Roosevelt Elk Outfitters

Social distancing has some benefits. 6 years ago when my father-in-law passed, we brought one of his Idaho european mounts home. After countless hours of tedious work, Melissa turned it into a masterpiece. Stay safe out there during these crazy times.

In thick and heavily timbered Roosevelt country these principals outlined by Wayne Van Zwoll ring especially true given how fast shot opportunities and shot windows appear and disappear. We always say to our hunters, "If you wait to get ready for your shot until your opportunity arises, then you will have missed your window to take the shot". You not only have to BE ready, you have to STAY ready to apply all the principles noted below.

1) The longer you aim, the more desperately you want to breathe normally again.

2) Lay a foundation with a body position that makes full use of bone support (not muscles) and that enables the rifle to point naturally toward the target.

3) No one can hold a rifle still; the best you can hope for is an acceptable wobble, one whose speed and amplitude stay within bounds.

4) Block out distractions that can affect your judgment and focus.

5) In open country or in the woods, assessing conditions as you hunt and keeping your body ready for quick, accurate positioning will boost your odds for an effortless, accurate shot.

REO will be at Lacey Cabelas and Tacoma Bass Pro next Saturday 1/18/20 at the guide and outfitter event from 1-4pm. Come on by and introduce yourself and talk a little elk hunting with us.

Merry Christmas from Roosevelt Elk Outfitters. We had a great year and hope you did as well.

Happy Thanksgiving. Hoping everyone had a great hunting season. We are wrapping up late season archery in mid December and then we'll do a season summary and share some more pics.

Two deer in two days with my number one hunting partner. Yesterday Mel shot her buck at 365 yards! Today it was my turn and luck was on my side. I love hunting with my wife, we had a blast.

Muzzleloader season was a success! Our hunters took 6 shots this year at different bulls and were lucky enough to connect on two of them. This hunt is one of my favorite ones to be part of even though the weapon choice is the great equalizer. Good times guys. Shout out and thanks to Chris, Don, Melissa, Kevin, Jim, and all the hunters. Stellar time.

Andy got it done on Thursday. Total rush!

Another REO bull down! Kevin gets it done Tuesday on a solo hunt with a 4x5 Roosevelt bull. Story to follow. Also, I started using Iron Will broadheads this year after some pretty extensive research. Check out what the 125 grain Iron Will did to this leg bone on its way to the heart.

I had an incredible hunt yesterday. The day started out slow, we hadn't even seen an elk. I was hunting with my buddy Andy and about 5pm I let out a couple of soft cow calls near an area that I had seen allot of rubs. I got a response and we moved quick to get good wind. I set Andy up for a shot. I had this bull going for about over and he would bugle whether I was cow calling or bugling. He finally started to try to circle me after the intensity ramped up to try to get my wind so I made a move. He had moved in faster than anticipated and I was pinned in and couldn't draw. We literally stared at each other at 10 yards for at least 5 minutes but I couldn't draw. He finally turned and went back into the timber and we set up again. I would guesstimate that he bugled between 50 and 70 times over the 3 hours this ordeal lasted. He started to move back to his cows and I covered about 100 yards and got in between him and his cows. I challenged him with a strong bugle and he lost his mind. He crossed over a creek and that's when I figured that I had him. I hurried across the creek and got up in the other bench that he was on and saw him moving like a ghost through the big timber. I stopped him with a cow call at 45 yards, took my time, settled my shot and let it fly. It looked like a really good hit but when I got to the spot he was standing my arrow was broken with only about 1/3 pe*******on. I backed out and got my other buddies Chris Boxell and Kevin Cuerter on the scene. It was now dark and we'r returned and there was hardly any blood. We stayed with it and Chris found 5 small drops of blood over about 80 yards. I've shot allot of elk and it didn't add up. We were contemplating backing out to return to look today when Kevin's headlamp caught the reflection of this bulls eye 60 yards straight up hill from last blood. Elation ensued and it turned out to be a heart shot on this quality 5x5 Roosevelt bull. We got it packed out and hanging in the cooler after 1am this morning. What a great crew!

Elk season is right around the corner and REO has been watching some impressive Roosevelt bulls this year. Good luck, take ethical shots, and be safe out there. We are seeing lots of rub activity and some early pre-rut behaviors. I've got a feeling this is going to kick off strong! Here's a pic of a small bull we got on camera and a bear.

