Toutle- Quality Permit

[BA Mongor]

I was just curious on getting feedback from the Toutle Quality Bull tag holders.

How was your hunt experience?
Many encounters?
Do you feel it's a Quality tag?

BA

[Wolfdog2314]

My uncle had the muzzleloader quality bull tag. Did not fill it and did not have an opportunity. He saw some cows and a bull towards the end of the week. He spendt a good amount of time in there. I wouldn’t say he’s hard core putting in miles in timber every day. But for a “quality” tag you think you may at least get an opportunity with any capacity of hunting you put forth.

He also was only able to hunt the north end state land, as he did not have a Weyerhaeuser key.

[Dark2Dark]

I would definitely want to have the key.

The reports have gotten out of that unit from guys that get out of their rigs and put miles on their boots differ greatly from those that drive around. There are not many great west side hunts. The reports I have heard from the last couple years suggest it’s a good place to have higher odds of shooting something, but it’s probably more likely to be a rag-horn than a quality bull. I would not be shocked if it went the way of Margaret.

[MADMAX]

I’ve hunted it
Lots of raghorns

It’s what you make of it
I hunted state land and filled my archery tags
Drew twice
3x3
4x4
I’d put in for it again

[Clearcut]

Having a key unlocks a lot more area but even without it there’s no reason with a little walking around on the state ground you shouldn’t of had a opportunity. An definitely should have seen more than 1 bull. Quality means something different to every individual as does each persons effort on such hunt. Some think it’s a give me and others don’t and spend more time scouting and checking out said area. Just my 2 cents.

[msg]

Quality has changed by immense amounts in that unit and surrounding units. My buddies and I were spoiled. We were around in the late 80's and 90's. Even the otc Marble unit was incredible compared to what is there now. That is now called Lewis River. Toutle and Margaret started as 5 pt. or better. The game wardens were hauling out truck loads of elk that were not 5 pts. Tough to count pts. on a cold rainy November day. The second or third year I drew. The season was split, I had 21/2 days to hunt due to work. I saw 14 branched bulls in that time but no 5 pts. It was then dropped to 3 pt. or better. Wife and I both drew and killed 2 raghorns 3rd and 5th day. Loaded both in the same spot whole. By the end of the season 7 bulls came out of that same canyon. They got bigger as the season went on. It is now any bull with a lot of tag soup. Marble was the unit of choice if no tags drawn, the best year was 7 bulls on opening day for 10 guys in 2 camps. We had several very good years of 4 or 5 bulls and great memories. Now quality units are like fish runs and the state of diminishing returns. What is acceptable now was not acceptable 10 years ago and even worse the further you go back. Now a lot of quality tags are nothing but mediocre hunts that they change the date on a week or so. How many years has Washington been claiming to have 65,000 elk?

[BA Mongor]

Knowing the unit like I do, and the amount of time I've spent there for over 40-years, I agree with Dark2Dark, Wolfdog and others. There's still animals there, and getting out and walking into areas will get you more opportunities at elk, but to say this is still a "Quality" tag is just wrong.

Just seeing the massive elk trails of yester year, and not seeing sign on them is now the norm. Yes, there's still elk in the Toutle, but the numbers are so far down from carring capacity that it's overwhelming absurd to say the numbers are stable.

Either way, this "Quality" unit should be changed. The potential is still there like it was in the 70's through the early 20's, but those days are Long, Long gone. No more cow permits. Period! The hoof rot issue has decimated the entire herd.

And for those individuals who keep saying that "there's all kind of animals and you need to just get out of your rig" I will take you up on your offer to show me all these animals. With the exception of the South Fork / Mud Flow, they're just aren't that many animals. It sucks, but it's the truth... I'm lucky and know where to find animals, but I get more pictures of cats now a days than Bulls.

[Backstrap]

Just having the place to yourself makes it a quality hunt. It’s still hunting, and they aren’t standing around waiting to be shot. I’d put in for it, and be happy to draw it.

[jeffitz]

Good info here - all valid points - so much has changed with hoof rot and Weyco closures. I would gladly “burn” my 22 points on that tag if i was guaranteed a Weyco pass. But the draws are in June and Weyco sells later in the year so...BTW the biggest SW Rosie ive ever seen (in 30 years of chasing elk) Was in the 556 about 6 yrs ago.

[elksnout]

I'll chime in. I drew the rifle bull tag this year. Not going to say how many points I used. I was so excited. Found out the morning the results were posted. I went online to see if there were any Weyco walk in permits and even they were gone.... so my hunt was to be 100% state land. Ok. I'll find a decent bull, right? I still have my tag.

Fast forward to the hunt. Spent ten days in the woods with eight of them being hunting days. Never saw camp in the daylight for those eight days. Every morning and the last hour to hour and a half we were glassing from vantage points. The rest of each day was spent cruising timber or making sweeps trying to locate fresh tracks in the snow. Covering ground was the plan to find elk. I saw five cows in eight days. Did get on two different sets of bull tracks based off of the sign. Ran out of snow and daylight on one set and another out smarted me in the timber but I'm not 100% sure it was a bull.

To be fair we did find bulls up high off the Loowit trail the evening before season. But only one was in my unit. Glassed him up in a little opening in the sixty year old reprod. He never knew we were there. Perfect. But that night that storm came in and dumped and dumped snow up high. My truck isn't set up for that much snow. We tried twice.

I gave it 110%. I've burned tags before. I can live with that. It's elk hunting. If your definition of quality is limited hunting pressure then the Toutle tag is for you. But for numbers of elk I'm extremely disappointed. My biggest disappointment is that my son gave up his entire season to help me. But we had fun. Something else that bugged me was with all of the ground covered was the absolute lack of recent elk sign. Very little shooting heard. We made some big sweeps in the snow to cut fresh track. Even that was sparse. Hunted the Harrington drainage hard and off of the 2730 line. Maybe having the Weyco pass would have made the difference? The bow and muzzy guys at least have vocal means to locate bulls so maybe those are the tags to get. This unit shouldn't be quality any longer for rifle in my view. Me? I'm out. I'll never list his hunt as a choice and at my age it was most likely the last quality tag I'll get and actually was my one and only quality bull tag I've ever drawn.

elksnout

[Bullkllr]

Sad story the way the Toutle and surrounding units have gone.

The last Toutle bull archery tag I had ~10 years ago~ I saw 5 groups, all with bulls, and heard even more and got a nice 5pt in about 1/2 day.

A few years later my son drew an antlerless and it was really tough to find a cow.

[millerwheeler]

Spent all of archery season with father in-law there last year  and while  he had lots of chances he never got close enough or got one  but I’ll remember the time spent forever , cow muzzle tag with my dad  worked out butts off to make it happen and it was the best week I have spent with my dad in over 10 years  memories I’ll
Never forget and he got a fat cow , and I spend a lot of time in and around the mudflow for last several years , there are elk and you have to work at it. But from stories and people I have spoke to things have changed a lot , might be better as a bull tag

[Backstrap]

I had the tag 5 years ago, and it took me a while to figure it out, but there were plenty of bulls on the state land. Hunting the timber was the answer. I haven’t been in there since.

[Lumpy Taters]

I tried for years to get that tag and I run through that area frequently enough to know where some resident herds like to hide.   I agree the quality of the animals is down but I think it has more to do with hoof rot and the extra cow tags they were handing out a few years ago.   I feel the weyco key is an absolut must if you want more chances as the state land has constant pressure year round. 

[fowl smacker]

I live nearby and spend quite a bit of time there.  No where near as many animals or the quality of animals that there used to be.  Yes, you can still find an elk there, but no way would I spend my "quality " points there.