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Roosevelt Elk hunt in Western Oregon (updated)

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Weylin:
Well, we gave it our best shot.... My dad and I went out for our first attempt at bow hunting in Oregon. Bryce was good enough to help us scout a place near him and give us some pointers. My dad and I are from Wisconsin and are used to hunting white-tails. This elk hunting is a whole different ball game. The terrain is thick! this place is a jungle sometimes, thistle, oregon grape, devils club, black berries, all kinds of stuff to shred you up.

The first weekend we got skunked. All we could find was old tracks and droppings, nothing fresh and no sightings. We did get to explore the area fairly well though and that will give us an advantage next time we go in.

This weekend we had a slightly better idea of what we were doing and we had the added advantage that the commercial timber land opened up due to low fire danger so that meant the clear-cuts were fair game. On Saturday morning we slowly walked around the edge of a clear cut looking for sign and when we got all the way around and to the top of the ridge, spotting a big black-tail buck on the way, I looked across the clear cut and saw some movement. At first I thought they were deer but then i saw that characteristic swooped necks and I knew we were finally into some elk. I got out our binoculars and glassed them, they were two bulls making their way up the other ridge and into the thick woods. We must have spooked them at some point in our circuit and sure enough we found fresh sign where we where, showing that they had cut all the way across the clearcut. We then heard a couple of bugles and cow calls coming from down in the creek bottom on the other side of the ridge. It certainly could have been hunters but given that we had just seen two elk come from that direction we decided to take our chances. we spent the rest of the day setting up some blinds to cover some heavy trails. Bryce offered to come out and call for us that afternoon and by 6ish we were all set up and ready to go. Bryce put on quite the show, delivering a veritable elk orgy of sound but we had no takers, not even the two bulls that had scooted off that morning.

Oh well. It was exciting to see some elk even if we didn't set up any shots. We clearly have a ton to learn about hunting elk out here and now we have a whole year to study up and scout. There are a lot of resources about rocky mountain elk but very few if any about Roosevelt elk. They seem to require a different set of skills to some degree so if anyone knows of a good resource, I'm all ears. We were so busy slogging through the jungle that I didn't take the time to take many pictures. I might get out for another weekend before the season's over but if not there's always next year.
 

steve b.:
Good for you, Weylin.  That's pretty good action for your first time.  If Bryce was a better caller you probably would have scored.  Once again, he disappoints. 

I went to that same spot yesterday and found the same tortuous jungle and steep hills.  I was just scouting, with the dog, no bow, and found little sign and it was too hot for me, so I took off.  But where there is jungle, there is elk, so I know its a good area given enough scouting to figure out what the animals are doing.

I'm waiting another week or so then trying again.........................

Weylin:
Thanks steve. I'm not sure exactly what constitutes a good caller yet but Bryce definitely gets an 'A' for effort. Too bad you didn't stop by to say hello, but I guess we were pretty busy that day except for a short break. Good luck with your hunt, there's definitely elk in there.

Bryce:
Steve, your just jealous! You wish your bugles and estrus calls sounded as real as mine lol.
I think those bulls moved out through the morning and over the ridge by the afternoon.
Haven't heard any bugeling through the evening so it's still pretty early.

Weylin, two guys just got busted up there for shooting a 3x4 and a cow elk with rifles. They had bows as a cover story but they're now facing charges.
And I hit a deer with my truck. That was a weird night leaving.
Persistance, that's what it takes for early archery season. That or baiting lol even then, no sure thing.

Weylin:
Yeah, I don't think they were around, either.

That' s bummer about the deer. Did it mess up your truck at all?

How did those poachers get busted, did someone report them?

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