Some things no one has mentioned:
How did the moose and elk survive before the white man got here and the elk and moose had no "protection"?
Was the number of Elk and Moose "when I used to hunt them" the right number, or just the number that was there?
What does the browse/graze look like now that there are fewer herbivores?
Are any of you hunters younger and do any of you hunt harder than you did in the good old days?
Hunting hard? š
![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/HsCMwVms/1-B0-F463-B-6756-4-B52-B04-A-670332753-D48.jpg)
Thatās a tough pack out. Did you drive to the log landing you shot it from?
I hunt E. WA, where wolves are starting to take hold, but I havenāt noticed a decline. Lots of hunters that donāt see elk blame the wolves. I heard this excuse several times this season. Less than two miles away elk herds of close to 50 were seen several days in a row. Even though I saw only 6 cows in 8 days, Iām leery of blaming the wolves.
I wish we could have gotten a truck to that landing...All the ground we hunt is gate locked with access via foot, horse, or pedal bike. Nothing mechanical or electric is permitted.
The roads are patrolled by forest company employees looking for offenders, with State Police called in to cite for trespassing with a firearm - a felony for being stupid and not reading the big signs posted at multiple points of entry.
We went in two separate ways to reach the spots we hoped the elk would be opening morning. 2 pards had a 2.5 mile hike, but mostly under inclined roads with long pulls...2 others went in through a different gate that put travel at 3 miles, but a smidge less incline in exchange for a longer hike.
Once the meat was out of the clearcut, itās just a matter of packing it mostly downhill to our trucks. š
