Blue Mountain Elk Numbers

[acrocker]

Just got back from hunting the Blues in the Tucannon unit - although we saw a few big bulls, it seemed like the cows and calves were tough to find, only managed to see a handful of them through the whole season. Just wondering if anyone else saw many and if so were there some good calf numbers in proportion to the cows? We had 4 guys hunting out of the camp in an area we have hunted for years in which we always see plenty of elk and usually get one or two spikes - the camp didn't see a single spike this season.

Most of the cows we saw were in deep, thick, timber - we never saw any out feeding in the open in the areas we would typically see them, so we were speculating that maybe they have changed their behavior in response to the wolves in the area?

Anyway, just wanted to get some anecdotal evidence one way or the other, if you hunted the Blues feel free to chime in with the GMU and what you saw. Hopefully we were an anomaly and there were huge numbers everywhere else...

[CackleBird98]

About the same report from me in the wenaha unit.  Very few elk.  Saw more wolf tracks then I did elk tracks.  Got lucky and found a spike, but it was a lot of hunting to do so

[elkchaser54]

Herd is down 20% from its objectives, according the wdfw prospects about region 3. 2019 survey gave a population estimate of 4110 and 5 year average is 5259. So yes the populations is down.

[Chesapeake]

Wolves showed up in 14 or 15, or at least that's when it was documented. The Tucannon and the Touchet packs and now the Butte creek pack.  They've now had a few years to spread through the area, increase in population and bring herd numbers down. Its going to get worse before it gets better. Washington is a liberal state so active wolf population control probably wont happen till the populations are way out of control. 

[jstone]

We probably won’t see it get better. Idaho has a wolf season and it is still hurting

[nwwanderer]

Constant pressure on the ag ground where food is easy, little or no habitat management on federal ground where the state wants the elk, bears taking calves and now wolves in the mix makes for a tough situation.  Expect further declines.