Elk season has arrived — which means it’s time to leave the state

YAKIMA, Wash. — The general elk hunting season opened on Saturday. Luckily, I won’t have to go elk hunting this year. I have drawn a deer-hunting tag for Colorado for this week and fortunately for me, while thousands of hunters from around the state descend on the Cascades west of Yakima, I will be 1,000 miles away.

It is hard to put a finger on what has soured me on elk hunting over the years, but of all the hunting seasons that pop up during the fall, the elk hunting season is one I really dread. Yes, I would love to put some tasty elk meat in the freezer, but I look forward to the actual hunt about as much as preparing for a colonoscopy.

I think back on all of my past elk hunts and unfortunately, very few are remembered with much fondness.

From the time I was a kid, elk hunting with my dad — and facing the snow, cold, rain, wind and lack of elk — to the recent trips where I’ve been literally overrun by orange-clad nimrods with no hunting manners or sense, it has tarnished the experience for me.

Like the time hunting partner Doug Jewett and I were elk hunting up in the Gold Creek area. We were sitting in his rig waiting for legal hunting hours, when four guys rolled up next to us and piled out of their truck, right into the section of woods we were planning to hunt.

Yes, it was a public area, open to hunting for everyone, but all common sense and hunting ethics say you don’t go barreling out into an area someone else is about to hunt.

Elk hunting seems to bring out all kinds.

Of course the classic was the time the two guys moved in on a ridge where I was sitting and glassing and sat down right next to me, because they had set up green plastic chairs to reserve “their spot.” I had been there since first light, but that made no difference to these dolts. Because they had put their chairs there at some point earlier in the season, and because they had hunted there before, they believed it was “their” spot.

It didn’t bother them one bit that they moved right in where I was already set up. They sat in their chairs, not 20 yards from me, and weren’t moving.

After an hour or so I got tired of looking over and having them grinning at me like a couple of simpletons, so I moved. Who knows what would have happened if an elk had wandered through.

To say the least, elk hunting is extremely popular. And when you have basically two regions of the state where the majority of the elk live, you are going to get large concentrations of hunters. And when you get large concentrations of hunters, you get quite a mix of those who are experienced and inexperienced.

For me, part of the joy of hunting is getting away from people, and being out in the wilds by myself. Unless you have horses, or are willing to do some serious backpacking into the wilderness, that is just not going to happen much during elk season.

I can’t tell you how many times I have hiked my way during the early morning darkness to a spot I wanted to hunt, only to start seeing orange figures all around me when it got light enough to see. It’s very frustrating. But that is elk hunting.

I know much of the appeal of elk season to many hunters is not so much the actual hunting, but the camaraderie and fellowship that comes in building a big camp and participating in the tradition of it all. I totally understand that. I enjoy that, too. But I also enjoy the hunting part. Or, at least, I try to enjoy it. During a typical elk season, however, it’s tough.

The rest of the elk hunting world could probably care less, but this week there is one less hunter working the hills above Rimrock Lake looking for an elk. One less hunter overlooking that saddle. One less hunter sitting on that rock. Once less hunter to try to avoid.

I won’t be among the throngs of people who are scouring the woods today, tomorrow and the rest of the week looking for an elk, and honestly, I’m not too broken up about that.
• Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.