My first elk tag... Utah

Let us know how you did. I will be heading there in two weeks for muzzleloader bull elk and would love to hear your experience.
While we didn't fill the tag, we had an awesome experience. Saw big bulls every day, and had many close encounters; the dots just never lined up perfectly. That's just bow hunting...

Although I don't know what the "norm" is there, it seemed like antler growth really benefited from this year's moisture; even the younger bulls we found were solid candidates for an arrow. The rifle hunt will be amazing, and I assume the muzzleloader will follow suit if they stay in there. Bulls were bugling the whole time we were there, but we started seeing more aggressive behavior and bulls pushing cows around the last couple days. Bright moon and calm nights really shut down midday bugling, but they were fired up at night.

We found elk in different elevations, ranging from 6,500 to 9,000 ft., but the common feature was that it was difficult to see or get there. Very few big bulls (or any elk, really) were visible from a road, and if they were, they were on the side of a steep face. Most of our success in finding elk came from climbing to the points of steep drainages before daylight, where we could glass down on the flat country and into the big bowls at the same time. If you glass/hear a bull from there, make a move - if not, glass all day because they could move at any time. Lots of good roads, making it easy to access new country, if needed; we just didn't need it.

I am envious of any long-range weapon in there. If you work hard, I see no reason why you shouldn't have an opportunity at a 350" bull (assuming they stay in that country and aren't pressured too much by rifle hunters). We found several well within muzzleloader range, but you will have to be willing to hike/climb to find them. We were very aggressive, chasing every bugle we could find, and it worked.

I'd be happy to help in any way I can. Please let us know how it works out; I would love to see more pictures of some of the bulls we found. Best of luck!
 
While we didn't fill the tag, we had an awesome experience. Saw big bulls every day, and had many close encounters; the dots just never lined up perfectly. That's just bow hunting...

Although I don't know what the "norm" is there, it seemed like antler growth really benefited from this year's moisture; even the younger bulls we found were solid candidates for an arrow. The rifle hunt will be amazing, and I assume the muzzleloader will follow suit if they stay in there. Bulls were bugling the whole time we were there, but we started seeing more aggressive behavior and bulls pushing cows around the last couple days. Bright moon and calm nights really shut down midday bugling, but they were fired up at night.

We found elk in different elevations, ranging from 6,500 to 9,000 ft., but the common feature was that it was difficult to see or get there. Very few big bulls (or any elk, really) were visible from a road, and if they were, they were on the side of a steep face. Most of our success in finding elk came from climbing to the points of steep drainages before daylight, where we could glass down on the flat country and into the big bowls at the same time. If you glass/hear a bull from there, make a move - if not, glass all day because they could move at any time. Lots of good roads, making it easy to access new country, if needed; we just didn't need it.

I am envious of any long-range weapon in there. If you work hard, I see no reason why you shouldn't have an opportunity at a 350" bull (assuming they stay in that country and aren't pressured too much by rifle hunters). We found several well within muzzleloader range, but you will have to be willing to hike/climb to find them. We were very aggressive, chasing every bugle we could find, and it worked.

I'd be happy to help in any way I can. Please let us know how it works out; I would love to see more pictures of some of the bulls we found. Best of luck!
Congrats! Sounds like an awesome hunt!
 

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