Utah Elk

[LocalJW]

Exactly, away from the roads but not so far in to run into the packers, and not so far you can't get it out. If you have local contacts there's lots of people who will take time off to make a meat trip with a guy, but that's a slim chance.



20 percent overall success is true like the gentleman said, but I need to reiterate that a vast number of tags go to residents who have no intention of getting a half mile from the truck until something is spotted. A lot more tags get used in really low density units that are open and have better terrain and weather. 5 or 6 people will go out as a team with the intention of hitting one area together hoping to get one or 2. An entire family will get tags and they'll go out only opening weekend and just drive around. For every hundred of these groups a few will get bulls, because the bulls have to be somewhere. But I wish there was a way to quantify success rate for higher effort hunters. I ran into one group who had a cow tag, two spike tags, and a buck deer tag on a LE bull unit and they had filled NONE of them in a week. I gave them an exact location of two cows .6 miles away and a trail the deer were using to move up and down the drainage and they were like NOPE and drove away.

That's not to say it's NOT tough, it is, but the success rate is skewed a little by ambition level. You certainly did just subsidize my hunt but I wouldn't call it a donation just yet. I wish we'd had this chat a month ago I'd have told you to wait for the spike tag and come with me to my cow unit. That's another thing, lots of people will also not chase spikes. They'd rather hold out years for a hoss. I get it, but those antlers really only need to be 5 inches. It's not the dream but it's real success. So lots of folks won't chase anything that isn't bugling. That's why I think a lot of adult elk get walked by every year. I mean it is a tough hunt but regular hunters get adult bulls every year. And there's no waiting period for coming, shooting a little raghorn, and learning a unit for next year.

I'll be getting a spike tag this year! You count it!

 

[jpndave]

Which unit/dates is your tag? We'll be out up north on a late Oct deer tag my son drew, no luck with the Elk draw for me this year. I'll try and snag a spike Elk that overlaps that unit/hunt so we can double up on time out. Utah has quite varied terrain so the unit affects how/where you hunt. Pressure will move them around quite a bit. The cow I shot last year was split off a herd in Idaho the night before, Elk can cover a lot of ground.

 

[LocalJW]

Which unit/dates is your tag? We'll be out up north on a late Oct deer tag my son drew, no luck with the Elk draw for me this year. I'll try and snag a spike Elk that overlaps that unit/hunt so we can double up on time out. Utah has quite varied terrain so the unit affects how/where you hunt. Pressure will move them around quite a bit. The cow I shot last year was split off a herd in Idaho the night before, Elk can cover a lot of ground.

I'm going for the OTC so it's 8-20 of October. I'm not sure what units I'll go to yet. Was leaning towards the Easter Wasatch near Wallsburg or Nine Mile

 

[HLecea]

I've only hunted rifle spike units (the ones that are LE bull) and I've only done it late in the week but I think some generalities apply. I'm going to wait and buy a spike tag again because I have a cow tag on a spike/LE unit the week before my deer tag in the same place, but I'm going to hunt the same way. Getting off the roads by a half mile will greatly increase your odds, then learn what their behavior is going to be like post-rut. I heard Randy Newberg say the other day that in late October you need to hunt cows to kill bulls because they're not mating but they aren't breaking up yet. That's exactly what I've observed. last year I saw a herd of about 30 elk on a mountainside, the bull and several satellite bulls were loafing around in the sun and there were cows and spikes just moving like clock hands around them, plus pairs of cows living in a large area within earshot of them. There were other elk moving in small groups in and out of that sphere of influence too, spikes or large cows. Of course on opening day with tons of yahoos chasing them they're certainly going to be running off on their own, but in a low pressure environment that's what they want to do. I'd say scouting is important, but honestly common sense and e-scouting will get you pretty far. Just got to look at terrain and think about what types of spaces are going to meet their needs in different types of weather and then apply wind direction and what the humans are doing. In most cases the humans are going to be driving up and down the roads, bugling like Satchmo no more than 100 yards off the gravel. But a large enough number of hunters are going to be farther and deeper and faster that you'll have company no matter where you go, you have to decide how you're going to mitigate that.

The actual areas they can run to and escape to are not huge (in most cases), and the number of areas with public access combined with units that actually have elk in them all shrink your effective search area dramatically. Utah hunt planner is your best friend. They'll tell you how many elk are in a unit and what they behave like in general. For example I really like the San Rafael area so I got excited when I saw there was an elk unit there, because hey there's only about 75 trees and two springs on the entire unit, should be a piece of cake to find where they are. But then you read about it and the actual population is up to a few dozen a few weeks at a time and they want it to be zero, and it's liable to be a circular firing squad if they are on the unit. Some areas have elk in open spotting country but they will move ten miles without stopping on a whim, possibly into a secured bomb range nearby. The state is really good about publishing stuff like that, plus success rates, age class, etc. You can really prioritize what kind of hunt you want. If you want to glass near guzzlers in the desert and put miles on your truck instead of your knees you can do that. If you want to stalk the timber like they're whitetail you can do that, my buddy loves that method and he was an absolute slaughterer back in the 90's.

