Toutle Bull Success--Updated Story and Pics

[SilkWWU]

First and Foremost I want to say THANK YOU to all those people on here who gave me tips and directions on your hunts and successes.  It got me pretty motivated and excited for this hunt.  I did get to see some big bulls but never really had an opportunity on getting them.  Saw over 200 elk in total throughout the week and got to enjoy some good glassing and some longer shots, mine was the shortest shot out of our group at 284 yards with the longest at 500.  The stories of the other guys aren't that interesting except the in your face fun of one of our members trailing his elk through the reprod and walking right on top of him and putting a kill shot in at 20 yards when he tried to stand up.  We had 5 tags in our group, went 4/5 killed three spikes and a four point...if my dad could have stayed an extra day or two he would have tagged out as well.

So my goal going into this hunt was to hold out through Wednesday for a 5 point or better, then take the first bull I saw after that.  We had some really close calls throughout the week, but nothing that was huge, and a LOT of cows and blown hunts by ourselves and others.  On Tuesday night, one of the guys in our group (never shot an animal in his life) got the shakes and missed a very very makeable shot that made the tree behind the elk very unhappy, so I decided to go back with him the next night and see if we could get another shot at that bull.  After glassing for about an hour, we had about an hour left of light and he made an offer to push through the reprod and see if he could push anything out to me.  I set up on the landing above a clearcut with a perfect rest to where I could see three different clear cuts, and was able to glass some reprod across the way.  About twenty minutes in, I see some movement through the timber at the bottom on the cut across the way, I put the glasses on him and saw he was a nice little spike.  I thought about it as I watched him and realized that with twenty minutes left on my personal "goal deadline" that I would take the shot.  This being my first bull I was a little nervous but was definitely not shaking as I put my gun up on my rest and took aim.  I guessed he was at 325 yards as I didn't have a range finder with me.  (Turned out I was a little wrong when we ranged in the following day it was 284 yards) and touched off.  The Bull didn't move and looked around.  I touched off again and he turned and walked 10 yards to the right.  This is when i almost smacked myself in the head and realized I didn't account for the decline into the bottom of the cut.  My third shot rang true and he buckled and stood up and started to trot off.  I had a bad experience in my past with a monster mule deer and have the mentality to shoot until he's down so I hit him again and he went down.  He was trying to get back up and so I shot again before I calmed myself down and realized he was in his death throes and I needed to get over there and put a kill shot in him so he wouldn't suffer.  FIRST ELK DOWN!  But I wish the story ended there.

So at this point I still down see my buddy who was in the reprod so I run back down the road about a 100 yards to where I had parked my truck and was driving back around to the other side to put the kill shot in (I couldn't cross there as there was a sizable creek) I was looking for my buddy and did not see  the giant pothole in the middle of the road.  My truck hit it and died right there...Unbelievable.  At this point it's about 20-30 minutes left of light, I have a bull down, my buddy is in the reprod and we are 10 miles from camp.  *censored*.  Well first thing is first and I need to get over there and get a kill shot in and mark this animal so we can round up the camp crew and pack him out.  Lucky for me some guys in a Toyota show up and help us out.  Needless to say we didn't get back to camp until 9pm that night.  Crazy hunt.  First picture is at the kill site, and the other picture was taken on Friday, the last spike was killed Saturday afternoon so it wasn't on the jeep (which is our camp classic picture).

I will also note, the Toutle is a really fun unit, and there are some nice bulls in there, I just never was able to get on them, though I did see some nice bulls come out, nothing that was out of this world.  Now that I have the first bull monkey off my back, I can start to focus on getting a bigger bull every time I go out.  Shouldn't be too hard

[Jason]

Congrats!!

[Huntbear]

The Toutle is any bull??  Thought it was a branch antlered unit only?  Not accusing, just asking.

[grousetracker]

toutle is any bull , i heard that there was a lot of non hunters cruising the roads screwing up the hunts for others.

[SilkWWU]

Yup, Toutle is Any Bull, and the Coweeman and Lewis are branch antlered.  It says on the borders very clearly *NOW ENTERING BRANCH ANTLERED UNIT*  Though it wasn't that people were screwing up the hunt, it was that they didn't know the Toutle was Permit Only...   Regardless of the signs everywhere...

