Utah hunting

[tn droptine]

If any of you guys end up heading out here to Utah this year to hunt let me know - at the very least I can help scout and/or pack out. I'll be hunting elk and possibly Mulies (if I get drawn for deer - elk I'll get OTC if I don't draw).

 

[AT Hiker]

Wish I could make it out. I have yet to hunt UT, due to never drawing a tag. I do need to decide to do something with my general deer points.

I have a taxidermist friend that lives in Helper, he is always taking in some giant bucks and bulls.


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[tn droptine]

I live over in Tooele valley, just west of SLC. The Oquirrh-Stansbury unit is where I do most of my hunting. I'll either draw the any weapon hunt or the muzzleloader one this year. There are some big boys on the unit, but they are a bit harder to find. A decent 4 point is almost a guarantee, if you are comfortable with a shot out to near 500 yards.
GS elk is what I've gott n hooked on this past year - OTC tags help with that though. Nothing like a scouting trip and hearing all the bulls bugling and trying to figure out where they'll be come the season opener. I thought I had a herd patterned pretty well all the way up to the weekend before, then they decided to turn into ghosts.
I did end up taking a cow elk on my antlerless tag that I drew.

 

[AT Hiker]

I've thought about those spike tags in the premium units. Just something to get my elk feet wet and fill the freezer. You know anything about those? I know a unit in WY where I could all but guarantee to kill a cow but with a 6mile home out it's just not feasible, especially when I can easily get the deer tag and have decent odds of filling it.


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[tn droptine]

I've thought about those spike tags in the premium units. Just something to get my elk feet wet and fill the freezer. You know anything about those? I know a unit in WY where I could all but guarantee to kill a cow but with a 6mile home out it's just not feasible, especially when I can easily get the deer tag and have decent odds of filling it.


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The unit I live at is spike only (Oquirrh-Stansbury), that is where I hunted last year. Success rates are still pretty low, but it was neat to be able to see quite a few animals (albeit not legal to shoot), and like you said, the opportunity to get out in elk country and learn as much as possible was better for me than tromping around not knowing what I was doing in an any bull unit, where the chances of seeing elk were much less.
Another nice thing, if you are into archery hunting, is the archery tag is basically good statewide - you can hunt either spike only or any bull units with it, as well as use the tag on a cow elk. What that means is if you are hunting in a spike only unit you can use your tag to take either a spike or cow, and in an any bull unit the tag is basically an "any elk" tag. I am just not confident in my abilities out here yet to try to take one with a bow.

 

[tn droptine]

I just realized that you mentioned your friend lives in Helper - that is right up the road from where my antlerless elk hunt was this year! I hunted Hiawatha CWMU

 

[John3]

A little off subject but it was in Utah. Back in December we were skiing in the canyons at park city. While riding the ski lift we saw a moose several days in a row in terrain that seemed perfect for elk. We asked some locals and they told us there were always moose on that mountain but never elk. The elk were "over there" as they pointed to some peaks that must have been 10 miles away. I had always associated moose with flat areas along a river like you see them being hunted in Alaska. Just struck me as strange to see one way up on a mountainside where it looked like you might run into Jeremiah Johnson.

 

[LanceS4803]

We'd see moose all the time in the Summer on the ski runs at Snowbasin (good mountain biking area). I thought it was weird, also, as I grew up seeing moose wading in ponds and rivers.