Utah Elk Hunt

[DanD]

Well it’s the middle of winter and it’s a bit slow on hunting stories.   I would imagine that’s because it’s the middle of winter?  Anyway I thought I would share with all of you all my hunting trip to Utah the last 2 weekends.

My hunting partner and myself had drawn tags to hunt the last antlerless elk hunt of the year. On opening day Saturday the 12th we arrive in our zone around midnight get a couple hours sleep, about a half-hour after first light we headed up the hill to try and find the elk.   We had not scouted so we where pretty much going in blind.  We find what looks to be a good place, (good looking elk country and there’s a couple other hunters parked along the side of the road) as I’m getting out of the truck to take a look around the first thing I hear is 4 gun shots coming from the valley that I was thinking about walking down. The good news was that I had found where the elk are,  the bad new was somebody else was shooting at them.  The rest of the weekend didn’t fair much better, I ended up not seeing any alive elk all weekend (bulls don’t count).  My partner did spotted one on Saturday but couldn’t get a shot off.  An interesting note while I was waiting for him to get back at the truck a guy pulls up beside me and we start talkin and you would not believe, I drive 800 miles from home, I’m in the middle of no where in Utah and this guy not only is from So Cal, but lives in the same town as me Santa Clarita, I just couldn’t believe it, what a small world.

Well we headed back up this last Friday and this time we brought a snow machine along so I could get quite a bit farther off the main road then what I can in my truck.  Saturday morning we head out and my partner spots four elk about a half-mile away and puts the stalk on but is not able to get a shot off.  We take a break for lunch then head to another spot to hunt that afternoon.  I’m about a mile and a half from the truck and I spot a couple elk about half way up the ridge on the other side of the valley, I’d say 800 to 1000 yards away.  Winds, in my favor and they are moving towards the saddle between these  two hills.  I sneak to about 100 – 150 yards from the saddle and set up and wait hoping that they keep coming in my direction.  After what seemed like an eternity (about 15 minuets)  I could start to see them coming through the trees.  Now I can count about  five or six in the herd. After another 5 minuets or so final had one come out into the open so I could get good clean shot.  Since it was now fairly late in the afternoon and the middle of winter the sun was pretty low on the horizon and with my bad luck or bad positioning on my part. Even though I really didn’t have much of a choice as I was more concerned with the wind, I found myself in the sun, looking into the sun, at the elk that are in the shade about 300 yards away.  I’ll tell you what that was a mess looking through the scope the glare was trerible.  I was able to pick up the elk that had stepped out of the trees and had a good quartering towards me shot.  One shot and she fell in her tracks.   The problem was I could not see her and I didn’t see her fall.  So after I shoot I look through the scope and can still see 5 elk or so roaming around.  I didn’t know I had even dropped her until I had walked almost all the way over to where she was standing when I shot.  And then as the story goes the real work begins, I was just thanking my luck stars that I had gotten the snow machine for the weekend.  We where able to take it out in two halves which was really nice since it was getting late and didn’t have much light left.    I think if I would have had to quarter it and hall it out on my back I’d still be up there.  

 

[wyokid]

Thanks for sharing DanD makes lunchtime around here more enjoyable reading good hunting stories....

 

[kellyg]

Thanks for the story!!

 

[lintongb]

Congrats DanD!  Good to hear hunting stories.  Even better when they are successful.  What area in Utah were you?

 

[Huntinut]

Congrats on the cow,  you will have some of the best meat in the world. My dad and I shot cows last year in Utah on the late hunt and we are still using the meat. They are good eating.

Andy

 

[Fubar]

Dan  Congratulations. What part of Utah did you hunt? Was this your first year applying for Elk?                     Fubar

 

[DanD]

Thanks, Guys.  This is the first Rocky Mountain that I have taken, I took a Tule Bull about 5 or 6 years ago in California and that was the best eating wild game I had ever had.  I'm hoping that this cow will be just as good.  

We hunted out of the area around Loa, Antinomy and Boulder.  

I hunted the antlerless hunt in Panguitch about 3 or 4 years ago. Did not have any luck on that hunt but sure did learn alot that helped this time around. With these late season hunts you've got to be able to deal with the cold weather.  We got lucky and their was not a hole lot of snow, but it sure was cold.  Saturday morning when we got in the truck it was 5 degrees and never got much over 15 all day.  

