Elk hunting in GMU 615 (Clearwater)

[RustyNail]

Never been to Clearwater but will go scouting soon. Hows the elk hunting there?

[JimmyHoffa]

Which season?
Early Archery, Early Muzzy, Modern Rifle, Late Archery
Private land or Public?

[RustyNail]

I would do rifle. General season. I believe there is a lot of public land so I would be on that.

[Slow-drifter]

South and westsides of the unit have a lot of private. Rayonier general permit covers you for the west side of it, for the life of me can't recall the landowner on the south end around the town of Clearwater, but I believe it's something along the lines of American forestry??? At any rate, buy the permits if you can. It's a bummer to push elk onto private and lose an elk to a 75 dollar permit

[RustyNail]

Sounds good I will definitely look into that. How’s the hunting there? Like is it common to see elk or it it kinda hard to find or what’s the deal? I’ve never been out there and I’m just wondering what’s it’s like.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

2018 29 bulls taken in modern season for a 9% success rate.
2017 13 bulls taken in modern season for a 4% success rate.

[Slow-drifter]

Plenty of elk, finding them is the problem. Be prepared to put miles on your boots and get away from the road hunting crowd. Plenty of deep dark holes for them to hide in once they feel pressured. Feel free to pm me if you ever make it for a scouting trip. I'm willing to show you a couple not so secret spots

[JimmyHoffa]

Lots of turf out there.  You can find all kinds of promising sign and end up with a dozen spots after a scouting trip.  One of the problems is that the herds can be small and scattered.  A herd might only be ten animals or less.  As you get towards the river and lower areas, the herds are bigger and more visible.  By the time modern rolls around, they can start moving into some tough areas and hold tight for days, or hang out in the private fields by the town. 
You can chase the herds and find that most have a spike or two point by that point in the season.  If you're lucky there will still be a legal bull.  Seems a fair number of bulls are moving solo during modern and just hang out in thick areas of huckleberry and hemlock.  Be prepared for a ton of rain.

[RustyNail]

How about bear hunting? Would it be worth doing a 3 or 4 day trip there for bear? Only about 3 hrs away?

[Slow-drifter]

Absolutely worth bear hunting this unit

[JimmyHoffa]

Bear hunting is good.  If you go for bear when no elk seasons are happening, they can be out and just cruising all along.  Now that there's some decent sized clear cuts and thinning, you should be able to find a few.

[444Marlin]

A few years ago, I saw a ton of bear scat on the roads in that unit.  It seems like they were feeding on the grass growing up along the ditches.

[RustyNail]

when is the best time to go for a fall bear? in this gmu?

[JimmyHoffa]

when is the best time to go for a fall bear? in this gmu?

I see them out feeding in the day mostly late September to early October (in between early archery and early muzzleloader seasons).  Once all the elk hunters are running around, it kind of pushes up their defenses.
The other good time is August.  You get to drive behind the gates, so that opens up a lot of area (some of those roads behind the gates are close to 8 miles).  Problem with August is that it can be hot and lots of mosquitoes.  The August bears seem to be out early in the morning and at night, so a lot of the day hot and still.  The other thing about August and early September is that if you go to the lower elevations, lots of cascara berries and they like those--the bad is that the cascara is really concentrated in some really thick, overgrown early reprod.

[bhawley76]

WET!