dirt with their horns. Deer don't do that, so no ivory tips.

[1000rrelkman]

I've hunted for almost a month a year for 27 years in CO and some years in Utah also and haven't ever noticed them like this before. Colorado elk seem to use wallows and the mud areas around them more for that I guess. The elk in 654 Copper Creek road I noticed did this beside the wallows I in dirt. These in the Margaret were in the grass and ferns and everywhere. We did feel like they were from antlers and the nice bull on Sat was raking his on the ground. These were not in this area archery season but were everywhere Sat morning.  Thanks for the information. Helps.