archery elk newbie

[wendigo]

Hello all, I just moved back to Washington and am going to try for archery elk this year, if you could please publicly display the GPS coordinates to all your honey holes, myself and hordes of other idiots sure would appreciate it,

Actually I'm not looking for anyone's secret hunting spot, I'm coming into this elk season pretty green for elk hunting and even greener for knowing the area. I figure I will spend this season (and probably many many more) mainly scouting while I hunt (read flounder around the woods) and figure things out.
What I would like to know is East or West? How is access on the westside these days, I have heard and read all sorts of horror stories about weyerhauser locking the gates and charging fee's and now its darn near impossible to access a lot of land that we used to have the ability to hunt.
what area should a newbie head to, to at least see some animals while hunting? I'm not concerned with antlers and would be more than elated to even cleanly miss a cow let alone tag one.

thanks in advance.

[Shawn Ryan]

There is still a lot of National Forest land to hunt that holds elk. The 500 series units are a good place to start looking. The Lewis gets plenty of attention. Your style of hunting will determine exactly where. Road hunt, road camp, backpack hunt, get out all day, or back to the truck for breakfast?

[wendigo]

I generally like get out and stay out all day. Backpack hunting is something I am highly interested in taking up but for now my style is to just find a locked gate, get out early and come back to the truck at the end of day. If I can find a spot that looks promising or if I know where I am going I will just camp in the back of my rig, so I can get an early start.

I figure I will be doing more exploring this season than actually hunting, which is a lot of fun too!

[Shawn Ryan]

Pm sent

[wendigo]

PM received, thanks!

[Rainier10]

Edited title on all posts.

Let's keep it clean. 

[wendigo]

What was wrong with the "Funny New Guy" acronym I used?

[Jpmiller]

I was more concerned with the inclination to consume human flesh than the acronym lol

[predatorG]

Hunt west