My 2024 limited entry Utah rifle elk hunt

[Deez Nutz]

This is going to be long winded, but I wanted to record it in some detail for my own records. Thought it might be cool to share it here.




Pictures are fun but I also thoroughly despise spot burning so If anyone recognizes anything or feels that too much is shown let me know and I’ll remove it.




From the top.




In the last couple of years I have been revamping my draw strategy and have been looking for the most efficient/enjoyable way to use up some of the points that I’d been accruing. After much thought, indecisiveness, and hesitation, I finally decided on a unit to put it for a rifle permit that I should most certainly draw. This is a highly (mis)regarded “trophy bull unit” that has a reputation that lingers from years ago, but I knew from my research that it is currently nothing like it used to be. If I drew the permit, I was committed to take some time off, go hard, and put everything I had into this hunt. I’d wanted to hunt this part of the world for a long time now for several reasons, and this was as good a time as any, so, I decided to burn my points. It’s a huge unit, but a considerable amount of it is private, and access to public can be very tricky in some areas.




I had killed bulls in archery season every year for the past dozen years or so, so in an effort to change things up I was going to sit out archery season and see if I could knock one over with a rifle this year. I knew it would be tough to see guys roll into town all throughout September with archery bulls and not be able to participate, but I had my mind made up, hopefully it would be worth it.




Well as things go, spring time rolled around and sure enough I had drawn the permit. I figured I would, as I had more than enough points to have sufficient odds of drawing, but you never really know until you draw. I was excited, but also knew that I was going to have to work my butt off to make the most of this opportunity. I felt like I was willing to work harder, hike farther, and stay longer than the majority of other hunters, and if there was a pig slammer to be found, I was gonna find him. In the following month or so, I had talked to a number of folks that had drawn my permit in the last several years and I got the same feedback from all of them, “the hunting is very tough and the opportunity for a big bull is bleak”. Most of them harvested a raghorn of some variety, even after hunting hard for many days, which was depressing. Everyone that wasn’t well informed on the current state of the unit said “you’re gonna kill a giant!”. Ha!

 

[Deez Nutz]

In an effort to come out of the gates strong, I wanted to scout as much as I could. I felt that in an effort to increase my odds for success, I needed to spend a fair bit of time in the unit before the season to get a feel for the lay of the land, access points, water availability, etc.. It is 7 hours of highway time from my house to the boarder of the unit, and then an additional hour or 2 or more to get somewhere to park to start hiking. A bit of a time commitment, but still easier that an east coaster that’s 30+ hours away.



I hunted for deer in this unit for 1 day with a friend a couple of years ago, but aside from that, I had zero experience in the unit. I was starting from scratch, which was fine with me. To start my scouting off I got a giant map of the unit printed with the layers that I wanted, and then started narrowing down areas little by little, mostly solely based on ease of access, but also proximity to feed, water, and cover, or finding good looking areas that were difficult to get into for whatever other reason.

 

[Deez Nutz]

I made my first trip over there over the weekend of April 27-28. It was at that point that I realized exactly how far it was to the unit, 400 and something miles. I chose a particular area that I wanted to hike into because there were no roads into there and I wanted to get some intel on hard to reach areas in an effort to weed out some of the lightweight hunters.

It was a good hike into a rugged and isolated area, for the most part I was able to walk ridges and stay above some of the more technical terrain, but a couple of times I had to drop down through some ravines to skirt around some parcels of private, which made it much more difficult. It is very steep, nasty, intimidating country.



By the time I got to where I wanted to camp for the night, my onx said only 4.66 miles.
I pitched the silex and then kept hiking and glassing to get a feel for the area.



I ended up finding a decent glassing point that overlooks a good sized drainage and stayed and glassed until dark.




I saw a few elk here and there but mostly just became increasingly intimidated by the country and the thought of how to get an elk out of there.





Interestingly enough I had a bit of cell service there that night so I was able to talk to my wife and kids before I hit the sack. I woke up in the morning to rain off and on and knowing how that country gets when it gets wet, I packed up and bailed the heck out of there. I did glass my way out and saw a herd of 15 or so cows and 2 small bulls below my tent. As I was driving home, I texted a friend whom I had consulted about the unit before putting in for the tag that “this was the worst Idea I ever had”.




I logged 13.25 miles hiked that trip and got to see a good bit of that area. I saw 9 bulls and 3 herds of cows. Also about a half dozen mule deer. All of the bulls looked young to me. A few elk but not really enough to get excited about. At this point, based on what I’ve seen so far, it’s going to be a heck of a lot harder to fill this “special” tag with a decent bull than it would be to fill a general otc tag with a decent bull. Oh boy.

