621 Olympic Rifle Elk

[bull!]

Hello,
Seeing as this will be my first post I guess we will see how it goes!
(As a member of Hunt Talk and Monster Muleys, I know how first posts are sometimes received.)

After drawing this limited entry tag, my first ever in Washington, I ordered the map and went scouting this summer.
I drove a lot of the roads and familiarized myself with the unit, I found a few elk on public land, including two bulls, and a lot on private as it seems is the norm.
Well, after hunting the first 3 days of the season I found 0 elk on public land.
I'm wondering if this is normal behavior due to hunting pressure or natural migration with the season?
Or do I just stink at finding elk?

If someone is willing to give advice it would be greatly appreciated.
I can post all the places where I have looked, but I know some folks frown on posting exact locations on general internet forums and would be happy to converse in a private manner if preferred. (Although posting places where I have found no elk doesn't seem like it's giving away too much!)

Thank you.

[raydog]

https://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,288013.0.html

Might try hitting up this guy. He helped out when I had the muzzy tag in 2022. We ended up with tag soup though

It's a tough tag these days since most private owners seem to be of the seattle type. Good luck and keep us posted

[bull!]

Thank you, I will reach out to him.

[pd]

Although I have zero intel for you, it is never fun to have a tag go to waste.  Perhaps the gentleman from Brinnon could assist, we hope so.  Best of luck, Sir!

Great screen name, by the way!

[bull!]

Thank you for the well wishes.
I have never hunted Roosevelt's before and switched to them a few years ago, as I wanted that experience in life.
In the end, if I don't fill the tag then that's the way it goes, but it's not going to be from lack of trying!

I forgot to mention, I have hunted all the western states (except California) for at least one species, so if I can help anyone with advice I would be happy to.
Especially for antelope, we've been incredibly lucky in the draws for those.   

[MLBowhunting]

We've killed a few bulls in that unit.  PM me

[dagon]

I had this hunt last year. It was kinda rough. Found elk and finally got permission to get on some private land only to have someone run them off before I could shoot. Did not feel like a real hunt to me.

[swampbear]

Lived out in that unit for a few years. In my experience seeing elk it would either be they were in town in Brinnon, in the State park visible from the highway, in my neighborhood walking down the asphalt road and bedding behind houses, or on private land that owners weren’t giving out permission to hunt. Would see them in June-August on public ground usually. Rarely saw them on public land during the season unless I happene to be behind a gate grouse hunting and they were in there on the move. Most of those gates the tribes have keys too so I would bet hunting pressure is far greater than what people assume. Definitely not a hunt I’d burn points on unless I was a landowner who constantly had elk on my property during the season. Even then it would be a meat hunt really.

[bull!]

Yes, there is a big difference between where you can find them in the summer versus where they are during hunting season.
Learned that lesson the hard way.
Some of the gates have a "tribal" designation on one of the locks, and we saw people using them twice, so they do get some pressure that way. Not sure how much.   

100% my fault for not researching the unit more before applying.
Many thanks for the folks who offered advice and sent me PMs.

[Backstrap]

How did you do?