West Side Elk Hunting for Newbies

[jwfaber1]

Hey all,

Completely new hunter here. I've been an avid backpacker forever, but I'm pretty late to the game of hunting, and now I'm going all-in. I'm slowly acquiring all the gear and practice I need to go out next fall, but right now I'm focused on learning and scouting.
I plan to hunt with a rifle on the west side for elk. Some of the GMUs I'm looking at include 615 and 607 on the Olympic side, as well as 513, 516, and 560 on the Cascade side.

I realize most hunters don't like to give out details about good hunting spots, but does anyone have non-specific pointers for someone completely new to this? i.e. which, if any, of these units are a good choice to be able to get into elk without seeing a lot of people? What are some solid areas to locate elk in within each of these units? Should I try some virtual scouting with OnX? Which areas should I avoid? Etc.

I plan to backpack in fairly deep to avoid crowds. I'm okay with working extra hard if it means I can avoid other hunters and have some animals to myself.
Which of the units I listed would you recommend for someone new like me to have halfway decent chance at locating some animals and not seeing a lot of other hunters?

Also, what strategies work well for western WA rifle hunting? e.g. is it better to sit and glass, or cover lots of ground throughout the day?

Any pointers you all can offer would be greatly appreciated!

-Justin

[kselkhunter]

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[Stein]

Unfortunately, for the most part you can't put good elk numbers, westside and not many hunters in the same sentence.  There are places, but few and far between.

I would start by looking up which are open during general season and then pull up the harvest stats for prior years which tell you relative numbers of hunters and how many elk were shot.  From there, you can drive around to get a general idea as well as calling the WDFW biologist for that area.

From there, watch Randy Newberg's elk stuff on Youtube and then it's just a matter of putting in the time.

[bkaech]

If you are backpacking for elk during rifle season on the westside you should be able to find privacy. My advice is find openings (meadows or clearcuts) to sit on in the morning and evening and spend the rest of the day covering ground. Also a skill that most elk hunters don't discuss but has been vital for hunting thick country is tracking. If you walk across fresh elk tracks during the day follow them. Elk tracks lead you to where elk are (as long as you don't follow them backwards). Also be aware that the Rifle hunt in Washington is in Nov so the bulls are often no longer with the cows and finding a lone bull is a lot harder than finding 20 elk. Oh, one more thing, if you read or listen to most of the elk hunting experts such as Randy Newberg (who I really like) they all talk about country in the rockies that is a LOT more open. Very few understand the differences of the thick woods of western WA.

[JimmyHoffa]

Not much for backpacking elk hunts in the Olympic Units You mentioned.  All you really have to do is go 50 yds from an open road and you get away from 90% of the people.  The guys on bikes and foot are going pretty much everywhere in those units, but you might not see any of them for a couple days.  The storms coming in off the coast really wear down a lot of the guys that try to go in for the duration in a backpack set up.

[KB88]

Grab an onX on your phone... you might get lucky. I’ve found a few good spots that I have full intentions of harvesting a bull this year. Good luck

[jwfaber1]

Thanks a bunch for the advice everyone!

What I'm gathering is that it's hard to get away from people in the general season, but it sounds like if I pack in far enough, i can avoid the majority of them. When you do see other hunters, do you all typically try to find a new spot, or just stick it out where you are?

Not much for backpacking elk hunts in the Olympic Units You mentioned.  All you really have to do is go 50 yds from an open road and you get away from 90% of the people.  The guys on bikes and foot are going pretty much everywhere in those units, but you might not see any of them for a couple days.  The storms coming in off the coast really wear down a lot of the guys that try to go in for the duration in a backpack set up.

JimmyHoffa, Do most hunters out in the Olympic units I mentioned just come in each day instead of backpacking in? It sounds like what you're saying is that if I backpack hunt out there, I could give myself an advantage over the hunters that don't by getting further from roads. Is that accurate? I know it's miserable weather out there during rifle season, but I'm prepared for that...I think...

Right now, I'm leaning toward the Olympic side simply because of lower hunter densities, but I'm also worried that over there it will be extremely hard to find a bull. Would the strategy on that side be completely different than the Cascade side?

[bkaech]

What I'm gathering is that it's hard to get away from people in the general season, but it sounds like if I pack in far enough, i can avoid the majority of them. When you do see other hunters, do you all typically try to find a new spot, or just stick it out where you are?

Not hard to get away, almost everyone sticks to roads and trails. If you walk 100yards off a trail you won’t see a soul. As to finding a new spot, it depends where the elk are. At times you will find hunters because there are elk in the area. I don’t go somewhere new or stay put based on other hunters I do it based on where the elk are.

Also keep in mind that elk need feed and heavily wooded areas often don’t provide much food. Elk feed in openings, meadows, creek bottoms, clear cuts, fields, old grassy roads, and such. If there is no food nearby there won’t be any elk.

[jwfaber1]

That's good to know, thanks.

I really like listening to Randy Newberg too, as well as Corey Jacobsen and some others, and they all often talk about how the elk will come down to feed and access water at dusk and go back up in the morning to bed during the day. How much of that holds true out here in Washington? Do you typically find that elk prefer to bed on certain types of terrain over others?

[Big6bull]

Typical areas they discuss have specific areas elk like to go to feed go to eat and  go to bed. They give good information on paterns. Where here you can still do that, there’s just much more feed, bedding habitat and most every drainage has water. In my experience your priority to patern is where they want to be to feel safe. Where will they be once their pressured

[Shawn Ryan]

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[bkaech]

Typical areas they discuss have specific areas elk like to go to feed go to eat and  go to bed. They give good information on paterns. Where here you can still do that, there’s just much more feed, bedding habitat and most every drainage has water. In my experience your priority to patern is where they want to be to feel safe. Where will they be once their pressured

I second that....especially when finding bulls in November.

[JimmyHoffa]

They can be real wary during rifle season.  All the human activity--cars driving around, previous seasons, camps with smoke, people busting brush can really change up their daily routine. 
Seems that quite a few camps set up right at the end of the road and where the trail begins, then the guys hike or bike in each day--up to about ten miles.  Can't get that deep on the peninsula without hitting a road or the park, so if you backpack in it isn't too unlikely that a few of the guys will cruise through where you end up...typically on the first weekend.
When you backpack in, there are less clear cuts and it gets steeper.  The elk herds farther in get smaller and smaller, like 6-12 in a herd all scattered in nasty holes; you might see herds of 30-40 on the tree farms.