Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: HoytHunter24 on June 15, 2017, 07:34:06 AM

Title: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: HoytHunter24 on June 15, 2017, 07:34:06 AM: My wife and I will be hunting this unit for the early archery season. It will be the first time we hunt it and plan to take a trip over next weekend to check it out. I saw in the regs that it is an any elk unit with a few harvested during archery season last year. This peaked my interest because I would rather have a chance at a bull even if the numbers are low than having to settle for a spike or cow. How are the herd populations? Do they generally hang out in the north or south part of the unit? We are looking at the south half that butts up to the Colville Reservation but I would be interested to hear anything you have to offer!

I am not asking for any spots, just wanted some general information on the area and elk hunting in this area.

Thank you!
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: Ghost Hunter on June 15, 2017, 11:25:33 AM: :peep: They numbers are growing. Figure out which doors to knock on. They roam on a lot of private. Learn where the little blocks of public land are. Locals will be tight lipped. Plenty of public land if you can catch them on it.
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: HoytHunter24 on June 15, 2017, 12:50:20 PM: I have been studying my OnXmaps and there is a bunch of public. We will have to just ground and pound... Thank you for the info!
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: HoytHunter24 on June 16, 2017, 06:15:08 AM: Anyone today?
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: greenhead_killer on June 16, 2017, 02:42:26 PM: there are elk there but few and far between. dont expect anyone to tell you where and if they have seen them. its more of a local secret for now. if you catch up to them, good luck.
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: HoytHunter24 on June 22, 2017, 08:59:02 AM: So as some of you have stated, it sounds like we will have to do some serious exploring to find elk around this area. We will be there for 11 days and I am not afraid to hike from dawn to dusk. Thank you for the feedback everyone.

Anyone else have info?
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: kiler on June 22, 2017, 09:05:44 AM: I cut some fresh tracks up on Mt. Hull 5 years ago in November
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: D-Rock425 on June 22, 2017, 09:32:07 AM: Only 3 elk recorded being killed last year. All 3 antlerless.
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: HoytHunter24 on June 22, 2017, 09:43:46 AM: 2016 harvest reports show four cows and two 6 point+ bulls...
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: D-Rock425 on June 22, 2017, 09:59:18 AM: Yes you're right for some reason I was looking at permit elk hunts for the unit.
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: baker5150 on June 22, 2017, 10:02:39 AM: I've personally seen older sign during modern deer, and have local friends who live in the unit who have seen elk, but never during season. (at least that they tell me about)
Regardless they still hunt them every year.
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: D-Rock425 on June 22, 2017, 10:13:01 AM: The only elk I've ever seen in the unit was probably 15 years ago way up my Molson.
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: Buckblaster on June 22, 2017, 10:20:03 AM: Your best bet is to locate them when they are singing in Sept if the wolves haven't silenced them. They seem to bugle more at night.
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: HoytHunter24 on June 22, 2017, 11:38:34 AM: hmmm sounds like we will just have to cover country and bugle our brains out to locate some elk.
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: bearpaw on June 22, 2017, 12:28:48 PM: I would suggest looking at other units with higher numbers of elk. :twocents:
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: Ghost Hunter on June 22, 2017, 12:39:13 PM: I'm thinking some people aren't reporting kills :rolleyes: :twocents:
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: bhawley76 on June 22, 2017, 01:31:43 PM: I have wasted my time there once or twice, There are a few elk around, I think there are way better areas to spend 11 day :twocents:
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: HoytHunter24 on August 30, 2017, 08:40:14 AM: Well we have made two different scouting trips over to the area. The first trip was just to get a lay of the land. We drove over 200 miles on gravel roads finding which were blocked so we could decide where the pressure would be. We didn't see much for animals but that is to be expected for just driving around. We spoke with some locals and got a little bit of knowledge on the area and began searching new areas. At the end of the weekend we threw up a single game camera up a major game trail leading in to a nice green field tucked away from plain sight. Total we saw a bunch of deer, elk, moose and bear sign.

Last weekend we headed over again. Dang that place has gotten dry. We spent all weekend looking for water sources and hiking. We were able to mark off a few locations that we thought would be promising since they weren't what we expected. We were able to find a couple water sources that i imagine the elk will be near. We found a decent amount of elk, deer, and bear sign in most of the areas we concentrated on. This time we set out 4 cameras in various locations feeling really good about our game plan.

We will be heading back over on Sept 6th until the 17th for our season. Weather looks to be in the mid 90s..... not conducive to hunting but what can you do.

Here are a couple pictures we got from our first camera. We got 4 bear, 10 nice whitetail bucks, a cow elk, and some other critters.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi832.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz241%2FBrandenBowie%2FAAE178C8-708F-4656-B721-7B1BCE95BE7B_zpsgzm2leeq.jpg&hash=d7e69b8c68bf75c44df31b1a28080a17c929670f)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi832.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz241%2FBrandenBowie%2FBB70B6F4-7D4B-4E06-A6BD-5639BB7542E4_zps9xubtlcy.jpg&hash=53a85696f2863feef0fded404a6b3817b52b5058)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi832.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz241%2FBrandenBowie%2FEC4AF65C-C89D-4FCC-8FD4-2C97243CFC36_zps8utwpuwj.jpg&hash=94def6159f338fdf3275fc00a7187136ebb79ba1)
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi832.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fzz241%2FBrandenBowie%2F9FAE065B-FA74-42A9-95FE-A29EF168F42C_zpscjt4vl12.jpg&hash=8d52bfde58453e1970814e7abad4b2d933118da5)
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: piledup on August 31, 2017, 07:08:14 PM: I can't see the pictures. Maybe it's just me :dunno:

Good luck with your hunt. Seems you have found some elk tho.
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: bowhunterforever on August 31, 2017, 07:17:03 PM: Quote from: piledup on August 31, 2017, 07:08:14 PM
I can't see the pictures. Maybe it's just me :dunno:

Good luck with your hunt. Seems you have found some elk tho.
:yeah:
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: 2labs on August 31, 2017, 07:37:02 PM: Quote from: D-Rock425 on June 22, 2017, 10:13:01 AM
The only elk I've ever seen in the unit was probably 15 years ago way up my Molson.

Getting warmer! Think a little east 8)
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: panzerROT on August 31, 2017, 09:46:14 PM: hi, I live in Oroville,wa. I actually have property not to far from chesaw. you want to hunt the game land west of chesaw. eventually you will have elk come thru there. although there may be a few like 2 or 3 hunters that hunt bow for deer. The herd in this unit is roughly 300-350 animals. there are some nice bulls here. There is a fair amount of private around the game management area. make sure you know your map. as far as land owners letting you hunt probably not, I have lived here 30 yrs. very few let you hunt now days. Also there is a chunk of land with a herd around muskrat lake. again know your map. but you can access both areas from the road. good luck! Hope you get your animal!
Title: Re: East Okanagan Unit (GMU 204) for Elk
Post by: HntnFsh on September 01, 2017, 05:49:31 AM: panzerROT :tup: