Best unit for OTC bulls in Washington?

[elkinrutdrivemenuts]

Sounds like the west side has some of the better OTC opportunities in this state.

[Hi-Liter]

I saw lots of elk herding up last year on the summit of Mt. Rainer should be a great hunt! Go get em!

[Kowsrule30]

St. Helens herd for wet side..... NE corner if you can gain access or get very lucky on what public land there is...

NE corner gain access?  there is millions of acres to hunt elk in NE corner that is public or timber co that is open to hunting

Not where the decent elk herds are...   

[elkinrutdrivemenuts]

My vote is rattlesnake mountain.  Radioactive bulls are bigger! And you can have a long hunting season there.

[bowhunterty]

But what you have to remember in Idaho you have 28 zones for elk.

[summit creek]

The best is a Eastside unit called Idaho...it's where everyone will be going before long.

yeah to hunt wolves

[Derailed]

the best spot that I know well enough to get a nice bull on the east side is South Dakota ( I hope I get a tag this year)
but but either way I am going to hunt the west side after spending as much time as I can hiking around the mountains this summer scouting.

[deerslyr]

I like williams creek. A lot of elk but none are very big. Not sure how it was last year with hancock buying up some land in there. Any one have any experiences with this last year?

[iRem]

Since I didn't draw for the west side tag I was forced into Williams do to fire danger early archery season. I was on elk 3 out of the 4 days I was there! Their are some pigs out there in the usual deep thick cover! Most of the times ad your driving you will spot elk in almost every slough! Just get old the road and you'll get into them!

[kentrek]

I saw lots of elk herding up last year on the summit of Mt. Rainer should be a great hunt! Go get em!

those must have been the same mt climbing elk we saw on top of mt st helens 

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

I like williams creek. A lot of elk but none are very big. Not sure how it was last year with hancock buying up some land in there. Any one have any experiences with this last year?

RIGHT !!, NO ELK IN WILLIAMS CREEK !!
They are all in the Colockum !!
The few that are there are small, hardly worth shooting, and even though small, they are HEAVY, so if you do hunt there, you only want to hunt from the road, or just a short ways up behind the gates. 

[deerslyr]

 

[spikehunter]

oak creek game feeding station in JANUARY is a good bet  (not realy)

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Honestly though, if you want to consider all options, it is hard to beat the #1 unit in washington for total harvest, WINSTON !!
But if you wish to hunt away from the numbers, almost any unit in Western Washington can produce a legal animal, the hard work is figuring out where, even the regional biologist will not give me a straight answer to your question, and reccommends any area that will allow me to drive in for access, according to the one I talked to, access is directly related to opportunity, as Washington State has very few relative "limited access" areas, if you can drive the roads, you get poaching and Native Harvest, if you cannot drive the road, you get a better quality hunt, but fear that some tweaker is going to break into your vehicle, in Western Washington, camping is limited, so most hunters go elsewhere, both to have a decent "Camp" and more access.
If you want to hunt for "any legal" then pick a place with the most animals (again winston) but...

[Cylvertip]

I agree - I think Winston is your best shot, especially if you go archery.  My best day was 6 bulls 4 point or better within 200 yards during early archery.  I took a 5x6 in 2003 and a 6x7 (my avatar) in 2004.    I haven't hunted there since 2005 due to focusing on purebred Rosies out on the coast.

With Port Blakley closing their gates to motorized access a couple of years ago and no camping on either PB or Weyerhauser, there should still be good numbers of good bulls - possibly even better than before in some spots.

I found a honey hole down there in 2001.  If things were not shut down for fire danger, it was nothing to be within 100 yards of over 200 elk during the course of the season, and to see at least one legal bull per day. 

There are a lot of folks down there  - rifle is crazy, archery is a little better.  I found that once I was a mile in past where motorized access was possible, competioin seriously dropped off.