Back country elk hunting

[Skyvalhunter]

Well I wish you luck in the pasayten for deer this year.

[DOUBLELUNG]

Huge amounts of opportunity west of the Cascade crest on the Gifford Pinchot NF for a west side elk tag.  3-point or better.  Nobody is going to even pinpoint more than an extremely general geographic area for you, unfortunately; good OTC opportunity for adult bulls in WA is more closely guarded than a young daughter's chastity.     

My advice is to get a GP forest map, and start exploring on Google Earth.  Put in some summer hikes to check out the most likely spots.  A good rule of thumb would be at least 2 miles and 2000' vertical from the nearest road access; that will weed out most of the hunters planning to haul a critter out on their own backs.

Finally, once you decide on an area to hunt, do like Hanes does and locate a horse packer who will go into your area; make those arrangements BEFORE you hunt, expect to pay $500-600 with today's gas prices - the nice thing is, you'll only lay out that much money if you connect.  I can tell you from experience, even when I was in good shape, after 5-6 days hunting hard, 2 guys with two mature bulls down and a 2-mile uphill pack out = brutal.  Think of it as the alternative to spending that much or more for gas to MT, ID, WY, etc., without the $500-700 NR tag cost and no guarantees (or even likelihood) of an opportunity to kill a mature bull. 

WA or any other state, in my opinion there is no OTC opportunity - or even a good odds NR draw - for a probability of killing a mature bull on public land without a significant investment in sweat and money. 

Good luck!  You are the perfect age to start on what should reasonably be viewed as a 3-5 year quest. 

[vanhornhunter]

You're right doublelung, There is lots of opportunity in giffort to tag a decent bull in a away from others.I also read camrones book and really enjoyed it.The mountains around mt adams and st helens are a great place to look and explore.Make sure you bring your gps and compass, Its easy to get turned around in there when the fog rolls in.Theres logging roads but most are closed during archery season for fire danger.

[Intruder]

WA or any other state, in my opinion there is no OTC opportunity - or even a good odds NR draw - for a probability of killing a mature bull on public land without a significant investment in sweat and money. 

Good luck!  You are the perfect age to start on what should reasonably be viewed as a 3-5 year quest. 

This unfortunately is/has become a reality.  If you don't have a pocket full of $ it seems the opportunity to do a real quality hunt for big bulls is getter more and more scarce.  There out there but seems like fewer and further between em....

[boneaddict]

As always DOUBLELUNG is spot on in his advice.

[shanevg]

Thanks for the info everyone on this topic and everyone who has helped me in the past.  It is greatly appreciated!  Now it's time for some serious scouting! 

So as far as hunting the elk go, where do you look for them?  They don't really go up into the high country meadows like the deer and bear do, do they?  Do you look in the trees just below the alpine, or even farther down?  What approximate elevation?  Again, any help is appreciated.

[archery288]

They may travel up into those meadows during the night, but mainly just on the edges of the alpines so they are somewhat close to cover.  If you can find some big canyons with little meadows down through it - get up high and glass them and you'll probably do ok.  And as for elevation, anywhere from about 2500 feet, to 5000 feet is a good range to stay in.  Atleast for me anyways.

[WDFW-SUX]

Sometimes further is not always better in western wa.

There are some places that hold really good bulls that are not remote the elk just hide really well and the bulls never show themselves outside of the rut.  I hunt a couple of places that I never see bulls when I scout but I always know they are there in September.

[Little Fish]

Are you hunting archery? Should be several decent areas on the westside. Call WDFW ask for the big game bio in charge of the area you are hunting and start asking questions.

[shanevg]

Are you hunting archery? Should be several decent areas on the westside. Call WDFW ask for the big game bio in charge of the area you are hunting and start asking questions.

Yeah, I will be hunting archery.  Never called a biologist before, maybe I should give that a try. 

[MIKEXRAY]

I don't know how you guys get the meat out on a backpack hunt that far in before it spoils. I've read all the posts on packing meat and such that were discussed on here in the past. I hunt one mile from the road and is down hill from the kill & two of us have a hard time getting it out one mile with the meat in good shape. Pretty warm in Sept. If I was planning a hunt that far in, I would make arrange for pack out as previously advised. My one mile in takes 6 hours from kill till all meat is on ice and that makes me nervous. Don't figure out what your going to do when its down, plan now. My

[DOUBLELUNG]

Look for areas with at least 25% non-forested vegetation.  Elk on summer ranges prefer a mix of 25-75% nonforested to forested habitat.  

[DOUBLELUNG]

Good advice, MIKEXRAY. 

My own experience agrees pretty well with the research I've been able to glean, it is most important to get all of the meat cooled below body temperature ASAP.  For me, that has meant immediately boning out the entire carcass into separated muscle groups, and allowing for good air circulation all around; have lots of game bags.  The quick drop from body temp to 85-90 degrees arrests bacterial breakdown, is more important than the subsequent drop down to 40 in a cooler.  It does no good, though, unless 100% of the meat is cooled at least a few degrees, right to the core.

On two early high hunts, where temps were 70s during the day and 50s at night, meat came out in good shape after a week by hanging the game bags after sunset to let air circulate at night, then early morning laying them on the cool ground in the shade, and insulating by laying sleeping bags on top.  Not my first choice, but it worked.

[MIKEXRAY]

Wow I would never expect meat to stay good like that for a week. I must be overly freaked out about it. I was camped by a stream last year with water so cold that you couldn't stand in it. I put the first load of meat in the water to cool while I got the second load. My question is nothing in the water to hurt the meat ? Bacteria ? The meat was the best tasting ever, no gamey taste at all. thanks for the answer double lung.

[rougheye]

Where aver there is water you can bet there is bacteria . Just because your meat turned out fine this time doesnt mean it will every time . Too much of a gamble for me .