Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: time2hunt on September 23, 2023, 09:07:16 AM
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Well, how did archery season pan out-for everyone were the bulls Screamin was it too hot? Any big bull hit the dirt?
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I was wondering the same thing. I was hoping to get some White River reports before my hunt starts.
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Heard of one unfilled white river tag. They were into elk but lots of other people out recreating including the group that gets to use rifles elk hunting whenever they want made it a tough hunt
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Lots of action at night, had to sleep with ear plugs. Most days were crickets by 7:30 due to the heat, then about an hour of bugling before dark. Would have made for some great noon naps if it wasn’t for the dang hornets :chuckle:
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I only hunted 3.5 days but had good action. Bugling was early and late until the last day when they were still going at noon. I called in 3 raghorns and one big 6x6 bull, missed a spike on the second morning and had another pass just out of range on the second to last evening. My friends got a cow when I was at work. Everyone had encounters and plenty of bulls came in to calls, mostly silent. I never saw a cow except on cam pics. This was Eastside/Central Wa.
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Really quiete on the North end of the Olympic Peninsula. Spent 12 days out. Another season of no elk seen or heard. I hunt public land or land open to the public and am not just looking for any bull. I am am after a 6x6+. I avoid the "combat" hunting areas though there are numbers of elk there.. I pretty much stayed in the Sol Duc Unit this year. Tough deal, but great to be in the woods in beautiful country. Took my 19 year old out for the first time to see if she wanted to dive in full. She tagged along for the first week. She had a great time and it was great to have her along.
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Great season for me. I was hunting Eastside/ central. Bulls were bugling, elk were moving, weather was beautiful. It all came together with this spike on day 3 of the season.
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Didn't even see an elk this season. Bumped a couple herds but no real opportunities. Interestingly I encountered the fewest amount of hunters this season also. I'm thinking the pressure just changed in the areas I typically hunt and I wasn't smart enough to figure out where the heck the elk were hanging.
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Great season for me. I was hunting Eastside/ central. Bulls were bugling, elk were moving, weather was beautiful. It all came together with this spike on day 3 of the season.
Congrats 
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Westside was very weird this year ! Only two answers to my locate bugles all year ! Put over 100 miles in again on foot in 9 days ! We found elk almost everyday . Just not so much with bugling. We got a 5 x 7 on day 6 . Located the herd the night before and hunted up through the timber the next morning and got on the herd . We didn’t knuw there was a bull in the herd as we didn’t see him the night before but we figured there might be . Got him at 20 yards . Had to shadow him and push the issue with fast little challenge bugles .
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Westside- most people I talked to said it was quiet for them but we had a great early season, bulls were vocal and easy to locate. We had countless call ins and encounters just never the right shot opportunity. I ended up shooting a cow on my last day to hunt.
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Found some talkers. Gott to within 25 yards of 3 different bulls. I was unable to harvest anything, but it was great to call in animals on the first and last day of the season as well as c couple days in between I have only been elk hunting for 5 years or so. Every year I get closer. I learned a whole lot this year, including a few different techniques for when they are a bit less vocal. I learned a bit about satellites too. I had never really paid attention to them prior. In fact, all my encounters were with mature bulls. This year those satellites seemed to go crazy a couple of times when the herd bull was quiet.
I have noticed that the bigger bulls seem to go quiet once you have an encounter with them. We had a big animal close on day 1 and another hunter was there and he winded that hunter. We were able to locate him a few other times but aside form a satellite that came in to 25 yards or so, we could not get any action with him. On the last day, I did get him to chuckle back, but he was just over line on private ground and I could not pull him over or even get him to budge really. I am pretty sure he is the same bull we got close to last year since he was in the same exact spot. I hope that he is still alive next year. He will be a whopper.
It seems also that he Roosevelt's are buglers when there is a hot cow in the mix. Otherwise they tend to be quiet. Have you all found this to be the case? My friend that I hunt with has hunted Rockies in Montana and Wyoming and the Roosies vocal communication patterns are very difficult for him to understand. We were able to watch elk a few times that were being vocal this year and there seemed to be a hot cow each time.
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Got one a nice 5x5 in the flow. But after hunting archery for ten years in the Gifford, it almost felt like cheating with how much bugle action goes on in there. First 3-4 hours of light and last 3-4 hrs is pretty consistent bugling. Barely enough time for a nap in between action :chuckle:
Full story is posted under my mudflow archery bull topic on this forum.
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Big bulls in my lap, spike down day 4, loser tried to steal my trail camera right in front of me. Bruiser bull would’ve been mine if I had the permit.
