Clock,
I gotta ask. Do you really believe the WDFW numbers regarding the bull to cow ratio in the Colockum?? Three bulls per hundred cows??? Come on. You can go anywhere in the unit in September and you will find big herd bulls with a harem of ten to forty cows and at least four to six satelite bulls.
The only way to come up with three bulls per hundred cows is to fly the cow herd in April and count the spikes that are still hanging with the cows. Never mind the bachelor groups of big bulls. It is the classic example of "Garbage in garbage out".
Groundhog good question. Yes I do believe it. First of all during September while hunting I found one group of 20-25 cows that had a large 330"ish herd bull with them. Shortly thereafter I found another herd of about 20 with a 260"ish 6pt. On the day I shot my spike I saw around 100 cows or more. There was a total of 5 maybe 6 bulls bugling and running around. So that is about a 5:100 bull to cow ratio. But.... biologists all around the west agree that a healthy bull:cow ratio is at least 15:100. And ALL agree that the ratio that matters is the POST-Hunting season ratio not the PRE-Season Ratio.
The air survey's that the WDFW does in the Yakima PMU's (Primary Management Units) has a high error rate. They survey the winter range and then use a mathematical formula to determine what the actual numbers is. There is one error rate. The second error rate is the Yakima herd is a migratory herd. Meaning a light winter will not have all the elk in the winter range as compared to other winters. There is more room for error.
In the Colockum however they survey the ENTIRE PMU. Also the Colockum elk herd is NOT migratory. Meaning they are always down low. Unless you count the 10 miles from the Naneaum basin to the east end of the Quilomene as a migration. So yes those bachelor groups you speak of are easily seen since also 90% of that herd winters east of the Colockum road in the sage brush. And as a piliot I can assure you that even in the sparse timber of the Colockum elk are very easy to see. You can bank on the numbers for the Colockum being very very accurate. For the Yakima eh not so much. I hope that answered all your questions ground hog.