[hunterofelk]

Hard to fathom how some people don't read the regs. or miss all the signs!  Sounds like you made out good, big bulls eat tough and take up a lot of room on the wall.

[Bob33]

Too bad you couldn't reach an enforcement officers for the poachers.  Turn them in and you could possibly get 10 bonus points.  You might get a Toutle tag two years in a row that way.

"those people who hunt Toutle without tags are jack-offs."  Jack-offs AND also poachers.

[SilkWWU]

Too bad you couldn't reach an enforcement officers for the poachers.  Turn them in and you could possibly get 10 bonus points.  You might get a Toutle tag two years in a row that way.

"those people who hunt Toutle without tags are jack-offs."  Jack-offs AND also poachers.

Well I couldn't prove they did anything wrong, they had no elk in their car and I didn't see them fire any shots...Also...shockingly, I didn't see a warden up there?

[Bob33]

You're right: they could say there were hunting bear I suppose.  So they're still jack-offs, just not poachers.

Alas, the enforcement officers are spread too thin.

[rjm5]

Congrats Trav, glad you guys had a good hunt.

[SilkWWU]

Congrats Trav, glad you guys had a good hunt.

Thanks man, I wish you were closer, would have been sweet to have your expertise along.

[PacificNWhunter]

Congrats, way to get it done.

[carpsniperg2]

congrats thats great

[fc2038]

Congrats silk!  Glad you had fun. It IS really a fun hunt!

[THINK_N_ELK]

toutle is any bull , i heard that there was a lot of non hunters cruising the roads screwing up the hunts for others.

That's what happens when everyone wants the gates opened up.  Their is no one around to help prevent this.

[funkster]

Congrats on a successful hunt! Anyone who has pulled that tag knows it is sure a fun one.


It is funny how Wey co. can't seem to win,early archery wants the gates open(usually closed to fire danger) to access the unit. We couldn't even hunt AT ALL until the last week two years ago.  Then they open them up and everybody complains...you just can't win! Although it sucks, the unit is legally open to other types of hunting. It would be to much work and $ to man all the access gates in that unit. If we cause to much trouble they will just lock us all out. Let's just be happy Wey co. allows us as hunters to go on their land(which is some good hunting grounds IMPO)..because they don't have too.

[SilkWWU]

Congrats on a successful hunt! Anyone who has pulled that tag knows it is sure a fun one.


It is funny how Wey co. can't seem to win,early archery wants the gates open(usually closed to fire danger) to access the unit. We couldn't even hunt AT ALL until the last week two years ago.  Then they open them up and everybody complains...you just can't win! Although it sucks, the unit is legally open to other types of hunting. It would be to much work and $ to man all the access gates in that unit. If we cause to much trouble they will just lock us all out. Let's just be happy Wey co. allows us as hunters to go on their land(which is some good hunting grounds IMPO)..because they don't have too.

I'm not complaining about Weyco, It was just a little frustrating to think about how many "bear" hunters or people who didn't understand it was a permit only unit may have spooked my big bull before I got on him.  Anyways, soooo many animals so I'm not whining to hard

[Bob33]

Just curious: I didnt' see any of the hunters wearing orange.  Is this an archery only hunt?

[C-Money]

At 284 yards, I would guess they were rifle hunting. Also, I have one of those orange vests that are removable. Congrats hunters on a great hunt!

[SilkWWU]

Just curious: I didnt' see any of the hunters wearing orange.  Is this an archery only hunt?

Well the pictures on the jeep were taken in camp, as far as I know it's not required to wear orange in camp.  I figure the giant tent, the 6 vehicles the fire, and loud drinking is enough to deter even the stupidest hunter  

Also, after getting everyone rounded up and taking off some layers to skin the elk at 730 pm  in the pitch black, I would assume most hunters know that elk with flashlights two hours after shooting time don't exist...

Yes we all wear blaze orange while hunting.

[TheJack]

your welcome for the ride to camp.  didn't have time to stop by your camp and show you our elk after getting it out.   didn't get the truck loaded tell 6pm, thats one steep hill.  it was a nice 5x5.

[engelwood]

That is a good picture. Is that the Race Jeep? Shepard? I thought those guys would be up in the Souixon unit like normal. Did they do any good up there this year? I assume they still had the normal camp. PM me if you don't want to talk about it on here. I know Mansur.

