Elk hunting in WA

[theduke]

I was just reading the hunting rules and regs--they seem to be an impossibly complicated clusterfuck (for elk and most everything else). I don't remember NC being so complicated...maybe I just knew all the rules there because I knew the area and gained familiarity with the rules and regs over time.


also, where's a good place to hunt elk. Closer proximity to Whidbey Island, the better.

Finally, what in the hell do you do with an animal that large when you shoot it? Not like a whitetail where you can just toss it in the back of a pickup!

 

[haubby]

i can put you in touch with a fella who knows alot about elk in WA. PM me and I'll give you his info, especially bow hundting. But when it comes to killing someting in the wild, you normally field dress it......

 

[theduke]

haha, yeah i understand...but even a field dressed elk has gotta be a lot of animal!

 

[Pugs]

I was just reading the hunting rules and regs--they seem to be an impossibly complicated clusterfuck (for elk and most everything else).

also, where's a good place to hunt elk. Closer proximity to Whidbey Island, the better.

Finally, what in the hell do you do with an animal that large when you shoot it? Not like a whitetail where you can just toss it in the back of a pickup!

It's always been that way in WA. There used to be a decent herd SE of Mt Baker but understand it was pretty hard hit several years ago. Bethel Ridge in the William O. Douglas Wilderness was always productive. I hunted them down west of Yakima off of the Naches river but it was always a spike area when I lived out there and I never found anything less than a 2x3. Suggestion is to rent a camper from MWR and just make a trip of it.

Learn to dress and quarter and take a packframe to get it out of the woods. Also take some PR cord and game bags as you'll need to hoist the parts up in a tree as you shuttle in and out to keep the bears, yotes and lions from getting to them.

I miss hunting out there.