Elk Hunting

A little bit about the elk hunting and the land we hunt.   

If you know anything about western washington you know that our land is steep and it is brushy. Forks is basically the first flat spot on the west side of the olympus mountains, The closest town is 60 miles away, and a hundred in your going south. We have a paradise of many elk and lots and lots of room for them to hide.

There is the option to go after herds that may have 7 legal bulls (3 point or better), this being easier ground to hunt from and a better chance of killing a bull. We also have a ton of park surrounding the olympics. We can't hunt in the park but in the rut, we don't have to.

These huge roosevelt elk come for miles to get with the cows. You can count on any herd in mid september to mid october on the east side of hwy 101 to have big park bulls dipping in and out of the herds. One herd that stays in the field on outskirting of forks even has a park bull or 2 that shows up for the past 2 years now on the day before archery, all different bulls too.

It is about 6 miles as the crow flies to the closest park boundary from here and these aren't just big bulls hanging in the legal hunting woods. They come in, they do what they have to do and they go back to thier park living ways. The closer you get to the park, they bigger the elk get, the smaller park bulls travel further to find cows being that the most dominant elk grab the first herd they find and the smaller ones are forced to go find further elk.

When i say smaller, im still talking about 6 and 7 point 270 to 300 class elk. A friend of mine and my family lives up closer to the bogi drainage park bulls and you should see what his car port looks like. When you can scout from your living room, things are just going to work out. He has 2 elk the the last 3 years that are 330 class.

The point is our elk are world class roosevelt. Chasing park bulls isn't the best way to bag elk every year and the country is a lot harder to hunt being that most of them are in old growth which is beautiful but everything is done solely by tracking and keeping a gps close to your side.

It is big steep country and one ridge looks like the next. Not only should you prepare long in advance to get in shape, you should prepare to be just as mentally tired as well. Hunting the lowlands is much easier, being able to spot and stalk, lots of open country to glass and lots of room to get out there early and let the bugles guide the way.

There is nothing better than bagging any roosevelt, because it is brushy and lots of dense timber, and you don't just call them in like they do with rocky mountain elk. If you watch any primos hunting shows, which i love, Will Primos does a roosevelt hunt in oregon which is a little more open country than ours here around forks.

He kills a little 4x5 and for a man that has killed more rocky mountain elk than i've seen, he states that he is more proud of that little brush rack than any bull he has ever killed and of all the high 300 class elk he's killed, its the roosevelt's brush rack that he's holding when his truth series video ends.. That being said, There is a saying that any roosevelt is a good roosevelt, and that is very true.

My success rate is very good, especially when going after any legal bull. I do try to hunt areas that carry the smaller legal bulls but are close enough to park that at any time could be that big park bull that you lay in bed thinking about all year. At least i do. Just a couple weeks ago on the eve of bear season i was laying in bed and my girlfriend says, i bet you got a million things going on in your head about bears for tommorow, and i said haha i should, but i'm thinkin about elk.

I start my scouting in early july when they get thier horns back. I try to find 20 or 30  bulls so if someting goes bad i always have a back up plan or 4. Another method i use to find elk other than tracking in the high country or getting out early and listning for bugles or the calves to slip up and let a chirp out is floating the hoh river.. If they are in and around the river, pending a hot day, they are easy to find when they have crossed the river, and nobody else hunts that way.

You can get on a lot of elk that it would take miles of walking to get into, and floating high on the hoh up by the park line is one of my favorites. Park bulls that come out of the river drainages such as the sol duc, bogicheil and hoh use the river banks for travel. More times than not you can pick out huge singled out bull elk tracks and know that the next herd should have him held up.

I can remember camping that time of year on the bogi back before i even elk hunted and waking up and seeing 2 or 3 huge bulls traveling together looking for the girls. Quite a sight....You can read more about actual hunting tips in my top ten elk hunting tips section.