![]() ![]() We approached seven or eight cows and a single spike in three separate encounters. During my first hunt, for example, in four days we’d discovered only one bugling bull – completely uninterested in our calls. This is not the physical game of bowhunting elk at home, but something more mental in nature. For the bowhunter used to stretching his legs it becomes somewhat monotonous. While bowhunting Roosevelt I’ve normally spent at least as much time in the truck as hiking. For this reason alone my efforts to tag my first Roosevelt meant concentrating efforts on a relative few locations, almost to the point of tedium. Even with hunting pressure they are more likely to hunker down than seek greener pastures. Roosevelt are simply less inclined to wander. Rocky Mountain elk seldom camp out on a single swatch of ground very long. In short, it’s the kind of scouting that holds little reward when bowhunting Rocky Mountain elk. The locals I have hunted with spend countless hours during summer months locating elk concentrations, and particular bulls, glassing open clearcuts, attempting to establish patterns, determining if new logging activity has created or destroyed hotspots. You’re typically hunting on faith gained through scouting. Fresh sign is everywhere, but the elk themselves remain invisible. Roosevelt’s demeanor seems to more closely mirror that of whitetail deer than nomadic Rocky Mountain elk. Logging activity in Pacific Northwest Roosevelt habitat creates new feeding areas and access roads allowing you to cover more ground in less time. This normally meant fighting nasty brush and spiked devil’s club a half mile or more, choking on fern dust, emerging to produce a couple bugles that fell on seemingly deaf ears before turning around and fighting back. On rare occasions my hosts might lead the way in investigating a secreted, fern-blanketed bench that traditionally harbored elk. We occasionally and quietly trekked blocked logging skids, bugling at odd intervals, but typically turned back when that skid abruptly ended. My own Roosevelt hunts have consisted mostly of traveling labyrinthine logging roads in a truck, parking well back from landings or inconspicuous road bends, stalking road edges to bugle into sudden clearcuts. Most importantly, to get a bow shot you don’t go to Roosevelt. Roosevelt hunting is a game of chess, covering ground, yes, but doing so smartly. Too, bowhunting Roosevelt isn’t the physical dodge I’d grown accustomed to through bowhunting Rocky Mountain elk. In fact, if it weren’t for this fact few would be tagged at all. The greater surprise is that even the biggest bulls in Roosevelt country respond to calls, to bugling. In those swallowing Coast Range confines hearing elk talk is simply less likely bugles quickly soaked up by thronged vegetation. It’s the nature of the habitat that’s likely created this long-held wives’ tale. The myth that has long stood says that Roosevelt bulls rarely bugle. He took this handsome bull on Oregon's central coast region.Ĭalling is how most Roosevelt are tagged by bowhunters, though some patiently sit stands to get their bull. Scott Haugen is no stranger to Roosevelt elk hunting. The big qualifier here being “public lands,” as there are, no doubt, private preserves or exclusive properties out there where hunting pressure is light and big bulls less secretive and reclusive – or British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. After bowhunting both Oregon and Washington public-lands Roosevelt I now consider them just as hard-won as the Coues. I’ve long rated public-lands Coues whitetail as the toughest trophy in all of North America. I gained a lot of newfound respect for those who find regular archery success on the shaggy coastal wapiti. I’ve learned a thing or two about Rocky Mountain elk but upon first venturing to the Pacific Northwest to try my hand at Roosevelt, I found the education I had received in the elk habitat of the Southwest had left me ill-prepared to succeed on the secretive Roosevelt elk. I guided paying elk hunters 23 years, have personally taken something like 13 P&Y-quality bulls with bow and arrow. Anyone who’s followed my writing understands I’ve spent a great deal of time bowhunting and guiding for Rocky Mountain elk. ![]()
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