[SilkWWU]

Souixon got put on hold this year to help us out in the Toutle.

[rackattack]

Congrats on the bulls.  Still waiting for my crack at the Toutle. 

[Watimberghost]

Sounds like a great hunt. It's nice having your group selected for those special permit hunts. A lot of animals is a lot of fun

[funkster]

Congrats on a successful hunt! Anyone who has pulled that tag knows it is sure a fun one.


It is funny how Wey co. can't seem to win,early archery wants the gates open(usually closed to fire danger) to access the unit. We couldn't even hunt AT ALL until the last week two years ago.  Then they open them up and everybody complains...you just can't win! Although it sucks, the unit is legally open to other types of hunting. It would be to much work and $ to man all the access gates in that unit. If we cause to much trouble they will just lock us all out. Let's just be happy Wey co. allows us as hunters to go on their land(which is some good hunting grounds IMPO)..because they don't have too.

I'm not complaining about Weyco, It was just a little frustrating to think about how many "bear" hunters or people who didn't understand it was a permit only unit may have spooked my big bull before I got on him.  Anyways, soooo many animals so I'm not whining to hard

Silk,my statement wasn't aimed at you, Way to get er' done! How many points did you all have? My dad pulled with 5.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Congrats guy!  Sounds like you had a fun hunt.

SilkWWU whats this I hear about you crying like a baby while working on Brians elk? 

[SilkWWU]

Congrats guy!  Sounds like you had a fun hunt.

SilkWWU whats this I hear about you crying like a baby while working on Brians elk? 

By Brian I assume you mean Ryan   Sorry about the cape, I'll go further next time.  If you want the TRUTH everyone kind of freaking out when the knife went into my leg until no blood came out and just muscle was showing.  But then they wouldn't let me do anything and I got yelled at when I tried to throw a quarter over my shoulder!  (It was only a 50 yard pack to this little side road in the middle of the clearcut).      They wanted me to drive almost two hours to the nearest hospital then sit another two hours there to get stitches and then drive two hours to get back to camp...you're out of your damned mind!  It was nearly whiskey hour when we got Ryan's bull out!

[Michelle_Nelson]

I could have sworn he said his name was Brian.

No problem on the cape.  It was pretty short.  Glad he wasn't getting a shoulder mount.  You live and learn.  Can't learn if you don't try.  The next one will be better I am sure of it.

I told Ryan it was to good of a story about you sticking your self that I couldn't let you get away with out getting a little crap.  LOL.   

[SilkWWU]

Ahhhh, it was no big deal   I was so mad at myself when it happened.  I mean, it was the last bull of the current tag holders in camp (next one was coming the following night) so we were pretty much down for the season, and I felt like I kind of put a damper on the mood.  Of course, it turned out to be no big deal, got a tetanus shot today and some antibotics because it had a mild infection (sounds like doc filling his pockets) and that was that!  That was such a cool hunt, would do it again a million times.

[bow4elk]

Congrats on the bulls, and please start a new topic about that big Willy's rig!!

[SilkWWU]

Congrats on the bulls, and please start a new topic about that big Willy's rig!!

Hahahaha, it's amazing.  End of story

[Diesel]

nice story...my favorite part is when you cut your self, and i got to save your life...you should tell my story for me, since your an english major and could tell it better then me.

[Magnum_Willys]

Rookies !  Yea - besides our camp member that got so excited he forgot whether he was skinning the elk's hide or his own and ended up needing a doc to stitch him up we had his buddy who tried to take two bites of steak and a double shot of jack at the same time and ended up needing the heimlich maneuver just to survive the meal hour.  They got-er done though.  Can't wait for next year ! 

[Magnum_Willys]

Here's a pic with all four bulls the camp took - Two outa the A tent and two outa the B Tent.  B tenters finally broke through ! haha

[Wenatcheejay]

Great stories, great thread. You guys rocked it!!!

[funkster]

The 2nd spike and the 4th spike look like they could be brother's! Again congrats and a successful year.

[SilkWWU]

The 2nd spike and the 4th spike look like they could be brother's! Again congrats and a successful year.

Actually I think they were.  They were shot about a half mile from each other.  Their antlers measure the exact same length and they have the same curve characteristics exactly.  Kind of cool actually.