Getting pretty discouraged...

[zackmioli]

I have been out twice this season in an area above randle off the 25 road in the port blakely tree farm which i scouted fairly heavily this summer with good success but I havent seen anything in 2 full days of hitting the clearcuts and dark timber. Havent even seen any fresh sign or hardly any sign at all. its really strange. ive moved up and down the hills up to the snow, hit that and couldnt find any sign there either. i know its only 2 days but its still disheartening when i cant even find any sign.

im not sure if i should give up on this area and move somewhere else or just keep hitting it hard when i can. i live in tacoma so the drive out there is spendy to not see anything at all. all the hunters ive talked to up there havent seen anything either so im thinking about leaving that area for something new. would areas off the 23 road be better? im just looking for anything at this point to help me out. im doing this all on my own and ive put a lot of miles on my boots in 2 days worth of hunting not to mention the scouting.

any advice on what to look for, new areas to try, different approaches, anything would really help me out.

pm if you prefer that.

thanks for any help thats offered.

[woodrat]

Don't feel too bad. I just finished day six of my season, and I haven't actually seen a single elk, but today, I got onto a set of tracks that were so fresh I could actually smell the elk on the brush. I never caught up with them, but it's as close as I've been yet. All of the areas that I scouted in the summer, that were full of fresh sign then, were also devoid of fresh sign on opening weekend. I gave them up, and started poking around into new road systems each day until I started finding fresh sign. I didn't figure I had too much time to spend in areas that didn't look like elk had been there in many weeks. The first two days of the season I spent in those areas, and then I moved. The next place I tried had some fresher sign, but a cow had been shot out of that group on a cow tag already and all the fresh sign was pointed in a direction that I knew led out of the area and into some much harder to get to stuff, so I moved again, to an area that I had never gotten around to scouting. On the second day in there, hiking behind locked gates, I started finding fresh sign.

I've hunted at least 6 hours each day, and up to ten hours, and walked 4-10 miles a day. I've truck hunted the clearcuts that you can drive to, still hunted promising looking timber, sat for an hour at a time on a spur road that gets fresh droppings each night, hunted my own pasture and a neighbor's, and hiked for miles behind gated logging roads, hardly ever running into another person, picked my way through 15 foot tall reprod and brush and tried to walk silently in gawd-awful alder thickets full of rotten twigs and leaves.

The way I look at it, a lot of this whole thing has to do with luck, given that the quarry moves around so much, and could be anywhere at anytime, so I figure the only way I can benefit from Luck is to be out there as much as I possibly can, and to put myself in all the likeliest spots I can think to be in.

Five days left, anything could happen!  

[GooNiEs]

pm sent...   dont give up ...  work the timber edges ... early and dark woods later...

[MLhunter1]

I hunted randle in the early season too a few days.  Saw lots of old sign but nothin fresh and no elk seen. 

[Tony 270]

They didn't go too far from where they were before, just changed their habits a bit. If you don't see anything first light I'd walk about 100 yards inside the treeline and parallel the clearings. Bound to find them sometime.

[zackmioli]

thanks for all the help so far. today i worked a clearcut at first light then went into the timber and followed the ridge down to a ridge above a creek and worked that ridge all the way down and out. hoping to get out 1 more time this season if the cash flow allows.

[RuttinWapati]

I would say keep working at it. The elk are where you find them and like the post above the elk just changed up thier habits a little. They're still there somewhere!!!

[Elkpiss]

Thats elk hunting buddy! Not everyone kill elk every year!. Keep hunting..

[MIKEXRAY]

As discussed they just changed their habits.  Look in the deeper canyons and higher roadless ridges, just look a little deeper than you are. I hunt a mile up a ridge on the east side of the mountain ( hike in the dark ) & opening day the elk come by about 7:30 am, a week after opener they are coming by at day break, the last week of archery season they are already past my stand headed up for safety. I'm sure they keep this routine through muzzy & rifle season. If you are hunting the valley or heading up at first light you won't see a thing all day this late in my area.
When we camp all spring / summer up there they are feeding in all the meadows all day. My wife always asks " how can it be so hard ".
Check a little deeper. Mike

[shorthair15]

dont give up you need to stay persistent. the elk are in the timber just keep looking. you see guys glassing clear cuts from there pickup. the elk have learned all ready to stay out of these areas right now from all the people and pressure during the day. the elk have been pushed around alot .they head for timber from all the pressure they are there. just keep looking. good luck thats elk hunting for you. i seen three bulls in the back of peoples trucks on I-5 today. i drive truck so  i see a few in the back of trucks around this  time every year. saw a city cop and a guy looking at a bull in the back of his truck today at about 4:00 p.m and shootin the b.s in cowlitz county. maybe this will give you some encouragement. theres still some out there good luck.

[zackmioli]

thanks for the advice and encouragement. ive been looking on google earth and have an area picked out im gonna hit if i can make it back up monday or tuesday for 1 last chance.