I got out for a quick evening scouting trip last weekend. I saw 8 legal bulls, 2 bears, and a bunch of cows with small calves. Here are pictures of some of the true Roosevelt bulls I spotted. Four of them were bedded down together with their eyes closed. These three will be some dandy bulls. We've decided to open up an additional two archery spots at a discounted rate of $4,500 per hunter for a 2:1 hunt (all of our other hunts are booked this year).

This bull is coming along nicely, we'll definately be looking for him this fall. We also got some pics of a cow and calf (it's probably the youngest calf we've gotten on a trail cam). and we got some decent pictures of this bear.

The second half of the attached video features REO guiding a great guy and friend Rex Peterson to his first ever Roosevelt Elk which was filmed for his TV Show Horns and Hooks TV. Pay special attention to the bull we filmed after Rex’s hunt. We named him Rizzo and he became a legend to us. Soon I’ll be sharing stories about this bull.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FwX83wqzKDs&feature=youtu.be

Washington State Roosevelt Bulls "Olympic Proportions" Host Rex Peterson tags along with his buddy who has drawn an amazing bull elk tag for the Quinault area in Grays Harbor Washington. Followed by Rex taking hi...

This guy. Raleigh, one of my dad's best friends was with me when I was a kid and I got my first 2 deer. He was with us in the beginning when we were learning the ropes of elk hunting. We questioned when we started REO whether it not we were going to guide rifle hunts and he talked us in to it. Well, it was a great idea Raleigh! He has booked twice with us and hunted a total of 4 days, killing two bulls, and making great shots on both of them. Its been a great ride Raleigh, I'm looking forward to our hunt this year and I always cherish our time together.

Later the same day that Brian and JR doubled up, Andy who had never hunted before in his life shot this bull just before dark. He waited for hours on a tall stump to get the shot. His smile says it all and it was another REO first, 3 bulls in one day!

Brian and JR are accomplished hunters, however neither had harvested a Roosevelt Elk before. Then they had an REO first. On the third day of the hunt we were on a perch when a bull came out about 10am and Brian shot true and dropped it. Less than 10 minutes later, the second bull (we knew was there somewhere) came out and JR nailed it less than 60 yards from where the first one was down. We had to drag it the 60 yards to get the pic. Epic day.

In 2016 my brother John killed a bull in Idaho at 860 yards with a custom rifle he had built. Not wanting to be out of the game, I had Jeremy Laiers build me a custom 300 win. mag. My first year hunting in Idaho with it (2017), I had the opportunity to harvest this young bull at 781 yards. I shot 3 times and all three shots were on the mark. Thanks Jeremy!

Melissa and her first buck.

This is REO muzzleloader hunter Lage who put the smack down on this Roosevelt bull after guide John Ockerman made some estrus calls and this bull came in screaming.

This was REO teaming up! Kevin had a muzzleloader tag so he came and back called for me. He called this Roosevelt bull in to 30 yards. I'll probably write the complete story and post it because he pulled some tricks out of the bag to get this guy to commit that you may find useful.

Several years ago I solo hunted 2 big Roosevelt bulls all season and passed on some smaller bulls (which I normally wouldn't do) because the two I was hunting were special. I came close but never got a shot at either of them. During the late season I was fortunate enough to get another opportunity to fill my freezer and take this cow. It was a great end to an incredible year.

Bernie getting it done with his grandfather's hierloom 300 Weatherby magnum and the REO meat locker with 3 Roosevelt bulls in it.

I was recently asked why nothing has been posted on our page lately. I really didn't have a great answer to that question, but it's been on my mind for awhile. So we've decided that REO is going to get back on track with our social media! We love hunting and guiding and want to share our photos and stories. We are going to be uploading some of the pictures from the last couple year's hunts and then do a series of stories about the hunts we've guided as well as some of our own hunts.

#2 hits the ground! ... no, not that #2; Roosevelt elk #2 of the 2016 rifle hunt. Nice shooting Adam

Rifle season starts off with a serious bang at REO camp this year. Nicely done!

If you're anywhere near South Hill in Puyallup tomorrow, come on by Sportsman's warehouse for an elk hunting seminar from REO's library of filled and unfilled tags. We'll cover strategies and tactics as well as elk calling. If you've got a call you want to try out, bring it along and we'll talk some elk with you. EEEEAW!

Like and share this post for a chance at a $25 Sportsman's Warehouse Giftcard. The winner will be announced 7-26-2016

REO doing our thing at Federal Sportsmans Warehouse on Saturday morning. Stop in and join us for Elk Daze!