Post by: Crunchy on November 03, 2012, 07:12:08 PM
Post by: Jdc on November 03, 2012, 07:22:00 PM
Post by: Button Nubbs on November 03, 2012, 07:58:21 PM
Post by: cem3434 on November 03, 2012, 08:09:35 PM
Post by: joesmithz28 on November 03, 2012, 09:01:09 PM
Post by: throttlejocky20 on November 03, 2012, 09:05:41 PM
No luck for me, saw a few 4pts and one monster in the back of someone's truck. I was honestly pretty shocked at the number of people flooding into St Helens tree farm and the surrounding areas. This is my first year hunting in Washington and felt like no matter how far I hiked there was still somebody in sight. I must have hiked 10 miles today! And the road hunters... :bash:Welcome to rifle elk in Washington!
Post by: Crunchy on November 03, 2012, 09:38:43 PM
Post by: shorthair15 on November 04, 2012, 08:48:02 AM
Post by: wrongway on November 04, 2012, 08:09:42 PM
Post by: rebal69972 on November 04, 2012, 08:16:58 PM
Post by: brokehunter on November 04, 2012, 08:24:11 PM
No luck for me, saw a few 4pts and one monster in the back of someone's truck. I was honestly pretty shocked at the number of people flooding into St Helens tree farm and the surrounding areas. This is my first year hunting in Washington and felt like no matter how far I hiked there was still somebody in sight. I must have hiked 10 miles today! And the road hunters... :bash:
Almost makes me glad I didn't have the money to go out elk hunting this season. Only thing you're gonna see in the Winston is a lot of trucks and lots of orange, and empty Busch Light cans on the side of every road! :chuckle:
Post by: Angus on November 04, 2012, 08:30:15 PM
No luck for me, saw a few 4pts and one monster in the back of someone's truck. I was honestly pretty shocked at the number of people flooding into St Helens tree farm and the surrounding areas. This is my first year hunting in Washington and felt like no matter how far I hiked there was still somebody in sight. I must have hiked 10 miles today! And the road hunters... :bash:
Makes me appreciate archery season that much more, other then opening weekend of both the early and late season, I rarely see other hunters. :tup:
Post by: Alpinegus on November 05, 2012, 05:53:39 AM
Seen another guys 5x4(?), it had some hoof rot as well.
Post by: scottfrick on November 05, 2012, 06:02:21 AM
Post by: Screaminreelz on November 05, 2012, 11:28:46 AM
Post by: whtbuck on November 05, 2012, 03:00:00 PM
Post by: Bigbuckoholic on November 05, 2012, 05:18:30 PM
Sure did, I smoked a nice 6x5 at first light...saw a ton of people camped along the river.My shot was the first of the morning.Started hearing shots shortly after.Talked to a guy at the Market store that had a nice 6x6 that could of been my Bull's twin.5 hrs to get it to the truck,Feels like i went 12 rounds with the Champ still...
You weren't the guy with the yellow mtn bike were you?
Post by: HntnFsh on November 05, 2012, 07:22:13 PM
Post by: whtbuck on November 05, 2012, 09:49:19 PM
Post by: Ripper on November 06, 2012, 07:10:30 AM
I agree with the earlier post about not being able to get away from other hunters or roads. I hiked in many skidder roads only to have someone drive past me or I ran into other roads. I hiked into the dark timber on Saturday to get away from roads and hunter only to have a truck drive by about 70 yards away! Here I thought I was in the middle of nowhere, but I just hiked to the next road! :chuckle: I'm going to go back down Fri and Sat hopefully. I need to find a new area of the tree farm to hunt.
Post by: kentrek on November 06, 2012, 07:27:15 AM
Everyone we talked to said the hunting, amount of animals seen was the worst they ever saw. I talked to a couple of old timers that have hunted the area for 35 and 40 years, and they said it was terrible!
thats weird...esp since archery didnt do so well
Post by: fireweed on November 06, 2012, 07:49:52 AM
Post by: Button Nubbs on November 06, 2012, 07:55:06 AM
We hunted the lower end of the unit, 4500 road system I think. Saw 2 cows and only 1 bull in the back of a truck. Everyone we talked to said the hunting, amount of animals seen was the worst they ever saw. I talked to a couple of old timers that have hunted the area for 35 and 40 years, and they said it was terrible!
I agree with the earlier post about not being able to get away from other hunters or roads. I hiked in many skidder roads only to have someone drive past me or I ran into other roads. I hiked into the dark timber on Saturday to get away from roads and hunter only to have a truck drive by about 70 yards away! Here I thought I was in the middle of nowhere, but I just hiked to the next road! :chuckle: I'm going to go back down Fri and Sat hopefully. I need to find a new area of the tree farm to hunt.
id bet it has alot to do with the amount of rifle cow tags they've been giving out the past years...
Post by: Zlebaron on November 06, 2012, 08:51:36 AM
Post by: kentrek on November 06, 2012, 08:57:02 AM
Up the 19 mile a saw dead bulls everywhere. 18 to be exact. 10 of those were fives or better I have never seen so many mashers. There were people on every corner. I saw 2 elk alive. The best elk I saw was a 7 pt on one side and it was busted off above the third pt on the other side. Killed by a boy about twelve years old.
:yeah: thats the report i got too
Post by: funkster on November 06, 2012, 08:58:08 AM
We hunted the lower end of the unit, 4500 road system I think. Saw 2 cows and only 1 bull in the back of a truck. Everyone we talked to said the hunting, amount of animals seen was the worst they ever saw. I talked to a couple of old timers that have hunted the area for 35 and 40 years, and they said it was terrible!