 

[willowcrick]

DanD,
    Congratulations on your elk. I was hunting opening morning near Loa also. I am originally from Utah and spend alot of time there so I had "local" info that there was a group feeding near the Loa dump. After getting up at 4am and being in position over an hour before shooting light which was around 7:15 it was disconscerting to see a convoy of headlights coming our direction at 7:00. Needless to say say it was a bust. Unfortunately, most of the culprits were from "out of state" ie. California. I had invited a few friends from here in SoCal to go with me so I knew it now was going to be some work.
    First we checked out a major migration route that both deer and elk use to dump down off of that plateau onto the desert and sure enough they had made a road with all the animals that had taken the route. We glassed the area all Sunday and didn't see anything. They had made their escape. They go out into the same area that was used by Butch Cassidy and his Hole in the Wall Gang. In fact there is a spot where they wrote their names on the cliffs.
    Monday I decided to go to my honey-hole. It's an area up high where the wind blows so hard it clears the snow off most of the hill sides so the elk have grass all over. They also have timber and quakies to dump into for cover. Unfortunately though the snow in the protected trees was about waist high. Sure enough after going in about 5-6 miles on snowmobiles we glassed about 150 in one bowl about 2 miles away and another group of about 100 bedded and feeding on a knoll about 1 mile away and as always up. We made a plan were I would cut around the back of a mountain and come in from above and 2 of my friends would come up through the bottom, another 3 would spread out cutting off escape routes. It took about 2 hours to get up and around. Talking to the guys below on the radios they told me the elk were still there but they were having trouble climbing in the snow and thin air. I got in position so I had the wind in my face and started crawling over the edge to get a shot. Of course as I was just about there I looked down to my right only to see the back of an elk only 40 yards away head down feeding. She picked up her head and looked right at me. All of you know that feeling of being nailed and yet trying stay still and not make eye contact. A big snort and she blew right toward the big group who took off.
    I had to run about 100 yards to get to where I could drop and get off shots. 2 minutes later there were 6 elk on the ground filling all our tags. My friends had never gutted an elk before so I ended up doing 4 while the rest did 2. I marked their position with the GPS (9680ft elev.) and started down. It was a good day.
    It took 2 more days to get them off the mountain using both snowmobiles and 4-wheelers. I felt like I had been in a fight, and lost. Beats working!
    I will try and post some pictures but I have a new computer with xp and I need an upgrade from olympus to download them from my digital camera. I live in the San Fernando Valley so I'm not too far from you if you are in Santa Clarita.
   Again congratulations!

 

[Hook]

Congrats DanD and Willowcrick, great stories. Looking forwards to the pictures.

If you guys need some beer for the BBQ, let me know I'll bring some by.  I am in Santa Clarita too.

 

[nobuckkev]

It's funny you mentioned the Panguitch area of Utah DanD. My very first year bowhunting deer was in that area in 1993 down by the Mammoth caves area near Duck Creek. I spent 6 days and 5 nights on a hunt I put together myself and did no scouting at all with. The guy that talked me into trying bowhunting couldn't get off work and told me to just head down there and see what you can find and stick it. So off I went on my own with a city slicker buddy from Los Angeles. Boy that didn't make it easy. I never heard of a grown man that complained about drinking beer every night for five nights and not having to take a shower and eating bologna sandwiches with dirty hands. The very first morning I got up late and the sun was already up. I had no tree stand or ground blind or nothing. I just walked quietly through the woods with my military camo on looking for a buck. I came across a doe that saw me first. She didn't run away but walked slowly away instead. They do that in Utah unlike down here in SOCAL. I decided to follow her and see where she took me. About ten minutes later, I walked into a little clearing filled with "Quakies" and the sun shined right on me and this 3X3 muley about 20 feet away jumped up, ran about 30 yards, stopped looked at me and took off. I about through my bow and everything into the air and starting screaming like a bitch thinking I was dead until I saw him. I should have been looking forward and not at the doe. His explosion scared the hell out of me. I never got that close again.  the next couple of days were filled with 10 miles a day walking and talking to the occasional other hunter who saw three or four 4X4's and what-not, and how they missed a shot at a nice 5X6, ya-da-ya-da-ya-da. But I knew if I kept my spirits up, things would work out for me. So I pressed on and on. On the fourth day of the hunt I got within 55 yards of a nice little forkhorn and dropped him after a 40 yard run. I still think to this day it was a lucky shot in some ways. But, I felt confident when I released it and it hit its mark and to this day, 9 years later, that is the only buck I have ever taken with a bow. I loved the area though and hope to hunt it again. I will hunt forever after that experience and I know with all the hard work I have put in, That the Wallhanger will be mine someday. I mean afterall, it took me more than twice as long to find a good woman, so I am patient. Good luck to you all and thanks for the campfire stories.

 

[DanD]

Willowcrick, congratulations!!!  6 elk, I couldn't imagine the amount of work that must have been.  Wow!!  Two of us took out mine with the help of a snow machine.  6 that's ridicules.  It sound like you have hunted this area before.  Have you ever hunted the earlier cow hunts?  I was woundering if they where much different than the last hunt of the year.  Do you perfer the early hunt the late hunt?  Also one last question if you don't mind, Where did you have your animals butchered or did you do it yourself?  Thanks.

