Ready to throw in the towel on elk hunting

[jackelope]

We have a saying written on our cook shack wall amongst others.


If you came for the meat, you came for the wrong reason”

I don't think I said I was hunting for meat but after ten years it's still like looking for bigfoot lol

I think you missed his point.

I think hunting a different unit every year is at least a significant part of the problem. How do you ever learn it by only spending a short period of time there every year?
I can't really talk as I've never killed an elk. I've been a part of 1 elk harvest and that's it. I've elk hunted a few days maybe 3-4 years, always archery.

[7mmfan]

There has been some really good advice given in this thread. Elk hunting is tough. Finding elk during the season can be hard especially if you don't really know what you're looking for or where to look for it. Finding a legal one to shoot is even tougher. The best advice I saw in previous posts was:

1. Hunt where there are lots of elk. Look at harvest stats and see where the most elk are killed. Not highest harvest percentage, but actual numbers of elk. Go hunt there. There will be tons of people but you will see animals. Seeing animals, interacting with animals, learning their habits even if no shots are fired is critical to long term success. It's far more enjoyable to go hunting and see something, even if you can't shoot it then to just look at trees all day.

2. Pick and area and learn it. Pick an area that has good harvest stats, lots of animals, and hunt it. Hunt it for several years. Spend as much time there as you can. Learning ground and how animals use it is the next most critical point to long term success. Anyone can stumble into an animal and be successful periodically, especially if there are a lot around, but learning the ground and how it's used will result in consistent success. Stop bouncing around.

 

[GOcougsHunter]

I hunted elk for many years with 0 success.   I did 2 things that fully changed everything.  I went with a seasoned elk hunter as his sherpa and just took careful notes and watched what he did. Second thing, I bought a very expensive set of binos and a very expensive spotting scope and learned to use them.  My success increased exponentially.  Elk move a lot.  It is 100 times easier looking over terrain from a couple of miles away than diving into elk country hoping to bump something.  My old $50 binos and $100 spotting scope worked against me.  That was my mistake, I thought if I just cover a lot of ground and looked through some glass once in a while, I would just be successful. 

[BlackRiverLabradors]

If you see a bunch of rigs at the gates you are hunting that shoukd tell you there is elk around. This year I hunted all 13 days . We logged over 120 miles walking . Went in as far as we could then started hunting cross country . Western wash  is a maze of roads . We just find the hardest deepest areas we can find and get in there. The elk use these Areas . Some hunters do but most don’t and never see a hunter most of the time . Thus year we were into elk everyday but one .  That one day we just heard a bull bugle . Yes you can tell what’s a bull and what’s a hunter!  After a long season we went 0-4 on two cows and a nice big 6x6 we had at 20 yards . Hit a limb and my other boy *censored* behind as it was wheeling already . Jump forward to the last day . Knee trashed, sore , could barely climb another ridge . 3:30 pm last day . Called in a 5 x 5 from 600 yards away . 35 yrds and he busted layed down and tried to get up and fell into the ravine .  So morel of this story is don’t give up cause you never know when it going to happen …

[ghosthunter]

We have a saying written on our cook shack wall amongst others.


If you came for the meat, you came for the wrong reason”

I don't think I said I was hunting for meat but after ten years it's still like looking for bigfoot lol

Oh I know, last year we hiked our rears off in a unit we had killed elk before. Never saw one elk or a fresh track. Maybe you would feel better about it if you were hunting with a partner or group. Sometime going it alone wears on a person.

[ghosthunter]

Lets face it. This isn’t a easy state. If you find elk than you got to find a spike, in some units a true spike elk unless you got a special permit.

[JakeLand]

I’d still rather be in the woods kicking turds then working , but like others have said find a unit with good numbers and go scouting and checking it out every bit of it all year long and you will put the pieces together but it takes time and effort

[scoutdog346]

I could see it happening during MF but not archery season. 
My 1st 5 years elk hunting the only time I saw elk was when i i was with my uncle or something that k ew what he was doing but it took years b4 I started seeing selk during the season on my own

I started hunting elk 10 years ago. Ive hunted almost every year. Not once have I even seen an elk except in people's yards. Not once have I even heard a bugle. Not once. Obviously I suck at the "finding" part 

[ljsommer]

We have a saying written on our cook shack wall amongst others.


If you came for the meat, you came for the wrong reason”

I don't think I said I was hunting for meat but after ten years it's still like looking for bigfoot lol

Oh I know, last year we hiked our rears off in a unit we had killed elk before. Never saw one elk or a fresh track. Maybe you would feel better about it if you were hunting with a partner or group. Sometime going it alone wears on a person.

I can confirm that going it alone as a beginner hunter, standing in totally dead silent woods with no animals in sight can be extremely demoralizing. Conversely, doing that activity with a buddy or even just a walking companion totally changes the dynamic. It goes from "I should just go home because I clearly don't know what I am doing" to "it's a pretty nice day to be on a walk with some good conversation"

[GASoline71]

Lets face it. This isn’t a easy state. If you find elk than you got to find a spike, in some units a true spike elk unless you got a special permit.

There's a reason you don't see the big shot famous guys hunting WA State as NR's.  There are far fewer elk, the regs suck, and the people population is triple that of other western states with more elk. This is by far the hardest state to hunt elk in if you ask me.

Gary

[ghosthunter]

Lets face it. This isn’t a easy state. If you find elk than you got to find a spike, in some units a true spike elk unless you got a special permit.

There's a reason you don't see the big shot famous guys hunting WA State as NR's.  There are far fewer elk, the regs suck, and the people population is triple that of other western states with more elk. This is by far the hardest state to hunt elk in if you ask me.

Gary

All true. And tomorrow am I leave to kick turds once again. Just can’t get enough turd kicking from a wall tent.

[HntnFsh]

For the comment about telling bull bugles and hunter bugles apart. Yes a lot of the times you can. But I have had several times I would have sworn a hunter was putting out a very lame or even overzealous bugle. Only to find out it was indeed a bull. I've heard lot of bugles in 50 years of elk hunting. But I still get fooled!

[Peewee]

In west wa learn to track elk and don’t give up, u will get opportunities

[Viking360]

Maybe pick up golf?

[Kc_Kracker]

Maybe pick up golf?

That's why I kill fish 😂