In my opinion, a mature Roosevelt elk bull is many times harder to harvest than his Rocky Mountain counterpart. Roosevelts are not nearly as vocal during the rut, they keep to far denser cover, and - believe it or not - the terrain they inhabit is often steeper and more difficult to travel.
This past September, on my fourth attempt in the coastal mountains of southwestern
Oregon, I finally succeeded. The reason was Ron Hofsess, and his outfit, Avery Mountain Ranches. Hofsess runs a really superb "boutique" operation. He does all the guiding himself, he takes only six hunters per season (four archery and two firearm), and I have never in my life seen a guide work so hard to help his hunter succeed. Ron leases the exclusive hunting rights to 25,000 acres of private land, home to many B&C-class bulls....
