Late Wynoochi elk

[leonpeon2]

Anyone been driving the Wynoochi and seeing elk?  The elk are usually camped out in a few farmer fields but haven’t seen any.
I got the drive in pass for Weyerhaeuser so been scouting out while driving around. Getting out doing some walking but haven’t seen much sign even.   Even got a cow tag for the unit

Not looking for any honey holes. Just some input that might give me some insight where to look around.

[bankwalker]

Have you been out towards the mitigation fields along the river? If I had a cow tag that's where I would start hunting.

[PolarBear]

Hey Leon, you out at the cabin this weekend?  The Nooch elk are scattered right now.  If you have the Aberdeen Weyco permit you would be better off towards Raymond.

[leonpeon2]

I think we are going to hit up toward the feeding fields tomorrow. Didn’t get that far north today. Spend all day on weyehouser land.

Hey duba.
Ya we are at the cabin for the weekend possibly the week
We talked with mark about heading down there and seeing what’s out there.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

[PolarBear]

Leon I’ll be out muzzleloader hunting on Sunday. If I run into some I’ll give you a call. You might want to call Stanley.

[Harbor_hunter]

If you have an Aberdeen Weyco permit, there is no area south of Aberdeen that is open for late archery elk hunting in that permit area.  I would not head toward Raymond if you are bow hunting, nothing open, that is GMU 660 or 658. 

Lot of area in 648 to look for elk, and they are around.  Lot of land to check out heading toward the lake as well.     

[leonpeon2]

We do have a Aberdeen drive in but got to stay north of the highway for late archery. 

648 does have a lot of land and a lot of logging roads to cover. Thinking tomorrow we might hit further north. Got 3 cow tags and 3 deer tags.

[ljsommer]

I've also got the late antlerless archery tag but I haven't seen a single elk since I started scouting there pre-season. Hoping they start showing up to those fields in December.

[swanderek]

My brother and cousin hunted very hard there the last few days, didn’t see anything.

[ljsommer]

Put in 10 miles today, checked two of the fields, no elk, no fresh sign. Passed a hunter that said the same, no elk in sight.
Drove home along some of the larger farms, no elk in any of the farm fields either.

 

[leonpeon2]

Ya it’s odd. We put in about 9 miles yesterday walking.
Heading out tomorrow. Just unsure what to do and where to go.

[MADMAX]

Dark timber
 

[ljsommer]

Dark timber
 

I don't have a Green Diamond pass so I am relegated to the public land there. There's not much, but I've covered a lot of ground.

[MADMAX]

Have you tried reed hill and above the lake ?

[leonpeon2]

I have not gone that far north. Haven’t gotten much further north than the cougar smith. It’s worth a shot.

[MADMAX]

Good luck
Used to be a great area but again over harvest by some user groups and timber company gates make it tough to find them

[WapitiTalk1]

Good luck
Used to be a great area but again over harvest by some user groups and timber company gates make it tough to find them

This.    Some user groups, insert ______ here.

[kball4]

I would get as close to the Olympic unit border as possible by the reservoir.

[ljsommer]

I only have one day of hunting left for this tag (tomorrow) and I am going to see if I can get into some timber up north. The day will likely be a wash, but I am going to use it to do some scouting and see if I can identify any other plan of action. I keep talking to folks that are surprised that the elk aren't in the fields yet, but man if they are they're very hidden. I've stalked each one of those very cautiously a few times and haven't seen hide nor hair.

[treeclimber2852]

There are some cuts and reprod areas on the west side of those fields...a few years ago I was surprised at not seeing much sign out in the fields, but when I poked into those cuts and Christmas trees there was all kinds of fresh sign.

[ljsommer]

There are some cuts and reprod areas on the west side of those fields...a few years ago I was surprised at not seeing much sign out in the fields, but when I poked into those cuts and Christmas trees there was all kinds of fresh sign.

Yeah but that's all Green Diamond property. I don't have the permit required to hunt that.
In retrospect, I shouldn't have tried for this permit (late archery antlerless) without having the funds to buy the Green Diamond pass.

Too many stinkin passes/permits man.

[leonpeon2]

There’s no permit required to hunt that area of the green diamond land. They only require a pass for the area in the satsop.

Talked to a farmer today who said the talk of the valley is the elk haven’t been in the valley as much as they have in the past. Usually they see a few herds all over but no ones been seeing them. She thinks it’s because of the light weather we have been having.

Hunted again today. Found some real good sign tracked a smaller herd but never did run into anything.

[ljsommer]

There’s no permit required to hunt that area of the green diamond land. They only require a pass for the area in the satsop.

Talked to a farmer today who said the talk of the valley is the elk haven’t been in the valley as much as they have in the past. Usually they see a few herds all over but no ones been seeing them. She thinks it’s because of the light weather we have been having.

Hunted again today. Found some real good sign tracked a smaller herd but never did run into anything.

Oh my god you're right. I can't believe I missed that. That opens up so much more land. Good to know for next year! haha.

[Piscatory_5]

I was up the Wynooch 1 day, the 3rd, for about 3-4 hours. Saw fresh tracks on the D-line up Donovan corkery in 2 places, large group, and saw a herd in farmers field on crossover road with a 5 point bull in it. The tracks I follwed went down and crossed the river to the east side a few miles up stream of crossover road.

As far as south of 12 in Aberdeen access area part of 672 Fall River unit which is either sex is within Aberdeen access, starting at Smith Creek road and south.

[ljsommer]

Sadly, my hunt is over as I am now going to be traveling around a bit. I am still watching this thread and hoping to see someone with some success!

[ljsommer]

Did anybody end up having any luck in there this year? I spent well over a week all total in there this season, including one multi-day camp hunt. Never saw a single live elk or even any fresh sign.