I pick an area that has reasonable security but isn't too much for me, one that I can get out of alone and one that's too far for the road hunters but too close for the guys less of a lardbutt than me. Then I have a plan tree in my head for weather, water, available feed, other hunters, my ability to extract, etc. Then I go in and see if they're in that area. To be totally vulnerable, I haven't sealed the deal yet but I have found the elk when I've looked this way. Utah has fewer elk than surrounding states but they are concentrated and they have predictable needs, it's just a matter of lining up your abilities, their needs, human behavior, and combining it with luck.

Bear in mind that hunters will basically hunt other hunters assuming they know more. Maybe this happens in other states but hunters actually shoot over other hunters who are closer to the running elk. Honestly, I didn't believe it til I saw it on film and met someone who's had it happen multiple times.

The elk are out there, and I think a lot get passed by every year because people tend to hunt certain ways in certain places during each season. I mean, that's normal, but I think it's extra normal in Utah. I hope this is helpful, I dislike the protectionist attitude of some hunters. Sure it's not like the old days but the biggest opportunity problem isn't other hunters or even drought. Sure there are more hunters but the vast majority of tags are going to hunters who have zero chance of taking a bull. The private land jitterbug is really intense here, and there's not a lot of elk ground to begin with. the state does a good job balancing trophy class with opportunity but in order to do that more and more units have to become LE to compensate for the transfer of the best lands into private hands and the non-official closing of public lands by syndicates of private neighbors.

Many several years ago we stopped at a place where hunters just sit and wait for the elk to jump the fence. Talk about a shooting gallery. I didn't want any part of it. I could see hunters fighting over who shot the elk. This was somewhere in Utah I don't care to remember where.

 

[JakeC]

Many several years ago we stopped at a place where hunters just sit and wait for the elk to jump the fence. Talk about a shooting gallery. I didn't want any part of it. I could see hunters fighting over who shot the elk. This was somewhere in Utah I don't care to remember where.

Could have been almost anywhere unfortunately. Bullets wizzing by other hunters at running animals is much too well documented.

 

[180ls1]

Tough hunt. It'll be a bit of a zoo with low success. That's most of the hunts I do anyways so it's nothing new.

The areas you mention are good. I see you are in OC, I am in San Diego. I would definitely favor the northern units as much as that drive sucks.

 

[LocalJW]

A

Tough hunt. It'll be a bit of a zoo with low success. That's most of the hunts I do anyways so it's nothing new.

The areas you mention are good. I see you are in OC, I am in San Diego. I would definitely favor the northern units as much as that drive sucks.

Actially I am in East San Diego.

 

[180ls1]

A

Actially I am in East San Diego.

Ah, I must have looked at someone else. I am in Poway. The UT hunt will be very similar to D16 in a lot of ways.

 

[LocalJW]

Good to know. Hopefully I can get in line for a tag

 

[338weatherby]

I picked up an "Any Bull Elk - Rifle" permit since I wasn't lucky enough to win any of my other draws. Any insight on a guide or where to go will be helpful. I've never hunted elk in Utah and from what I am hearing this isn't the easiest tag to fill...

Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
RE

I did the OTC any bull tag 3 years in a row with 4 others. Two of us packed in 4 miles while the others stayed at the road. We hunted the North Slope of the Uinta's by Spirit Lake/Dagget lake.

The first year we got snowed out after a couple of days and had to run to Manila to stay. We did day trips from there the final three days of the hunt. One of the guys lucked out and walked up on a bedded rag bull on the final day. 20% success

The second year two of us packed in again about 4 miles. We say a nice 4x4 on opening morning but my buddy rushed his shot and missed. The next day I got this 4x4 (different bull then the prior day) in the morning. He was with 4 cows. No buddy else filled a tag although one guy from the other group jump a small herd and did see a bull in it but no shot. Again, 20% success rate

The third year I saw one cow and we jumped a few in the timber. The weather was hot and they weren't moving at all. No bulls taken. 0% success with 5 hunters again.

It is a difficult hunt and not really a "glassing" area. Getting back 4 miles we only saw a hunter or two and had the area basically to ourselves. May go back someday but I'm not in any hurry. Beautiful country with lots of moose and trout streams. Great for the water and something other then Mountainhouse to eat!

 

[jackdeane]

I'd reach out to SD Outfitters for the best Utah Elk Hunting