nothing for me, again.
here's the link to check yours.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/cgi-bin/shp_tmp/permit.cgi

i put in for sheep and moose, as usual. looks like i'll be hunting deer.


good luck,
willy

A good draw for me...I drew the Observatory C any elk archery tag - stoked! I've also got my NM bull tag mentioned in another string - lots of bull hunting for me this September.

I also drew the Palouse 3-pt. min. rifle whitetail tag in November. But hopefully I'll have my buck before then.

nothing for me
next year i will have 3 points for Elk and 6 for Moose

I wonder how many points it takes to realistically draw sheep or moose - I know the printed odds are ridiculous, like 1 in 300. But that doesn't take into account the points, and also includes people that put other hunts 1st, etc. I think I've got 6 for each as well - just hoping I draw one of those sometime.

I drew a muzzleloader cow tag for Umtanum unit 342. While it by no means guarantees success, it certainly ups the odds from the last few years where I've been looking for a spike. Now if I only had an ATV, everything would be peachy!

I'm hoping my 12 yr old drew his youth hunt damage tag also. Don't have his ID# on hand to check.

Good Luck to everyone! Moe

Salty,
Have you been seeing many elk in the observatory hunt area. Last year was such a bust for me I switched over to the Nanum unit and will try to pull one of the 8 tags once in my life. Didn't get one this year but with as manyelk as I was seeing I think I might actually have a decent shot at a spike. Pretty disgusting odds if you look at it on the whole. Even if you draw one of the achery tags like you did, your odds of bagging any elk only go up to 25%. I am thinking it may be time to head out of state for me too.

I was drawn for a Bumping ML Cow permit and an anterless in Foster Creek in Dec if I need it still. I'm stoked......

Moe, I got that Umtanum anterless hunt last year and hunted that unit hard for 6 days with no success. We had three tags in our group and overall success was like 9% for the units permits. We got around the runners one day, but man was that tough hunting, good luck.

Yes, NEN, I've had the Umtanum tag twice before. Was successful once and skunked the other. 10% success is what WDFW expects, I think. Otherwise they would never issue 250 permits.
I hunt mostly on Cleman's Mountain. My feeling is that 10 years ago the hunting was MUCH better there. That was when a special permit wasn't needed, ie, all ML tag holders could take cows.
Ever since they went to these permits the hunting has been crap. But for some reason, I keep going back. I DO love that country!
Another thought is that perhaps the thing that started the downhill slide was that big "massacre" of Elk down in the WDFW field along Wenas creek. I'm guessing 1991 or '92. Elk were thick on top the mountain AND down below, but after 20 cows were taken down along the creek, there was a huge public outcry. "Too much success for those damned blackpowder hunters on those innocent Elk!" I wonder if WDFW doesn't now go in ahead of the season and roust out the herds. I witnessed them do that 25 years ago in the Colockum where a herd was headed over a refuge fence down into a canyon filled with hunters and a WDFW pickup headed them off and turned 'em back up onto the refuge. Man, was I pissed! Good luck over in Bumping,NEN.

Krijack - honestly, I haven't hunted Observatory in September (I'm just getting into archery), so I really don't know what to expect. But your experience doesn't sound good! I know there are a lot of elk in 340 and 342, but maybe not that time of year? I will try to put in a couple weekends beforehand to see what I can find. For you other guys hunting Umtanum (or Manastash), let's trade scouting notes (and I'd greatly appreciate ideas of where I should start, since I haven't spent any September time up there and will be hunting solo). And I'll let you ML guys know what I find during the archery hunt. I will probably only hunt the opening weekend because my New Mexico hunt starts the following weekend and I'm taking that full week to hunt down there.

Hey Moe,

I was right in the middle of the big elk massacre that year. I mean, right in the middle. It was nuts. I had hunted that area before, but I don't get over there much. Apparently, a bunch of folks knew those elk were there becasue it seriously reminded me of a Civil War re-enactment. There were barrages of muzzleloader shots going off. I shot a cow, and then crept into a wrinkle in the landscape and didn't venture out for a couple of hours. Just kept having more and more elk come past me but it was so crowded I didn't even start work on my elk for a couple of hours.