I agree with the earlier post about not being able to get away from other hunters or roads. I hiked in many skidder roads only to have someone drive past me or I ran into other roads. I hiked into the dark timber on Saturday to get away from roads and hunter only to have a truck drive by about 70 yards away! Here I thought I was in the middle of nowhere, but I just hiked to the next road! :chuckle: I'm going to go back down Fri and Sat hopefully. I need to find a new area of the tree farm to hunt.
id bet it has alot to do with the amount of rifle cow tags they've been giving out the past years...
I agree 100% about the extra tags. However, it isn't just the modern guys,they give tags to master hunters and muzzy as well. Last year 515 total elk where harvested. The year before 525 total elk where harvested. The extra tags have taken a toll on the heard population, no doubt about it. A unit cannot sustain that much harvest year after year and not show the effect of it.
Post by: Button Nubbs on November 06, 2012, 09:38:52 AM
Post by: Dr. Death on November 06, 2012, 11:20:01 AM
Post by: cem3434 on November 06, 2012, 09:02:41 PM
Took my dad out beatin the roads for a bit this morn. Saw some guys dragging out a nice bull about 1/2 way to the top of the hill as you head up to the gate where you drop over to Green river hatchery. 1901 I think.
There were 3 bulls taken out of that hole over the weekend.
Post by: kglacken on November 06, 2012, 09:16:45 PM
Post by: throttlejocky20 on November 06, 2012, 09:55:04 PM
Post by: kentrek on November 06, 2012, 09:59:24 PM
Hoof rot, hoof rot , hoof rot? sound like this could be as big of an issue as cats and wolves?
this is much bigger then wolves an cats...at least wolves an cats get full eventually..
i think this is why wa is wanting to kill off its elk herd...so it can rebuild a new one with out any hoof rot :twocents:
Post by: throttlejocky20 on November 06, 2012, 10:02:03 PM
Post by: throttlejocky20 on November 06, 2012, 10:02:42 PM
Post by: Alpinegus on November 07, 2012, 01:43:25 PM
Quote
Bussy...WTF... BuddyThanks for the clarification; I was wondering :chuckle: :chuckle:
Post by: cem3434 on November 09, 2012, 12:04:40 PM
Up the 19 mile a saw dead bulls everywhere. 18 to be exact. 10 of those were fives or better I have never seen so many mashers. There were people on every corner. I saw 2 elk alive. The best elk I saw was a 7 pt on one side and it was busted off above the third pt on the other side. Killed by a boy about twelve years old.
Where is 19 mile?
Post by: kentrek on November 09, 2012, 12:16:29 PM
Up the 19 mile a saw dead bulls everywhere. 18 to be exact. 10 of those were fives or better I have never seen so many mashers. There were people on every corner. I saw 2 elk alive. The best elk I saw was a 7 pt on one side and it was busted off above the third pt on the other side. Killed by a boy about twelve years old.
Where is 19 mile?
the 1900 road system area out of kid valley, Toutle
it gets hit pretty hard
Post by: cem3434 on November 09, 2012, 03:44:14 PM
Up the 19 mile a saw dead bulls everywhere. 18 to be exact. 10 of those were fives or better I have never seen so many mashers. There were people on every corner. I saw 2 elk alive. The best elk I saw was a 7 pt on one side and it was busted off above the third pt on the other side. Killed by a boy about twelve years old.
Where is 19 mile?
the 1900 road system area out of kid valley, Toutle
it gets hit pretty hard
Gotcha, I have never heard it called 19 mile. I seen 3 bulls that got pulled out of the timber right along the river heading up the 1901 between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. I seen a couple of other gut piles low when hunting in that area Monday, but I would have never guessed 18 bulls came out of there opening weekend.
Post by: fisher67 on November 12, 2012, 10:04:18 AM
Post by: billythekidrock on November 12, 2012, 02:57:58 PM
Everyone we talked to said the hunting, amount of animals seen was the worst they ever saw. I talked to a couple of old timers that have hunted the area for 35 and 40 years, and they said it was terrible!
Not that wierd if you think about the hundreds of cow permits given out every year. I've only hunted there for about 6 years and have seen a sharp decline in that short time.
thats weird...esp since archery didnt do so well
Post by: Yelm hunter on November 12, 2012, 10:22:11 PM
Post by: RB on November 12, 2012, 10:44:09 PM
Walked over and just had to know how the hell did you get here? Response as they both pointed the road is right there at the top of the cut...well sheet :bash: if I had known that....guess better luck next time, but I did get to watch a cool Owl catch a rodent less than 10 feet in front of me while in the brush
Post by: Cylvertip on November 13, 2012, 12:15:54 AM
You can imagine what it's like during the rut.
Post by: MADMAX on November 13, 2012, 04:33:29 AM
:yeah:
Usually closed for fire danger
Post by: Yelm hunter on November 13, 2012, 09:56:56 AM
Post by: EatMeat on November 13, 2012, 02:08:30 PM
We hiked for what seemed like hours only to run into more hunters.
We saw no elk. I'm assuming due to lack of experience in that unit and so many other hunters moving the elk.
Sounds like we went up to high and others had more luck down low.
Better luck next year! I was looking forward to elk in my freezer.
Post by: sticky on November 13, 2012, 03:10:29 PM
I'm still looking too.
Post by: billythekidrock on November 13, 2012, 04:32:13 PM
I heard that Archery was only open for 1 day up there... My dads boss goes there every year and they had to leave cause DNR and Weyco shut the land down to hunting for the fire danger. So that is why there were so many bulls taken out this year.
Not true. They got at least 4 days this year.
Port Blakely was shut down before and during the season. Weyco shut down during the season and DNR did not shut down.
Post by: kglacken on November 13, 2012, 04:42:25 PM
Post by: Yelm hunter on November 14, 2012, 11:09:11 AM