Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: KevinE25 on October 15, 2020, 02:57:46 PM

Advertise Here

Title: New guy
Post by: KevinE25 on October 15, 2020, 02:57:46 PM

I moved to WA a few years ago and am going to hunt elk for the first time.  However, I have absolutely no idea where to go.  I'm willing to travel anywhere in eastern WA.  I know it's hard to find places to go, but, which GMU would be a good place to start?  I appreciate any input. 

Title: Re: New guy
Post by: yakimanoob on October 29, 2020, 02:38:29 PM

Hey Kevin, welcome to the forum.  Finding a decent spot takes most of us years of scouting and hunting, so folks typically aren't willing to drop that kind of tip for free, so to speak. 

WDFW publishes numbers of elk harvested and hunter success rates by GMU - google should lead you there pretty quickly, and it's as good as any place to start.  Generally speaking, GMU's with high elk numbers also see a whole lot of hunting pressure.  Figuring out spots that have lots of animals and few hunters is the holy grail of public land hunting in WA ;). 

There's also a section on this forum dedicated to finding hunting partners if you want to try teaming up with someone.  Finding a mentor is the single best way to learn to elk hunt. 


That said, get out there and try!  My first year, I walked forest roads in a very busy area with not a lot of elk [pro tip: this is not a great strategy  :chuckle:], only to have the spike in my profile pic jump out in front of me and stand broadside at 40 yards for enough time for me to take a shot.  Sometimes you get unbelievably lucky, and elk country is a rather pleasant place to walk around in no matter what happens. 

Have fun!