Did you try Mint meadows at all--scouting or hunting?
I don't try for that tag but know a few that have and it seems like they chase and wait for the elk to get off of private ground or off of state park. There was one guy that had the sequim tag and and could see all the bulls together but they were on the wrong side of the fence for the season.
I looked at the mint meadows scouting, but didn't spend any hunting time there. During the season I was working from Jorstad creek over to the powerlines, melbourne lake, prices lake, saddle mountain, miller pond, and liliwaup swamp from all directions. Also spent one day up on the Hamma Hamma area. It's all very elky looking country, but just wasn't much if anything there when I was in hunting. It's posted as a winter elk feeding area, so maybe they show up in numbers later.