Here's a true story: After shooting my elk, I of course reloaded my muzzleloader and then I settled down into a "bunker" to wait out the fire fight. As I was sitting there, I saw this lady walk out about 30 yards from me, and at the same time there were some elk that she didn't see only about 60 yards from her. I motioned to her and she saw them. She shot, but missed. I noticed that she didn't reload, so I motioned her over and asked her. She didn't kow how. Her boyfriend pointed her down a trail with some speedloaders and she was on her way. So, I reloaded her weapon and told her to sit tight. 10 minutes later another cow was coming by, she stood up and missed it. It took off right past us and I handed her my muzzleloader. she dropped it on the fly at probably 60 yards - lucky shot to the neck. she didn't even think she hit it, she just didn't know where it went. A while later, her boyfrined yelled for her and she yells back. He didn't believe she had an elk down.... True.

P.S. I drew an Alkali buck hunt, GMU 371. I've never been on the Yakima Firing Center, but I intend to change that. I'm looking forward to it.

Fisherdan - that is a killer tag! There are some monsters up there! It's wide open - if you don't have them, get yourself some good optics and be prepared to do a lot of glassing. I hunted the firing range last year with my AHE buddies for elk (I'm not AHE, so I served as the designated driver/spotter). They have a list of the animals taken at the check-in station, and there were some gigantic bucks (and bulls) taken over the course of last year. It is classic spot and stalk country. You'll see your buck from a mile away, then will need to figure out how to get in shooting range.

Are you AHE? There is an open AHE hunt over there in August/Sept., which would be a good way to get your scouting in.

Dano I had that an alkali tag last year for archery. We were unable to hunt the good area by the river due to fog. The whole season that area was a fog bank all day. We spent all our time on the southern end of the firing range. We did see some bucks, but nothing to put a tag on. Being late in the season I ended up getting a good shot at a doe so I took it. I really wish we could of hunted down by the Columbia at least once. As long as there is no fog you should have a good hunt.

Good luck
Kris

Hey Salty,

I bit the bullet a couple of years ago on good binocs and a good spotting scope. Now that I drew this tag,I know I'll be glad I did.

Glowball,

I hope I sent you a hunt report from last years elk hunt, since you were so helpful. I've never seen so many nice bulls in my life while hunting, so I know I owe you a tall cool one!

I'm really not familiar with the unit, so I might just PM you for some starter info. I've got a bunch of days free to scout it, so it should be fun.

Thanks again for the help last year. It was one of the best elk hunts I've ever experienced, and it could have turned out much differently if it weren't for your help.

Salty if your going to hunt Manastash in september it will be crowded around Buck Meadows and Quartz Mountain. Use this to your advantage, coming up Manastash ridge before you drop down into Buck Meadows there will be a spur road to the left at the top of the hill. Take this road until you get into the first draw that you see with the creek in it. You can either hike up this draw or go to the end of the road and loop around back into it. I used to deer hunt this unit and spent most of my time trying not to get run over by elk being pushed down from the guys above. The further up the draw you get the better, less pressure and more graze. The timberline at the end of the road can be good at times but I would concentrate my efforts up the draw. One word of caution watch out for cats there's lots of them.

Kris already knows, but I lucked out. My cousin and I drew partners for Selkirk Moose tags! We had 8 point FYI. It actually does happen (I was begining to wonder if they really gave moose tags away LOL).

We hunt western Wa mostly and did well on draws this year. Both my father in law and uncle in law drew doe tags for Roosvelt, my dad drew a doe tag for 667, and I drew the extended cow tag for elk area 6012 Tri-valley. I get to hunt elk until Jan 30th next year! The girls did not draw anything though. Now I just hope I heal before hunting season. Otherwise it will be a boring year for me. Before anyone asks, meat tastes way better than antler. And we help control the population and buck/doe, bull/cow ratios.