Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: bowguy on May 16, 2011, 08:46:08 PM
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Has anyone ever hunted this area for elk? just wondering if there is any valid signs of seeing elk.
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I hunted the area once pretty hard for about 5 days back in about '98. Saw one being packed out. Saw fresh tracks of two others on the run. Didn't see any others at all.
In-laws live there and have been in and around and all over the unit several times a year, never saw another elk since. Guess that's why it is an "any elk" area.
Be careful of the northern portions of the unit.... real easy to get yourself onto the reservation.
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Might be a tough hunt. I think there's more private land than public. Finding them will be the hard part. Before they moved the boundary east a guy had a better shot at it. Check out the harvest reports from the last two years after the boundary change. That should tell you a lot.
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Ditto
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I have spent alot of time in this unit. And i have not seen many elk. The elk i have seen have been real late in the year after all the seasons.
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I always hunt it for late archery deer. About 12 years ago I was up there hunting and had a cow step out at 30yards broadside and just stand there, I was young and dumb and did not realize it was open for elk so I just watched her walk off slowly, later that afternoon ran into a guy asking if we had seen any elk :bash:. I have seen a few elk up near kaiser butte/grayback mountain but it is now an eastside tag so I cant hunt them... grandpa stuck my grandma in a ground blind with a radio 10 years ago so he could actually get out and do some real hunting and grandma had about 15 cows walk out in front of her, she took a nice big cow.
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If I don't get drawn I'm going to hunt it this year.
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not alot of elk unless there is a ton of snow up high to push them off the indian reservation i wouldnt waste time or points on that unit for elk hunted it for years for deer lots of them
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I agree with everyone. Few and far between....
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I live here and hunt it every year. We bust our butt's and most years don't even see a elk. It's very tuff hunting and the cat population is totally out of control! Last 2 years we have not even seen a elk in 10 days of hunting. 4 years ago I shot a bull calf and that is the only elk I have killed on this mountain in 4 years of hunting it. I think this year I am just going to hunt the other units like the cow and rimrock. A lot more elk even if it's only cow and spike. A guy has a way better chance at a elk in those area's then here.
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How is the grayback unit for early archery for deer?
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The only elk I have ever seen in the greyback was well after the season in the wintering grounds.. If you feel lucky give it a shot, but I wouldn't waste my time.. I would hunt little naches for elk. It produced big last yr.
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How is the grayback unit for early archery for deer?
The migratory deer don't show up until the late season, around Oct-ish depending on the weather. There is some deer around "locals" but the old timber toads don't show up till the late season. Still some deer around but not huge numbers. That's also part of the problem with the cat's we have around here :bash:
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How many have hunted 388 successfully in the last 10 years? I know a couple people that get one every year.
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Just looked at the harvest reports for 388, says no elk were taken in 388 last year. Is that right?
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Grayback has resident Elk, I would say they are moderate to very difficult to hunt because they move around so much. You will most likely get a cow at best. Although, my family has some land in 388 and they saw a 3pt bull one year and several cows. I have personally seen 40-60 elk this time of year bedded on their property but they move off and split up before elk season. The simcoe's still have snow on them so this might be a good year. Good Luck!
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thanks everyone for all the input . I was wondering about the elk just because it is open both deer and elk in both early and late seasons for archery. My dad used to hunt that area pretty well and we have talked about going and running around the unit to see what pans out. well if anyone gets more info please still keep the thred going. I'll post back up when i go down and scout it out.
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Bowguy, if you want, let me know when you come down. I might be able to help you out and I'm always up for going in the mountains. Saturdays work best for me.
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No tags for me, looks like I'm hunting this unit this year. Anyone know it real well?
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No :chuckle:
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You didn't forget that your coming with did you?
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Are we talking about bear hunting here 8) :chuckle:
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Bear also.
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Just looked at the harvest reports for 388, says no elk were taken in 388 last year. Is that right?
No that is not right, me and my brother hunted that GMU last year and seen elk every day but we also hike about 10 miles a day, we seen 4 elk taken off that mountain 3 of them being nice big bulls.
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Do you know what side of the hill they came from? I know of a few that came off the hill so I am not sure whats up with the harvest reports.
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Do you know what side of the hill they came from? I know of a few that came off the hill so I am not sure whats up with the harvest reports.
People didn't submit their harvest report...thats whats up.
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Out of the hundreds of people that hunt up here I am sure that a few of them did, I know a few of the guys that shot elk last year and they are pretty strait up guys. I would think that something else was wrong with the system. We have seen it before. I am sure a few people kill animals and say they didn't on the reports but most are 2 cheap to not report and pay the fine.
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I hunt the east side of 388, see a few elk every year but not that many, I would concentrate more on the west of 388 and get as high as you can if you want to target the elk, work the border of the res.
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Bump, anyone else?
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Went up a week ago saturday for a half day and didn't see any elk sign but saw a lot of bear sign. Probably head up there sometime this week for bear calling.
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Did you go up and do any bear hunting??
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Hey guys I was just up there today for about 6 hours doing some scouting for early archery season and doing some squirrel killin. My brother and i saw 2 cow elk, about 20 does, and 1 buck. Not sure if he was legal though cause we just barely caught a look at him as he was high tailing it out of there. On our way out we came across a guy that worked for the timber company and we talked to him for a while and he said we should fill our bear tags because they are every where up here this year. He said there hasn't been a day he's been working up there that he hasn't seen at least one. I didn't see one, but there was tons of signs,(fresh scat, paw prints, big rocks moved, and of course stumps and logs shredded to get at the bugs). I'll see if I can get out before early archery and stick one with my bow. :drool:
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I have not been out yet. Working on 2nd cutting and harvest. Most years I am nuts for calling bears but after shooting a dandy spring bear I am more laid back. I spend plenty of time on that mountain and know others that are up there almost every day. The guy was pulling your leg. There is no way he has seen a bear up there every time he is out there, pure bull. I have only seen 2 bears up here when I was not bear hunting. I would love to know who it was blowing all that smoke.
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Lots of bear in my neck of the Mountain :), those I know that work in the woods have seen many bear this year. Of course, I'm a little west of gray back :chuckle:
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Hey you 578's stay out of our posts :chuckle:
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Did you go up and do any bear hunting??
We tried but it was getting late so we didn't end up going where I wanted to. When are you ready to go again?
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Bump, who is going to be up there?
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Do you know what side of the hill they came from? I know of a few that came off the hill so I am not sure whats up with the harvest reports.
:yeah:
I know of a few also.But I still not hunting it this year.
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Any more news? We had one cow come into range the whole season but she was in the tall thick stuff. Could only see the head and top of back, no shot. Talked to some locals that hunt it and they all say same thing, they hadn't heard of anyone getting anything last season. Anyone hear different?
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If some of you don't want to post anything publicly, send me a pm. I know how to keep my mouth shut.
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I spent 6 days this year and did not see a elk. Plenty of bear/cat sign and only found a little elk sign that was freash. With around 30 people that I know and would trust what they say. I know of 1 elk that got killed in those 30 people. I know of 1 more that one of my friends saw coming out in the back of a truck. Not sure if it was a rez hunter or not.
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Hunted the late archery deer up there and put on some serious miles, had a small herd cross a trail a couple minutes before I came around a corner, I could still hear them milling around in the timber below the trail.. looked to be 4 or 5 total , that is the only elk sign we seen in our group, did see some dandy bucks though :tup: .
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