decline in their population in the early 1900s, Theodore Roo-
sevelt established Olympic National Park in Washington State
to protect the elk and enable the herd to eventually grow into
the huntable populations that we enjoy today. Thus, it was only
fitting for these elk to thereafter be known as “Roosevelt’s” elk.
The above-mentioned hunt took place in September 2014.
I was hunting the famous “Sixes” unit along the Oregon Coast
with Ron Hofsess of Avery Mountain Ranches. Ron is a semi-
retired logger who has lived and hunted in that area all his life.
He has built many of the service roads on the thousands of acres
that he has under lease, and he knows the area like the back of
hishand.The areais a mixtureof Douglasfir trees that have
been managed for decades for their timber value, and meadows
and pastures where the landowners graze herds of cattle. The
cattle have free range over the entire area, and they are often
found with the elk. On several occasions, we had cattle spook
and stampede toward the elk, ultimately ruining our stalk.
During my hunt in 2014, we were after a 300-inch-plus bull
that had been infrequently visiting a wallow Ron was moni-
toring with trail cameras. On the last night of my hunt, we saw
the “wallow” bull 100 yards away as we watched him from the
pickup truck. Once the bull left with his harem of cows, Ron
hatched a plan. He knew where they were going, and before
long I was watching the bull herd his cows in a meadow that62 BOWHUNTER /// SEPTEMBER 2019