Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Washington rain forests

A couple days ago my wife and I drove around the Olympic peninsula. I've hunted some thick stuff but some of what we saw was inpenetrable.

Beautiful, but you guys can have it - I'll stick with Colorado's forests!

Rockies ain't Roosies and Mulies ain't Blacktail. Hunt them all and there isn't any question.

The guys who dive into the Coast Range for Roosevelts- especially considering the timing of the season- are a bit nuts.

Blacktail are a different thing, at least for me, because they are more generally scattered about. As steep and deep and thick and blind as the Coast Range is, if you aren't ON elk, you are in a tough place to do much about it.

just moved out here... and I thought the Ozarks were thick!!

Very beautiful for a walk but might prove to be terribly difficult to hunt. We have an awesome trail through an area near our house but you can't see 5" off the trail at eye level!

A few years ago, I read about 2 hunters in WA who went into a deep hell hole somewhere in the WA Cascades. One of them shot an elk. While they were dressing it, one of them died of a heart attack. It took rescuers 3 days to get his body out. If a team of rescuers took that long to recover a man, how long would it have taken 2 men to pack out an elk? Granted, it would have been somewhat improper to dress and quarter the man, but there were a lot more rescuers to handle him.

You nailed it.

My first choice for an elk rifle last year was a single shot .45-70 Govt. My second choice was a baseball bat. Both are great elk weapons in that stuff!

I kept telling my wife one of my Marlins (.30-30, .375 Win, .45-70) would be perfect for that country.

I hunt the wet side with a bow. Best results is along the edge of the clearcuts, or meadow. Usually set up on well used trail and wait. It is slow and painfully boring hunting but they can be killed.Two years ago we had an average of an inch a rain a day, on a five day hunt. Not much was moving on any day.

What? You didn't want to get out for a little hike through the devil's club, thimble berry, salmon berry, himalaya berry, vine maple, and maybe stinging nettle and poison oak depending on where you are? I probably missed a few other thorny or tangly plants in that list, haven't been over to the wet side of WA for a bit.

Good thing there's no brownies or grizzlies in that stuff.

Rockies ain't Roosies and Mulies ain't Blacktail. Hunt them all and there isn't any question.

The thick stuff makes success that much more sweet.