 

[Deez Nutz]

Scouting trip #2 took place over the weekend of June 1,2,3. On this trip, my goal was to drive roads and explore access, because apparently according to BLM, FWP, both game wardens, the gal at the county court house, and other unmentioned entities, there is no resource available that shows open or closed roads or a travel plan to help a person determine what roads are legal to drive and what roads aren’t, which is somewhat annoying. People drive their SxS’s everywhere regardless which really peeves me, but I wanted to make sure I stayed on the right side of the law. I wasn’t trying to figure out what roads I could drive, but rather what everyone else could drive and thereby determining the areas that are not easily accessible. This became a relatively difficult task.



My 3yo really wanted to tag along on the first trip which wouldn’t have worked out, so I figured this was a good opportunity to bring him along. I’m glad I did, we had a blast. We loaded up on snacks and drove every blm road we could find that we could determine was legal and really got to look over a majority of the unit which was super helpful when it came to narrowing down areas in different parts of the unit to hunt.



As I looked over more and more country I was subconsciously composing a list of target areas to further research and explore. We didn’t really see much for animals this trip, but that wasn’t out goal and we didn’t spend much time glassing. Got to spend 3 days and 2 nights which was a good amount of time. Another successful trip in the books.

 

[Deez Nutz]

August 24, 25, 26. Scouting trip #3. On this trip I wanted to check out a couple of other areas that I had discovered that looked like they could be promising. I brought my 5yo with me this time. She is a good little hiker and I am impressed with how well she can put on the miles. Daddy daughter time is always good and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.



We parked the truck and started hiking mid afternoon which was later than would have been ideal but with 9 hours of driving that’s what we were left with. I told her if she could carry her own sleeping bag then I would carry everything else, she was all over it. It was hot and we were cooking by the time we arrived at our camp spot 7 miles later. Very impressed with her.



We threw up the silex and went a bit further to our glassing point for the evening which overlooks arguably the most difficult to access drainage of the entire unit. As afternoon became evening the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. I did glass up a single herd of cows but that’s it. At dark we headed back to camp as the wind started whipping and the rain started to pour. Thunder and lightning was wild and for a while, seldom more than 2 or 3 seconds passed between lightning strikes.



Was hoping that our ultralight floorless shelter didn’t blow away, which thankfully it held strong. It was wild, I was more concerned than she was which was cool to see. Turns out 2 new fires were started from that storm, thankfully neither of them turned into much.


The following day we glassed, hiked out and drove over to a different area that I wanted to explore and glass for the evening. Saw a few mule deer from the road on the way over.

Also shot a few prairie dogs which was fun. “Keel em dad!” she’d say as I’d take aim.

In the evening we found ourselves on a great vantage point overlooking a lot of great looking country.



That night I glassed 4 cows, a rag horn and 1 bull that looked to be a fairly decent 6 from about 3.5 miles away. Good to finally see a decent bull but crazy how much country I had to look over before finding one. Turns out that’s gonna be a common theme. We crashed in the tent again that night and headed home first thing in the morning.

 

[Deez Nutz]

I had intended to make another scouting trip sometime during September but due to life, that trip did not end up materializing.


My dad and I usually take a week off to hunt a general unit in September and in recent years we have been fortunate enough to be successful which is a blast, and time that I have come to really value with him. I hunt and he comes along for the ride which works out great. Well this year I asked him if he wanted to tag along on my rifle hunt since I won’t be archery hunting this year. He said “it will be cold and windy in November, that doesn’t sound fun, let’s just go again for a week in September when it’s nice and we can just pretend we’re hunting, that way we won’t have to pack anything out”. So we did just that and had a great time. I had some really great opportunities on some really nice bulls, but alas... At least I get to rifle hunt a PREMIUM unit with giant bulls frolicking in every meadow.

A few of the bulls I saw in September during my "pretend" archery hunt:









This was also an opportunity for me to do some soul searching and figure out what exactly I wanted to get out of this hunt. I wanted to give it all I had and find the biggest bull I could find. I wanted to push hard day after day, rain, mud, snow or shine, and I wanted to do it solo for 11 days if that’s what it took.

Anyone who has done multi day solo hunts knows that the mental game is often times far more difficult than the physical side of things and I wanted to experience the mental grind on what was shaping up to be a tough hunt for an 11 day trip. Sitting in my tent, cold, wet, hungry, alone, covered in mud, and exhausted after a week of not seeing anything that you want to shoot really makes your mind try hard to justify any reason for you to be literally anywhere else, to quit. I should be making money at work, I should be spending time with my family, I’ve got little kids that I’m missing time with, I should (fill in the blank), and the list goes on.

I wanted to see if I could hack it with only myself and my mind for a grind of a hunt. I didn’t want to shoot a bull on my first or second day, I told my wife, in a perfect world I’d like to shoot one on the 8th day after I got to experience the hunt.

