I have never had a raffle elk tag but I drew a late Peshastin elk permit a couple years ago. Had to be the hardest hunt I have ever been on. I did have a lot of fun.
low elk numbers, The elk move quite a bit, a lot of private property, the elk are hunted from Aug through Jan, half the roads only get plowed(sp?) to the last house so it's long walks in some deep snow or a snowmobile.
I started looking the area over in late Aug just to see what I was looking at and the unit is Steep up and down. I scouted 10-15 days and hunted about 8-10 days and never seen a elk.
I got some information on were the elk were and made a long walk through knee high snow to the top of a ridgeline and by the time I got there the elk were leaving the area and seen two bulls. The first elk the whole time. I went up the next day and i found a herd of elk. I watched them for about 20 minutes and I could not see the big bulls and ended up shooting a small 5X6. after the shot about 10 bulls that were on the other side of the hill came out of the trees. This was my first bull so I was happy.
I had a lot of help from people and without that help I'm not sure I would have ever found the elk.
view of the area from the top
seen more nice bucks then elk
my 5X6
the herd after i shot. The bulls coming out from the trees down low.
in the truck