northwest areas to find elk

[hillbilli]

well as i've said before i'm new here, dont even know which method i'll use to hunt this fall, but i'm on whidbey island, and looking at areas close (437, 448, 460, 418, 450) so that i'lll actually be able to get in and scout before season. just wanted to get youalls input on which of these areas have decent elk numbers and arent completely overrun with people when the season starts.
   I'm kind of thinking 448 archery, because i'll be able to shoot a cow if i find one (my trophy case is a big white GE that plugs into the wall). would like input if anyone has experience up in this area.

[7mmfan]

Well at least a couple of those areas are either not open at all for elk or are permit only, 418 for example. 407 and 448, while there are a few, and only a few, running around, wouldn't be an area that I'd pursue as trying to find them. Most of the elk in these areas are highly transitory and also heavily pressured by the tribes. The further south you go the better, so way up high in 460 or 454 would be better, but still not good. if your looking for numbers of elk on the west side you really need to head to the SW portion of the state. Thats just my 

[jackelope]

Look at the harvest reports on the WDFW website. You will see an indication of how many elk were killed by how many hunters, etc. I would agree with the last post....slim to none pickins in most of the units you mentioned.
http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/harvest/

[hillbilli]

well thanks for the info, was hoping for good things there, because its close, i'll probably go do a little scouting in 448 and 460, and see.. I'll definitely check out the harvest statistics, didnt know that was there. may need to look at 621 as well, see how it looks.