Never again

[DoubleJ]

My son, the kid that hunts harder than some adults I know, the kid that will gladly sit in the rain sun up to sun down for three days for the chance to see one non legal doe, and never complain about it, is done elk hunting until he is big enough to go archery.  We were out all day today and all we saw were *censored*es driving up and down roads.  We'd hike and hike to get to the back ridge of a tree line to sit over a clear cut and, we'd no sooner get there than idiots in an SUV packed 5 deep with pumpkins would roll through, music loud enough to hear from our position.  It happened ALL DAY.  Every place we went was exactly the same.  He was laughing at them most of the morning saying, "They'll never see anything from the road.  What are they thinking?  They can't hear the forest over their radios.  How do they expect to hear the elk?"  He is WAY smart for his 8 years of life, especially with hunting.

At 5pm, he turned to me as another Chevy pickup rolled by and said, "We'll never see any elk with these morons driving all over the hills".  I just smiled as I saw the wheels turning in his head.  He said, "I want to go home".  I told him we still had an hour and a half of light and all day tomorrow.  He told me he didn't care, that he was done hunting rifle elk forever.  I reminded him he was not big enough to work a bow yet and he told me, "I'll just come out with you in Sept. and call a big one in for you".  We are now at home, licking the wounds of modern elk in Western Washington.

[runamuk]

Pretty sad huh.....what about muzzy

[270Shooter]

East WA aint much better

[DoubleJ]

Pretty sad huh.....what about muzzy

Don't own a muzzy and have only shot one once, with someone else doing all of the work.  Might work I guess.  Have to float ANOTHER hunting expense past the wife though  

[bigpaw 77]

That's to bad, I hope he does not get to discouraged by the idiots. I like the muzzeloader idea. I hunt muzzy for elk in eastern WA. They are easy to work and fun to shoot. And it will be good practice for him for when he does start archery hunting, because you have to get closer to the elk. Your son does sound pretty smart for a 8 year old, he already knows more about elk hunting then some of the yahoos out there.

[Fishnclifff]

Went with my brother to Coweeman today

Everywhere I was used to finding elk, they logged.
Everywhere else there were trucks driving .

One group stopped and asked why we were out in the rain? gee I don't know.

While moving down a ridge , I spotted movement below. A 4 pt buck walked out of the fog, about 50 yrds broadside. he didn't spook or look concerned, he just sniffed a little a walked away in the fog, like a ghost.

Tried to shoot a grouse with my XDM40, but she jumped at the trigger pull, shot right behind her .
 Sped up her exit a tad.

[338WinMag]

The muzzy might be something to concider. I'm using 90 grains in my Remington 700ML and it really doesn't have much kick to it..

[DoubleJ]

That's to bad, I hope he does not get to discouraged by the idiots. I like the muzzeloader idea. I hunt muzzy for elk in eastern WA. They are easy to work and fun to shoot. And it will be good practice for him for when he does start archery hunting, because you have to get closer to the elk. Your son does sound pretty smart for a 8 year old, he already knows more about elk hunting then some of the yahoos out there.

He's not discouraged.  He's lived the past few years of his life LIVING hunting 24/7 just waiting until it was his turn.  He got his first deer earlier this year and was after his first elk.  He'll be back, just not modern firearm.  I'll look into the muzzy idea.  Might not be something right away but, we have a year yet.

[shorthair15]

me and my son parked at a locked gate today where we have seen elk back in this clear cut. we walked in right before the sun came up all the way. i look over on the other side of the clear cut and my son says dad there is some one on the other landing about 150 yards away after we been there about 20 minutes or so. i tell him no big deal there is another gate on the other end of the road on the bottom of the hill. next thing i know i look around and there is a guy standing behind us on the logging road about 10 yards im thinking to my self. when this guy seen us from at least 50 yards down the road why he did not turn around and head some where else as i usually do if i see some one in here. this idiot sits there and i finally tell my son lets go. he tells me his buddy is on the other side. i bit my tongue and said ok we will go somewhere else. i guess he does know what a little curtiousy is. im wondering if this idiot was going to hunt right next to us. what a moron. if my son was not there i would a gave him a earfull. i guess this is rifle elk hunting in washington. it has not changed since i was a kid and went with my dad.i went up one road and there was a truck right in the middle of the road. the truck does not move and im thinking now what the heck is going on. i get out of my truck and tell the guy get out of the road so i can get by. i walked and ask him if somethings wrong finally and see if he needs help. come to find out its a couple older guys and there emergency brakes stuck and they cant get the truck to move. he tells me its his nephews truck. his brother is disabled. so i tell him let me look at it. i fixed it for them and they were on there way and he told me he was sorry for blocking the road. i told him no problem. ive just had people do the blocking the road thing it the winston area so you could not get by and dont want to deal with that here. there is alot hunters where im at but half of them are too lazy to get out of there truck. just leaves more areas for me to walk into.

[pods8]

I'm sorry for your son's experience but the repeated montra of the site tends to be "get the hell away from the roads" if you want to avoid the crowds.  No offense but if you knew he didn't want or like the crowds why would you bring him out in a situation that would sour him? 

[LittleJohn]

I'm sorry for your son's experience but the repeated montra of the site tends to be "get the hell away from the roads" if you want to avoid the crowds.  No offense but if you knew he didn't want or like the crowds why would you bring him out in a situation that would sour him? 

Kind of wondering the same thing My son is only 4 years old, but when he does start to hunt I will never put him in that position. Lots of area to go behind gates or in a wilderness area to avoid that situation,

[GEARHEAD]

every opening day this thread starts. in these forested areas, i prefer the lazy slobs, they stay on the road, i side hill a ridge. tons of road hunters where i go, but i rarely run into another person on foot, and i'm only a half mile in if that.

[PolarBear]

My daughter came up with the same conclusion after taking her through Vail grouse hunting.  She want's to bowhunt with Daddy and stay away from the goofy rifle road hunters.

[bobcat]

I thought I told you- if you want to hunt elk without the competition, you need to hunt where there are few to no elk.  That's what I did today. Didn't see one other elk hunter but also didn't see an elk track.   

[woodrat]

We walked past the gates about an hour before legal shooting light today. I was over a half mile in and sitting against a nice tree watching a trail when daylight came. I heard a couple of trucks way up on the road, but in two and a half miles of walking this morning didn't see another soul.

Of course, didn't see any elk, either, but still....

I've gotten pretty sick of the roads clogged with rude truck hunters, too, but I have learned in the two seasons that I've been at this that being willing to walk a ways, and potentially have to pack out an elk gets me away from about 99% of the rest of the hunters. Of course, that assumes that the yahoos don't drive their quads around the locked gates and spoil the hunting further in, too, but you have to try. Now I just need to find some elk!