Toutle Muzzleloader Quality elk hunt, How good is the area??

[scottfrick]

First time drawing an elk hunt for this area. Drew peaches ridge in the past for rifle,  not very familiar with the terrain or what to find bull wise when it comes to the toutle. Any suggestions?

[Crunchy]

I will be in there for my archery tag and will try to give out some of the information from my hunt.  Will probably start scouting in a few weeks.

[bench beast]

shoot the first 5 point you see.

[Crunchy]

Meaning no bigger bulls in toutle?

[trophyhunt]

I don't know why its considered a Quality tag, to me quality means big bulls. If your looking for an opportunity to kill any bull then you have the right tag.  Not too much in there for big bull opportunities, I know someone will chime in and say they saw a huge bull in there. I understand that you may find a big bull in the toutle, margaret or even the winston if you look hard enough,but if you want a trophy bull that's not the tag i would waste any points on.  You should have fun either way, good luck.

[Crunchy]

Well for me, I've killed four cows, and want to notch a bull.  I am not holding out for a 300 bull, just a decent 5 will get it done. Probably mount that sucker as well..

[Caliber]

I had the antlerless muzzy tag last year, and it wasnt a "slam dunk".  i hunted four days for my cow, thoroughly enjoyed every day, saw decent numbers of elk, and saw some "nice" bulls, but not what I would call "huge" bulls.  But guys, its Washington, and for Washington, its not a bad hunt.  I dont think it should be considered a "quality" hunt though, especially for the numbers of tags being dished in the unit.  There sure seemed like a lot of pressure in the unit for only being 150 tags (cow and bull) in the unit, maybe they were deer hunters, shroom pickers, or poachers, I dont know-

[RClare1223]

there are a few bulls over 300 in there but mostly alot of nice 5 points.2 of my cousins got the ML tag last year and both got nice 5s.look up smith and sons taxidermy on facebook and you can see the pics of them.

[nontypical176]

Toutle still has some big bulls.....I drew that tag last year.  Last year they opened all the gates the weakend before the opener, so all the elk were a  spooked by the traffic, grouse hunters, looky loos, scouters it was unreal how many rigs were running around during the season.  The bulls started buggeling good the last couple days though after they settled down a bit. 

We hunted several locations, didn't have time to scout because of work.  The prime area, the state land between the south fork of the toutle and the mud flows was packed with people and camps.  They took several bulls there though.  I shot a 3x4 third to last evening, was just out of time had to go back to work, but my partner had a chance at a monster that last weekend, we just couldn't get close enough.  The weather was super dry and hot all season, so be ready.  We were on other nice bulls but it was just impossible to sneak up on em and they were call shy.  Lots of guys we talked to ate their tags or shot spikes.  We told 2 guys where a spike bull was and they were thrilled to shoot him, that was the only bull they had seen and it was the end of the season. 

There are elk all over that unit, nice ones too, its just not as easy to hunt as it used to be.  Lots of thick cover.  Good luck, congrats on the tag, do some buggeling, if you find fresh herd sign theres probably a bull in the area they will be rutting and didn't seem to move far.

[bench beast]

Toutle Bull

[elkslayer069]

Well for me, I've killed four cows, and want to notch a bull.  I am not holding out for a 300 bull, just a decent 5 will get it done. Probably mount that sucker as well..

 Good luck with that 300 inch bull in the toutle. Maybe 7-8 years ago the ground has grown up alot lot of reprod and jack patches plenty of elk you wont have problem finding any. Most of the unit is open year round so you will always have to deal with the crowd.

Nice bull from the 80s early 90s?

[kalamasasquatch]

crunchy.....the toutle unit is my back yard and there are huge bulls available, but you will have to work for them. dont expect to be able to drive in jump out of your truck and drop a bull of choice. if you wanna come down and scout let me know i will show you around, but be ready to hike or bike for a few hours before you even start hunting. this is a great area to mt bike hunt.

[Hunter Dug]

I drew the archery tag last year and seen 26 bulls in 3 days out of those 26 none were 6 points lots of good 5's.  None of the gates were open though. I ended up tagging a small 3 by 5.  Funny thing is that I found a Muzzleloader ball right behind the front left shoulder square against the 4th rib. I think that might be why he was a 3 on one side of his rack. 

[kglacken]

I drew the archery tag last year and seen 26 bulls in 3 days out of those 26 none were 6 points lots of good 5's.  None of the gates were open though. I ended up tagging a small 3 by 5.  Funny thing is that I found a Muzzleloader ball right behind the front left shoulder square against the 4th rib. I think that might be why he was a 3 on one side of his rack.

any bull with a bow is a good bull in my opinion!

[PolarBear]

I quit putting in for the Toutle and Margaret years ago because one, it was really tough to draw and two there are very few if any good quality bulls left in there.  Like others have said, shoot the first decent 5 tht you can bcause if you hold out for a big one in there you will probably be eating a tag.