 

[willowcrick]

DanD
    I have hunted the late cow hunts for almost 10 years. I have liked the late hunt because the elk are usually coming into the fields at night and you can ambush them in the mornings there or on their routes back up the mountains. They will travel 3-4 miles each way. I also like the late hunt because duck and goose season goes through the middle of Jan. and if its cold enough there are limited areas of open waters. With all the extra work this year I only had 1 day to bird hunt but we just slammed the ducks and a new bunch of geese had just moved in so we filled up on them as well. If there is too much open water for them to go to I will float the river and usually do well. The mallards were really big and fat this year. I think I shot 2 of the biggest birds I have ever taken.
  Back to elk. This year the fish and game played a trick on everyone. They had the regular antlerless draw so as to get in their revenue. Then they decided to sell cow tags for $20 over the counter if you had already purchased a regular season bull permit. There were over 4,000 permits bought that way. They really want to drop the numbers in both the area we were hunting and the Manti unit to the north. I usually hunt the Manti unit as I have property there but they didn't have the same number of tags so I put in for the Plateau.
    I process the animals myself about half the time depending how much time I have. If I can I have the elk done at Whites in Richfield, Ut. They charge about $85 for an elk which is a price you can't touch here in L.A. and they do a good job.  It usually takes about 2 days. They also have salami, pastrami, sausage, and jerky that they have made from other elk and then just trade you for your meat and charge you so much depending on what you get. I got both salami and jerky this year and they are really good. I usually get roasts for dutch oven, some steaks, and hamburger. As you know its better than beef.
    If you have any other questions let me know. Do you hunt around here? What? Where?

 

[willowcrick]

I forgot to tell one of the coolest parts of this last hunt. One of the cows I got had a radio collar. It is like getting the biggest duck band you could imagine. It was old and was has 2 places that were just about worn all the way through. It belongs to the forest service and I called them for info where to send it back. They told me this one had been on for over 4 years. They also said the batteries last for around 6 years and that some of them are followed by satelites.  A few of us thought about wiring it under a local game wardens truck(He's a friend) but thought better of it. Any way its kind of a cool trophy. I hope you pulled the ivories out of your elk. Some older cows have dandies, though they often only have one.

 

[SlipSliding]

Thanks for sharing your Elk Stories, I enjoy elk meat and the hunting.  For Willowcreek:  I own an Olympus Camera and with the Camadia software, I wasn't able to go to "My Camera" , so I just use the "My Computer" bring up windows of both the drive the camera is considered (Fixed Disk F and "My pictures or Camadia"  and select the photo's I want to move and bring them over.  Try it!

 

[DanD]

Willow, thanks for the info.  The collar sounds pretty cool.  Did you/they see that on the elk before you shot or was it a surprise?  I have seen collared animals while hunting but have never taken one.  

I picked up my elk from the butcher yesterday.  I'm going to cook up the first meal tonight.  It was a bit more meat than I was expecting, almost 300 lbs.  I am guessing she must have been 500 to 550 live.  

I have hunted here in CA for the last 6/7 years or so, mainly deer & waterfowl.  As I said previously I got lucky and drew a Tule elk tag about 5 years ago.  I have hunted Utah the last 4 or 5 years, for deer and elk when we get drawn.  We use to hunt the southern zone for deer until they started with those preferance points.  This year we hunted around LaSal in the SE.  I'm not sure what we are going to do if we don't get drawn for the southern this year.  I thinking about taking the point and assuring a tag the next year and then hunting some other state.  Do you hunt anywhere else besides Utah?  Do you also deer hunt in Utah?  I'll tell you the two years that I have hunted cow elk late in the season I have seen some of the nicest buck's.  It seems that every buck I saw during this years elk hunt was a 4x4 or better.   I know those big guys are out their.    

Enjoy your elk and again thanks for the info.

 

[willowcrick]

DanD,
    Yeah I hunt deer in Utah but it has been hard going the last while. I just finished my apps. online and I put in for southern first and southeastern second with central third. Where I a from is right where all three units come together, so I am familiar with areas in all three. I will be hunting in quite a few states and africa this year. My family runs a company that makes custom rifles and we are shooting episodes for our own t.v. show on the outdoor chanel this fall. It sounds like alot of fun but believe me it becomes work real fast.
    The deer population in Utah has really declined over the past decade or so. There are still some quality bucks but it takes alot of work and even more luck. Let me know where it is you have hunted.
   Since this is the elk forum I will tell a quick elk story. About 15 years ago my cousin and I were bow hunting up 12 mile canyon in central Utah. I was calling and my cousin was out front. We had a big 5 point come in and he made a shot that was a little high and back. We let it sit for an hour or so and then started tracking. There wasn't much of a trail and we were crawling on hands and knees looking for anything. All of a sudden this little guy with a beenie pops out of the quakies and says "Hey, what you guys doing?" He then proceeded to spend the rest of the day helping us track. It was just about dark when we saw ahead amongst some deadfall the horns sticking up. The guy just congratulated us and walked off into the dark. He had spent his whole hunting day helping us and we didn't really get his name.
    A couple of years later I'm reading an article on bowhunting and I look at the picture of the author and said " that's the guy that helped us find that elk."  I called my cousin and told him that it had been Chuck Adams that helped us. I had read his articles before that but now had a special reason to look for his work.
Good Hunting!

 

[trkyhntr]

Great stories, thanks for sharing !