2012 Washington State Elk Hunt w/ photos

[subdoc]

Four good frinds and I hunted the Winston GMU near Toledo, Wa. Mostly Weyerhaeuser property around Mount Saint Helens, the Toutle and Cowlitz rivers as private land hunting is now pay-to-play here.

The ground in the photos is very representative of what we walked each day. Clear-cuts of various ages. Some thick with Jack Fir and blackberry brambles others much newer(or older) and easy to walk and see.





Looking from left to right (SW to NE) is the ash flow path and what is left of the upper Toutle. Mt ST Helen's behind clouds to the upper right.



Fall colors.



I carried a S&W 629 and my Win-Miroku 1886 Extra Light.

Shameless Simply Rugged Sour Dough Pancake plug!




1886



Opening day through Wednesday morning we were in and around elk but could not get on legal bulls(3 pt minimum).

Wednesday morning however we were in them first thing and saw 3 legals. two 5x5s and one 6x7. Unfortunately, I never saw anything but cows with-in open sight range.



Two of our party killed 5x5s. The one on the right significantly larger than the left one. The big one weighed 447 hanging at the butcher(no feet, head, hide or guts). I can assure you it was a bear getting it to a point that we could get a vehicle to. Most of those clear-cut systems we hunted do not allow vehicles off of the designated roads.



All in all, it was a great week of hunting and fellowship. I hope everyone's hunts are as enjoyable.

[sheriff]

Looks like ya'll had a great time. Thanks for sharing.

[hairy]

Great pictures, glad to see you torpedoed some meat for the larder.

You have nicer wood on your '86 than mine. I am glad to see it goes bang! A few years back I had the largest set of antlers on a Minnesota Whitetail that I have ever seen in the wild come up to my blind whilst I was was rattling antlers, actually there were two bucks, but, with the rebounding hammer and a cold Minnesota morning the '86 only went click. I opened the action to see if I had forgotten to load it, I had not forgotten, double checked that safety and recocked it. CLICK! A second time and off they went into the brush. Sent it back and they disassembled, cleaned and put it back together and returned it. I haven't shot it since. Even on warm days the primer hit was light. Other than that I like the rifle.

I am glad to see you had some good luck and with scenery like that who cares if you have to drag out an ELk?

I am leaving tomorrow morning for Two Harbors, MN with a .300 Savage Model 99, I know that goes off.

[subdoc]

Good luck! I have not had an issue with the safety yet. I plan on having a Turnbull upgrade on this one including removing the rebounding hammer junk.

[turbo]

Very nice! CONGRATSS!

[Ken O'Neill]

Very nice!

[bushog]

Nice Job!

The antlers are a much different color than our elk here.

[Snyd]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing. My mouths watering.... I've got a freezer full of moose but Elk is like the creme de la creme!

[joej]

Nov 19, 2012 0:34:29 GMT -5 Snyd said:

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing. My mouths watering.... I've got a freezer full of moose but Elk is like the creme de la creme!

Quit shooting those ole bulls in the rut - I don't think it gets any better than a calf moose but elk is always good compared to an ole bull moose.

Nice job Subdoc and now you know the joys of dropping a large animal deep in the bush. ;D

[nwhunter]

Great story, I grew up not far from there out of Winlock, hunted that general area for deer as a kid. Great pics also. Keith

[stevemb]

Thanks for the nice pics. Now that's a well loaded truck ! Scenic country. I spent a week on Mt Rainier yrs ago to earn a certificate. We crossed the Cowlitz Glacier at some point. I'm guessing the source of said river. No elk up there though ! stevemb