East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk

[HoytHunter24]

My wife and I will be hunting this unit for the early archery season. It will be the first time we hunt it and plan to take a trip over next weekend to check it out. I saw in the regs that it is an any elk unit with a few harvested during archery season last year. This peaked my interest because I would rather have a chance at a bull even if the numbers are low than having to settle for a spike or cow. How are the herd populations? Do they generally hang out in the north or south part of the unit? We are looking at the south half that butts up to the Colville Reservation but I would be interested to hear anything you have to offer!

I am not asking for any spots, just wanted some general information on the area and elk hunting in this area.

Thank you!

[Ghost Hunter]

   They numbers are growing.  Figure out which doors to knock on.   They roam on a lot of private.  Learn where the little blocks of public land are.  Locals will be tight lipped.  Plenty of public land if you can catch them on it. 

[HoytHunter24]

I have been studying my OnXmaps and there is a bunch of public. We will have to just ground and pound... Thank you for the info!

[HoytHunter24]

Anyone today?

[greenhead_killer]

there are elk there but few and far between. dont expect anyone to tell you where and if they have seen them. its more of a local secret for now. if you catch up to them, good luck.

[HoytHunter24]

So as some of you have stated, it sounds like we will have to do some serious exploring to find elk around this area. We will be there for 11 days and I am not afraid to hike from dawn to dusk. Thank you for the feedback everyone.

Anyone else have info?

[kiler]

I cut some fresh tracks up on Mt. Hull 5 years ago in November

[D-Rock425]

Only 3 elk recorded being killed last year.  All 3 antlerless.

[HoytHunter24]

2016 harvest reports show four cows and two 6 point+ bulls...

[D-Rock425]

Yes you're right for some reason I was looking at permit elk hunts for the unit.

[baker5150]

I've personally seen older sign during modern deer,  and have local friends who live in the unit who have seen elk, but never during season. (at least that they tell me about)
Regardless they still hunt them every year. 

[D-Rock425]

The only elk I've ever seen in the unit was probably 15 years ago way up my Molson.

[Buckblaster]

Your best bet is to locate them when they are singing in Sept if the wolves haven't silenced them.   They seem to bugle more at night.

[HoytHunter24]

hmmm sounds like we will just have to cover country and bugle our brains out to locate some elk.

[bearpaw]

I would suggest looking at other units with higher numbers of elk. 

[Ghost Hunter]

I'm thinking some people aren't reporting kills   

[bhawley76]

I have wasted my time there once or twice, There are a few elk around, I think there are way better areas to spend 11 day 

[HoytHunter24]

Well we have made two different scouting trips over to the area. The first trip was just to get a lay of the land. We drove over 200 miles on gravel roads finding which were blocked so we could decide where the pressure would be. We didn't see much for animals but that is to be expected for just driving around. We spoke with some locals and got a little bit of knowledge on the area and began searching new areas. At the end of the weekend we threw up a single game camera up a major game trail leading in to a nice green field tucked away from plain sight. Total we saw a bunch of deer, elk, moose and bear sign.

Last weekend we headed over again. Dang that place has gotten dry. We spent all weekend looking for water sources and hiking. We were able to mark off a few locations that we thought would be promising since they weren't what we expected. We were able to find a couple water sources that i imagine the elk will be near. We found a decent amount of elk, deer, and bear sign in most of the areas we concentrated on. This time we set out 4 cameras in various locations feeling really good about our game plan.

We will be heading back over on Sept 6th until the 17th for our season. Weather looks to be in the mid 90s..... not conducive to hunting but what can you do.

Here are a couple pictures we got from our first camera. We got 4 bear, 10 nice whitetail bucks, a cow elk, and some other critters.

[piledup]

I can't see the pictures. Maybe it's just me

Good luck with your hunt. Seems you have found some elk tho.

[bowhunterforever]

I can't see the pictures. Maybe it's just me

Good luck with your hunt. Seems you have found some elk tho.

[2labs]

The only elk I've ever seen in the unit was probably 15 years ago way up my Molson.

Getting warmer! Think a little east

[panzerROT]

hi, I live in Oroville,wa. I actually have property not to far from chesaw. you want to hunt the game land west of chesaw. eventually you will have elk come thru there. although there may be a few like 2 or 3 hunters that hunt bow for deer. The herd in this unit is roughly 300-350 animals. there are some nice bulls here. There is a fair amount of private around the game management area. make sure you know your map. as far as land owners letting you hunt probably not, I have lived here 30 yrs. very few let you hunt now days. Also there is a chunk of land with a herd around muskrat lake. again know your map. but you can access both areas from the road. good luck! Hope you get your animal!

[HntnFsh]

panzerROT