Mount Whittier Bull

[Nate p]

hello all,

I am new to the forum as a member and have decided I should probably post something myself and hopefully contribute a little to the HW community by sharing my sons Mt Whittier bull hunt story.

So i put my 14 year old son in for Norway pass and Mt whittier in 2023. He drew whittier Bull with only 6 points!!!! Now i have lived in SW Washington my entire life but have never stepped foot in the unit so i knew i had some work to do. I had friends who had drew Norway pass before and received a ton of info from those guys to get me started. Did a ton of looking on OnX maps and came up with a good game plan for a July scouting trip.

July 3rd rolled around and we found ourselves at the coldwater boat launch getting ready for our first scouting trip up. The walk around the edge of the lake was great with very little elevation change. This changes quikly! as we start up the valley we realize what big country it is. we work our way all the way to upper end of the Unit and by the time we get there its already getting extremely hot. We decided to turn back after realizing the elk were tucked into the thick alders this time of day especially in this heat. By the time we get back to the trailhead we were beat and ready to head home.

Well busy life got the best of us. between sports for two kids and a strong salmon fishing addiction we didnt make it back up again until 2 days before opening day. We cut some miles off the hike by borrowing a good friends drift boat and using an electric motor to get us to the end of coldwater lake. We set off to set up camp from the boat at around 9:30  and didnt make it to camp until 5. My son had a rough time with his heavy pack so i let him hang back until i was able to come back to get his gear. Weather was great but we knew rain was expected later that evening so we took the opportunity to do some glassing. We found a small herd of cows and a small 5x5 right away but saw no more elk in the next hour so we headed back to set up camp. The wind started to pickup drasticly and was blowing about 40 mph when we started to set up the tend. we used a sawtooth tent and it was quite the task to setup properly in these conditions but after multiple attempts we prevailed. We tucked into the tent just as it started to downpour and gust so bad i was sure we would loose the tent.

That 1st night was rough, Very little sleep with the rain and gusts of gail force wind. I kept thinking how horrible it would be to have the tent just blow away in the middle of this storm. Right at dailight the rain stopped and wind died down. As we exited the tent we were greated by 4 mountain goats on the ridge behind camp. What amazing country to be able to hunt in! We got to our glassing point and couldnt see anything due to the thick blanket of fog coating the vally. After waitng for an hour for fog to lift the rain and wind started back up again so we headed back to camp and hunkered down. Well it didnt let up all day and after checking multiple times the fog never budged either.So much for scouting the day before LOL.

Right before dark the rest of our hunt crew showed up after coming in from the opposite side. they were soaked to the underwear and shivering bad so we helped them set up tents and got them warm. while we set up the tents we were told of all the elk they saw on the other side of the unit. We talked it over and decided to stick to our origonal plan and hunt the side we were already on opening morning. Well after hearing the storys of all the elk seen my son got ancy and asked if we could relocate so we could be on the other side first thing in the morning. i told him this was a poor choice with the weather and risking all of our gear getting wet so i told him if the storm lifted we would pick up and head back down.

Guess what, 10 PM the rain stopped and i was awoken by the equivalent of a kid on xmas eve. Can we go, Can we go! he asked. Well its your hunt so lets do it i said. We got out and let ther rest of the crew know our plan. unsuprisingly we didnt get anyone wanting to join us on a late night hike through the backcountry so we made a plan for them to meet us the next morning. As we headed down the hill the rain and wind started again but worse yet the fog was like swimming in milk. After dropped some elevation the wind died down and rain let up spairing us the misery of being wet the next morning. We made it back to the boat at 1am and set up our tent and hit the sack.

 The next morning we decided to sleep in a bit and leave camp just before dailight vs trying to hike up in the dark. We had a bull screaming a couple hundred yards away from camp and that really got us motivated to get up and hunt. We set off and afer about two hours of hiking we rounded a corner to see 3 bulls at 50 yds. two small 5x5's and a stud 5x5 that was a shooter in our books only problem was they were on the wrong side of the trail and had us pinned. we set up the rifle and waited for them to walk across the trail but unfortunantly the headed the wrong direction. I told my son that we didnt bust the elk they just walked off and we could potentially call them over the trail later that evening. Plan was to get to a good vantage point and glass until mid afternoon. after that we weould head to a spot overlooking where the first group of bulls were and try to coax them over. As we sat down to take a break we spotted a dozen cows about 600 yds away. We watched herd for about ten min when seemingly out of nowhere a bull apeared. He decided this was the bull he wanted to go after so we took off to close some distance. We aproached a rocky outcropping and ranged the bull again, 380yds. He laid out prone and after taking a few moments to calm his nerves i heard the 300 rip and the bull dropped instantly. After a couple leg kicks the bull was done.

as we aproached the elk we saw a problem. the hill he was on was extemely steep and he had his top forks burried deep in the ash with his body pinning him down. Took us all we had to get the antlers free and when we did he slid down the hill another 100 ft and rested perfectly next to a blowdown. I called the crew on the radio and told them to head up with the pack frames because we got a bull down!

The pack out was tough. took us until 11 at night to get it all back to the boat but we all slept great that night. we woke up to the lake looking like glass and the sun shining through blue skys.

This hunt was absolutely amazing and i was already dreaming of the day i would finally draw a special hunt permit. Well after 27 years of putting in i finally drew a tag in 2024 and it was Norway Pass! That is until WDFW sent me an email. saying the screwed up and my draw results may have changed. My heart sunk, i scrambled to login as fast as i could and much to my suprise my hunt had changed. I no longer had Norway pass but instead i now had my 1st choice hunt, Mt Whittier!!!!  I cant wait to be back up rifle in hand and tag in pocket. For now all i can do is put on the miles scouting and hope for some great hunting in october again with my Friends and Family.

Hope this wasnt a super boring read as i am not an author by any stretch of the imagination but i did want to share something with the group. I will try to upload some photos of my sons elk and hopefully come October i will have another story to share!

[Nate p]

Bull before shot

[Nate p]

HW

[Nate p]

H

[Nate p]

   Lake on the ride out

[Nate p]

Goats

[Nate p]

I would love to hear anyone else’s story’s from hunting the mt margeret backcountry

[Irish_hunter93]

How cool!

[zwickeyman]

The boat pic is pretty cool. Congrats to you and your son

[jstone]

That is such amazing country.!! Looks like a brutal but fun trip.

[millerwheeler]

Amazing thanks for sharing

[Mtnwalker]

Great write up, congrats to your boy. Love the fortitude of him wanting to do a midnight march in those conditions, sounds like you guys are in for a good time again this year!

[Magnum_Willys]

Wow glad it worked out, some wild decisions made on that hunt for sure.  Glad everyone had a  safe and successful hunt. 

[JakeLand]

Awesome story and pics !

[hunterednate]

What a hunt! Big congrats to your son. I've spent some time in that unit, and it's no joke. What an incredible memory for you guys to share.