Charlie Monson: Washington Roosevelt Elk Hunt Report

HUNT TAKEN: 7-Day Roosevelt Elk Hunt in North West Washington
CONSULTANT: Kyle Hanson, Outdoors International

November 01, 2025

I had great communication with the outfitter prior to my elk hunting trip, and during the travel to Forks, Washington. Got into Forks the day before and checked into my Airbnb. Met up with the outfitter and my guid) later that day and went over the plan for the following day. We went over expectations, weather, hunting conditions and what they had seen during pre-scouting.

My guide picked me up at the planned time the next morning, and we drove out to the hunting area. We got there a little before shooting hours, and waited a bit for it to lighten up for us to see. The plan was for us to check a few timber cut blocks to see if any of the elk herds had moved into them during the night. If we didn’t see any elk in the cut blocks, we would hike into the area where they had put the elk to bed the night before.

While waiting for the morning light we put our rain gear on because it was really coming down. When we had enough light we started to glass for elk and I think it was the third block he spotted a herd with about 20-30 elk in it. We left the vehicle and found a spot to set up and try to find a legal bull. It was raining really good and with the overcast and dim light made it difficult at 275 yards to determine bulls from cows. He had to get his spoofing scope out and finally found two bulls in the group, one legal, and one sub legal bull.

With my guide walking me in on the correct animal, I found him in my scope. We talked it over briefly to make sure I was on the right animal and we both felt confident it was, I took the shot and the bullet found it mark with the thud of a solid hit. We watched the bull walk 25 yards and tip over. Bull down! Remarkable it was only 20-30 minutes into the hunt.

There was a small trail that allowed us to move the truck up a few hundred yards closer to the bull, this gave us a short hike of about 100 yards to get to the fallen bull. After a few pictures we started to break down the bull. We both dove right in and it didn’t take much more than an 1 to 1-1/2 hours to break it down and get everything into game bags. As it was a little crowded at times on the carcass I let him work and I hiked the quarters back to the truck. After all the field work was done we drove the meat back to town to clean and hang to quarters for a night.

The next day he picked me up and we retrieved the meat from his place and brought it back to where I was staying. My guide, Tyler was awesome, and helped me trim the meat out into roasts, steaks and grind. I did bring my grinder and we ground the meat and fill 1 lb bags of hamburger. We wrapped the other cuts and stuck those in the freezer at my place while Tyler took the hamburger back to his freezer overnight. The next morning he dropped the hamburger off and I loaded my 160 qt cooler with the meat. It all made it into the cooler with just enough room for a few block of dry ice for the trip home. I loaded my vehicle with the rest of my gear and took off for home.

It was a quick hunt, the fastest I have ever been a part of. I totally put that accomplishment of my guide and outfitter as they know the area, know the animals and had done the pre scouting necessary for this hunt. It was everything I expected, was what they had told me before the hunt. Tyler was an excellent guide, and the effort he put forth after we got the meat out of the field was incredible. I have nothing but gratitude and thankfulness for his help. Overall the hunt was great and have no regrets on booking this hunt. Thank you to everyone involved, including Kyle from Outdoor International, for a great trip. I have no doubt that if the opportunity arose I would definitely hunt with this outfitter again.

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