skokomish unit

[bankwalker]

Can anyone enlighten me as to why the skoke unit is permit only for elk?

Considering the wynoochee and satsop are both open for regular seasons. It kinda boggles my mind the skoke isnt.
 I've been out shed hunting all 3 units and there is alot of elk in the skok. Ive seen elk a lot more often in the skoke then in both the satsop and wynoochee combined.

[bobcat]

I think they're wanting to let the indians have all the elk in that unit.

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

I saw a lot there last year and seen it was closed and thought why.  Then I was going to a gate to hike for deer archery and four different elk carcasses we're stacked in a pile it was dec I seen a native pair of hunters later that said "it's to clean to be Indians". Implying he would have left/wasted more meat.  I laughed and kept on but I wonder the herd looked healthy and sign was every where

[bryg_12]

I had this particular tag last year for rifle. This Unit is by far one of the hardest Unit to hunt this side of the mountains, due to the overall terrian. Dont get me wrong their are elk, but its not easy. This hunt was a great experiance, but it did have its downfalls. 1) the first 5 out of 6 bulls i saw had their horns cut off, 2) After i found some really nice bulls, OUR  wonderful WDFW was up their pushing the elk with helicopter and plane towards the park. The closer you get to matlock and shelton, their is alot of poaching that transpires.

[westside Elkhunter]

The unit got hit hard for years. Then I think they shut it down for a couple years  Then they opened it for permit only . They elk herd in certain spots are doing good and nice bulls have been seen the last couple years. What side of the unit was wdfw flying the helicopter?. Been a few years since I seen them doing that. Last time i saw them doing that was elk hunting the humptulips. Also I heard the skok is permit only for the indians. Would like to have this permit again

[dreamunelk]

I had this particular tag last year for rifle. This Unit is by far one of the hardest Unit to hunt this side of the mountains, due to the overall terrian. Dont get me wrong their are elk, but its not easy. This hunt was a great experiance, but it did have its downfalls. 1) the first 5 out of 6 bulls i saw had their horns cut off, 2) After i found some really nice bulls, OUR  wonderful WDFW was up their pushing the elk with helicopter and plane towards the park. The closer you get to matlock and shelton, their is alot of poaching that transpires.

What a bunch of BS!  It is post like this that makes us hunter look stupid!  1) No one cuts the horns off bulls!  Why would they?  If you new anything about elk you would know that this would hurt the herd and not help the.  2)  The WDFW does not herd elk with a helicopter into the park.  Actually they very seldom and almost never fly a helicopter during an established season for obvious reasons.  Again if you new anything about elk especially Rosies then you would know that you can only herd for short distances with a helicopter.   Also show me an area in the skok that a helicopter could move elk any real distance at all.  Way to much cover. 

Shameful!

The truth is that the forage base in the Skok unit favors elk over deer.  It has never help high number of elk.  Both the tibe and the state hunt elk only by special permit in the unit.   Yes, there are some monster bulls in the unit.  Just have to work for them.

[rb2506]

got to go on this hunt last year with my hunting partner that drew the 1 of 8 tags. He put in a lot of time scouting. Night before opener we put to bed the elk and they were there in the morning. He got a great bull big 5x5 body was huge.

As far as horns being cut off by wdfw, heard from a friend of a friend long time ago that they cut them off a an 8x8 down in the Naselle region but that was awhile ago, for what it's worth

[JimmyHoffa]

The helicopter could've been working with the park if you were close enough to the boundary.  The park does elk and mountain goat surveys with helicopters.  About two years ago, they were doing an elk survey and supposedly along with WDFW doing thier survey too along the Sol Duc....at the end of September.

