Elk Numbers Still Falling
Don’t expect good elk hunting in the Blue Mountains this year. That is, unless you got lucky and drew one of the 117 permits to hunt a branched-antler bull, or maybe you got one of the few permits to kill a cow.
For the most part, the 3,800 to 4,000 hunters who buy tags to hunt elk in the Blues will be limited to shooting spike bulls. And the spikes are few and far between.
Wildlife biologist Pat Fowler said about 200 spike bulls will be available to hunters when the season opens Oct. 30.
“Calf survival last spring was 23 per 100 cows, or about the same as the last few years,” he said. “Ten years ago the survival was 35 to 40 per 100 cows.
“The calves that survived last spring are the spikes now.”
Despite the adoption of the spike-only regulations a few years ago and cuts in numbers of cow permits, the Blue Mountain elk herd still numbers only about 4,500. Poor calf survival each spring has been the principal reason why the herd hasn’t increased significantly.
Cougars and bears are the major predators. An elk study from 1992 through 1998 indicated that predators were responsible for 78 percent of the deaths of calves and that cougars killed 48 percent of the calves taken by predators.
The Fish and Wildlife Department predict that the hunter success rate in the Blues this fall will range from 3 to 8 percent and probably average about 5 percent.
Game management unit 162 (Dayton) was the most productive GMU in the Blues last year. Hunters killed 48 elk. Other top producing units were 175 (Lick Creek), 28; 166 (Tucannon), 14, and 172 (Mountain View), 12.
Only 206 elk were killed in the Spokane region last year, of which 120 were tagged in the Blues and 86 were killed in the northeast counties.
Some hunters who live in the Spokane area and in Pend Oreille, Stevens and Ferry counties prefer to hunt elk in northeast Washington. Although elk numbers are continuing to increase in the northeast mountains, they’re scattered and live in fairly dense timber. Locals hunters tend to know where elk hang out during the hunting season.
Overall, the hunter success rate is low in the northeast counties. But some knowledgeable hunters succeed in tagging bulls every fall.
The top-producing GMUs in northeast Washington last year were: 124 (Mt. Spokane), 13 bulls and 5 cows; 105 (Kelly Hill), 16 cows; and 121 (Huckleberry), 16 cows.
Many Spokane-area elk hunters who once spent their time hunting the Blues now hunt elk in the Yakima and Colockum areas.
“The two areas are the top (elk) producers in the state,” the department said in its hunting forecast pamphlet. “The Colockum herd numbers about 5,500 and the Yakima herd over 13,000.”
The department said that calf production and survival have been below average in the two areas the last couple of years.
Weather is an important factor in elk areas. If the Blues are hit by big snowstorms early in the season, scores of hunters who camp along the high elevation roads will have to move down the canyons. Some elk, of course, will move down. If little snow falls in the Yakima and Colockum areas, elk will stay high and scattered.
Most veteran hunters move to the places where they’ll hunt several days before the season opens and scout the country for elk. When the season opens, they’ll have a better idea where to hunt.
HUNTING SEASONS Elk Washington Any weapon: Oct. 30-Nov. 7 Archery (late): Nov. 24-Dec. 8 or 15 Muzzleloader (early): Oct. 9-15