 

[appaloosa]

I thought the Rocky Mountains would be a little rockier than that!
That John Denver is full of sh*t man.

 

[Deez Nutz]

I had marked off 11 days from work. I intentionally wanted to avoid the opening weekend pumpkin patch fiasco and I was hoping to be there before the influx of mid Nov mule deer hunters. That meant Nov 2nd through Nov 12th was my time to shine.

I have a 12’ enclosed cargo trailer that I sorta outfitted as a primitive camper that I planned to bring, along with my 88 honda fourtrax in case things got greasy. I wanted to spend as much time in “backcountry” camps as I could but brought the trailer for R&R. I brought duplicate tents, sleeping bags, pads, and boots in the event that I got soaked on an outing I can bring them back, hang them up, and crank the heat in the trailer to dry them out while I grab the 2nd set and head out for another round.

My rig:




I had 9 different areas in mind that could all justify an overnight trip.

 

[Deez Nutz]

Sorry this is getting so long.






November 2, 2024, Day 1. I rolled out of my driveway around 6AM and headed for my unit. Stopped and grabbed some groceries, filled up my gas cans, and grabbed a couple of last minute items before I left the pavement.


Optimistic, but realistically aware of what I’ve seen and heard about the area. I arrived at my #1 spot between 2 and 3pm. There was a couple other hunters camped nearby, and a truck parked where I wanted to park. Could be better, could be worse.



I organized a few things, packed my overnight bag, grabbed my rifle, and hit the hills. I was leaving late so I figured I’d just go as far as I could until I found a decent spot for camp and then glass for the evening. 3.5 miles from the truck I threw up the silex, dumped my overnight gear, and headed for a glassing point for the remainder of the evening.





I wanted to rule out that side of the ridge, but my main goal was to explore the other side, tomorrow. I met a gentleman while I was hiking in, super nice, he was hunting mule deer, said he hadn’t seen a single elk. Great news.


Awesome weather and next to no wind made it one heck of a first evening, even though I only glassed up 6 does. 5.7 miles today.

 

[kiwi hunter]

Atomant, git down n dirty. You never forget the tough ones.

 

[cohunter14]

Loving the story! 7 miles from a 5 year old is incredible!!!

The old saying 'don't leave elk to find elk' might apply to your story here, although in a completely different way. Hoping the end result is great!

 

[Deez Nutz]

November 3rd, day 2. Rolled out of bed 30 minuted before daylight and started towards one of the drainages that had been on my mind for months now. As I was walking towards a good vantage point I thought I may have heard a bugle, and then another, but there was just enough of a breeze and it was faint enough that I couldn’t be sure that I wasn’t wishfully hearing things. I got to a good glassing spot just as it was becoming light enough to glass and started picking things apart. Sure enough, a bugle, and then another. It was fairly open country but I was unable to see the bull, he was in the bottom of the draw and around a bend roughly 1.5 miles away. Just as I was considering my options I heard a boom..whack, followed by another.

Well, somebody got him. So I continued to glass, seeing only elk in the distance, 4-5+ miles off. I did see a 5 point by himself as well as a few cows here and there.



I worked my way down and across the canyon and up to the top of the next ridge towards the elk I had seen. On my way I jumped a very edgy mule deer buck.



I saw a few more cows and one somewhat decent bull but not a bull I was interested in shooting.



I worked my way along the ridge, glassing as I went, heading towards where the shots came from. Sure enough I glassed down and there laid a smaller young 6 point with a man and a lady breaking him down a half mile or so below me.



About that time, to my south, I glassed up a herd of about 10 or so cows but I was looking just over the top of a ridge at them and I couldn’t be sure there weren’t more behind the ridge that I wasn’t seeing. So, I decided to bail off into the bottom and up the other ridge so I could look across and get a better look at them. Sure enough, there ended up being about 40 cows, a rag, a 5 point, and then the same bull that I had glassed up an hour or so ago, all bedded right in front of me.





I ranged the bull at 237 yards. Could have sent one but he wasn’t the type of bull that I was looking for so I let him finish his nap.

Then I moseyed down to the bottom of the draw and over towards where those folks had killed that bull. It was a dad and his 14yo daughter who had just killed her first bull, and a 6 point at that. I was jacked for them. So cool to see her with that elk, and they were both super nice people. I ended up helping them pack him back up out of the canyon for about 3 miles until we met the rest of their family who was coming to help them get him out.



Then I packed up my camp and headed back to the pickup. By the time I got back it was already late afternoon and there wasn’t enough time to hike into my next overnight spot so I decided to drive to a different spot for a short hike to glass for the evening. Only saw a few deer that evening. That girl shot that bull almost 6 miles downhill from a road. She worked for that one. I don’t even know her and I’m proud of her. 12.0 miles today