[DoubleJ]

Just looked at last years regs and, with 1 archery permit for this unit, I would personally consider this a OIL tag.  Can't see ever getting drawn for this tag

[kyle p]

Scouted and hunted and toke a bull out of here only problem I had was the tribal members rifle hunting way before my rifle season and hiking in scouting an area that atv's are not permitted and walking in 4wheeler tracks not that this not a problem any were else but still a problem  for me I had a great hunt and a lot of fun hunting but if you hunt it you got to know you will be hunting a unit that there is tribal hunting and if you scout  a great bull and the wrong person finds that bull it can be taken a few weeks before your season starts by tribal member that also drew a tag but can hunt way before you if this happens to you it is very frustrating
But there are plenty of elk up there for the tag holders I do like that there is not thousands of people in the unit the first week of nov would I put in agin  no If you give say 5 rifle tags to the tribe and 5 to the public then there should be 10 hunters hunting in the unit at the same time not 5 tribal members hunting the unit with a rifle for what is it like 6 months I don't know the exact season dates I don't blame the hunter heck if that told me I could hunt 11 months a year I would but that doesn't make it right something needs to change what do you all think

[bankwalker]

The locals all hunt off 4wheelers.....gates or no gates.

Ive actually witnessed first hand 2 helicopters circling a herd of elk a few weeks ago. About half mile north west of Matlock. Simple 100% fact....whether it was WDFW i dont know.

[Tbar]

The fact that the tribe draws tags only illustrates the fact that they are taking a conservation and management approach to the elk. They make this decision by choice. I respect the fact that they have gone to a draw hunt to ensure the future of the resource. It so easy to dwell on the negative side of tribal hunting and it seems even harder to recognize a tribe doing good for the resource. No it doesn't right all wrongs but I tip my hat to anybody with a conservation mindset especially with elk.  Knowing the tribes have the ability to open any unit within their ceded area 24/7/365  tells me they do care and are being proactive in management.

[PlateauNDN]

The fact that the tribe draws tags only illustrates the fact that they are taking a conservation and management approach to the elk. They make this decision by choice. I respect the fact that they have gone to a draw hunt to ensure the future of the resource. It so easy to dwell on the negative side of tribal hunting and it seems even harder to recognize a tribe doing good for the resource. No it doesn't right all wrongs but I tip my hat to anybody with a conservation mindset especially with elk.  Knowing the tribes have the ability to open any unit within their ceded area 24/7/365  tells me they do care and are being proactive in management.

   Very well said.  I'm not to familiar with this part of the State and I'm not sure which Tribe hunts this area so I won't speculate but, the fact is they've limited themselves by CHOICE to draw only and only hand out a small number of permits by CHOICE.  I applaud them for that management tactic because it shows they are in it for conservation.  Yes, it sucks they are allowed more time to scout and fill their limited tags but would you rather them not have a draw system and tags and be limited to a smaller time frame or have a larger time frame with a draw system and tags.

Again, rather than seeing the positive side of the spectrum most jump to conclusions and point fingers.  Maybe another member on here can shed some more light on the situation in that area if he wishes?  Coastal?

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

It's the skok tribe I believe.  The pile of elk bones I saw must have been the whole tribes permits then all in one pile all killed the same day.     I had a butcher with me and he counted five different elk and another small calf or doe as well.  I seen the herd in June fishing.  30 or so cows.  Probably come back strong in that area if poaching could be stopped and the "locals" would quit trespassing behind gates with there quads.  I'm a local to this area live very close to the unit five min drive and I don't drive behind gates.  That is no excuse bankwalker I'll be calling forest service dnr wdfw the green diamond resource company all of them next time I'm hiking out after hunting duiring archery season and a quad passes Me on a closed road.

The locals all hunt off 4wheelers.....gates or no gates.

Ive actually witnessed first hand 2 helicopters circling a herd of elk a few weeks ago. About half mile north west of Matlock. Simple 100% fact....whether it was WDFW i dont know.

[Tbar]

 I believe you are more than likely correct that it was the Skok tribe, however there is a good chance that the elk could have been harvested outside of that unit (636). Their ceded area encompasses the hood canal area all the way up to the north side of the OP. I don't have any first hand knowledge of their workings, however I do know for fact they along with several other tribes on the Westside have become more proactive in resource management.  The helicopter sightings lately were probably doing a spring survey on the elk, weather it was wdfw or nwifc I have no idea, but the timeframe for a survey would make sense.