Rocky Mountain Hunting: 2009

What a great year for rocky mountain elk hunting like I have mentioned before I drew a limited entry elk tag for the Book Cliffs Roadless area. As most people know Utah is famous for the quality elk it produces each year. As soon as I found out that there was a charge to for $280 on our credit card I had dreams of shooting a huge bull. My ultimate goal was 375 Boone and Crockett.

As the months dragged on before the hunt my dad (who was just as excited as I was about this hunt) talked to as many people as he could who knew the area. After talking to a few biologists and also a few guides we found out that this area was saturated with bull elk. Needless to say our excitement level grew. One thing that did dampen my spirit was hearing that the guide had taken in 4 different hunters in the past 4 years and was able to get a muture bull each year only the size of bulls they harvested were in the 330 to 350 range.

In June we decided to go check the area out and get a feel of what we were getting into. We made the trip with a fried Tyler who drew an limited entry elk archery tag in the same area. The ride in was awesome, such a beautiful place miles from civilization. The trip was very educational and although we didn't see any bulls we weren't to worried. From what we heard the bulls were hung up in the dense pines keeping cool and letting their antlers grow.

As September finally made its way and the preparations were finalized we were ready to go. We had been hearing stories how the rifle hunters were having it hard due to the heat. The elk were not bugling and they were having a hard time locating bulls. This added to my excitement knowing that if the rifle hunters were having a hard time that meant some of the bigger bulls would still be alive. Unfortunately due to my school schedule we weren't able to leave until thursday the day after the opener. We finally arrived to camp after a 4 hour truck ride and two hour horse back ride. We set up camp and put all our gear up in a tree and we left to hunt.

Thursday Evening:

We left our camp at around 5:30 or 6:00 PM and walked about a mile from where we camped and ended up hearing a bull bugle a few hundred yards away from us. This was pretty exciting to say the least. We snuck threw the trees and came to a big open bowl filled with quakies. After only a few minutes we located the bull feeding only 200 yards from us. Looking through the binoculars we could clearly see he had 6 points on each side and would probably score around 315. This was not the size I was looking for and so we decided to pass. We quietly slipped away unnoticed. By then it was starting to get dark so we made our way back to camp.

Friday:

We woke up early that morning and decided to go to an area that our friend Tyler had shot his 330 bull with a bow. We left camp in the dark of the morning hours guided by the light of our flashlights. We made it down about a mile and a half from camp and we started hearing elk bugling. We climbed one mounting after another trying to connect with these bugling bulls. After hiking up and down the ridges we finally got into a bugling bull with his cows. We spotted him across the canyon at about 160 yards. My dad was the first to see him and the first things he said were he is a monster 5 point. Looking in my binoculars I could see what he meant. This bull had great G-3's and Huge! G-4's they were at least 22 inches if not even bigger. His main beams from where his 4th split were even longer and they came out and down. He was a site to see. At the time we thought he would go about 330 but looking back we think we under judged him. Although he was amazing and had some great character he wasn't what I was looking for and so we decided to move on.

We walked a ways down and from up above us about 300 yards we heard a few bulls bugling. We started sneaking in and closed the distance to just over 100 yards. We bugled and then started to cow call. This bull heard us and came running. We watching him turn and come straight our way. As he crashed his way through the pines he finally emerged from some trees and was standing in front of us at about 30 yards and we could tell he wasn't a shooter. Probably a 290 class six point. He bugled and continued coming straight at us. He came to about 5 yards stopped bugled straight at us and then CONTINUED to walk towards us. He stopped again at 2 yards! He stared at us and couldn't tell what we were. As I'm watching this huge animal I could see he was about to take another step towards me. Fearing that he would run over me or accidently gord me when he turned to ran I moved my hand slightly and he spooked. He ran about 30 yards stopped and turned and looked at us again still not knowing what we were. He bugled a few more times and stayed staring at us. We decided to move up the ridge where we could hear a few more elk. We walked our way up the ridge and didn't get into any more elk. We decided to go back to camp and get the horses something to eat and drink.

Saturday:

Saturday morning came early again we started a hiking about 45 minutes before sun rise. We decided to go back the way we went Thursday night. As we made our way over we heard three bulls bugling. Our first response was one herd bull with 2 satalite bulls. We walked over and ended up spotting two bulls in the same area where we had seen the bull thursday night. We had one bull up on the ridge at 200 yards and he was the biggest bull in the group. He might have even been the bull we saw Thursday night. He was a 6 point about 315. We cow called and instantly another bull bugled and started making his way over. He was one of the satalite bulls. Trying to figure out what we were he made his way over and stopped in the thick oak brush at about 15 yards. He was a little 5 point and was not what we were looking for. We let him go around us and we decided to move on since the herd bull we saw was not the bull I was looking for either.

We moved down the mountain a ways and heard another bull bugle about 3oo to 400 yards from us. As we made our way down we snuck into the thick pines and tried to put ourselves in a position to call him to us. As we sat there we heard something moving in the trees to our left. Suddenly a cow elk materilized in the thick pines followed by a nice 6 point 320 to 330 bull elk. We watched them walk right in front of us at about 10 to 15 yards. Again great bull but not what I was looking for.

We moved on down the mountain more and more and heard a bull across the canyon from us. He sounded big so we decided to see if we could go locate him. As we went down the ridge and descended over 1000 feet in elevation we finally reached the bottom. The problem we then faced was the winds started blowing right in the direction of where we last heard the elk. Instead of scaring away that heard we decided to climb back up the mountain and go back to camp. Later that night we spotted looking for elk in areas we hadn't planned on hunting and didn't see anything.

Monday:

After taking the day off on Sunday I was pretty excited to get going again. We decided to go back down to where we found that big 5 point and see if we could find anything. This time we decided to take the horses to save ourselves the 3 mile hike back to camp at the end of the day. As we started our way down we heard some elk. This time it was 3 bulls. We high lined the horses and started chasing after them. The herd bull sounded higher up the ridge in the thick pines moving to bed with his cows. We booked it as fast as we could and tried to get in front of the heard. As we moved down we heard him bugle and decided to move up the mountainside they were on. As we finally got to where we thought they were they had already moved on but the satalite bull was still between us and the herd. We sat and waited and sure enough a few minutes later a smaller 5 point bull walked right past us at about 15 yards. We decided to move down the mountain where we were hearing more bulls bugling. We moved down and ended up sitting spotting across the canyon and ended up locating a bull at about 330 yards. He was only a small 5 so we decided not to persue him.

We ended up going back for the horses and then riding down the canyon a few miles. As we got to the bottoms where our friend Tyler shot his bull we high lined the horses and then around 1:30 in the afternoon we heard a few bulls bugling. We decided to chase after them and so we started side hilling it trying to pick up and bulls across the rivine. As we made our way through we ended up spooking a herd of cows and a smaller 6 point. Luckily they didn't spook in the direction of our bull. We could hear a big raspy bull bugling and a few satalite bulls around him. We made our way up the mountain where he was in the very dense pine trees. We closed the distance to about 30 yards and could hear him screaming. We cow called a few times but he wouldn't get up. We kept crawling forward hoping to get a look at him. As we sat looking for any sign of animals we felt the winds shift. Instantly the bull stopped bugling. We then could hear animals standing up one at a time and then after about a minute we heard one last bugle and then silence. Our stalk was over. Sitting letting my heart rate slow down from the excitement the satalite bull ended up walking in on us to about 30 yards. Again the satelite was nothing to get excited about.

There we were 3 days of intense hunting seeing and hearing a ton of bulls but not seeing anything really huge. We decided to go get the horses and ride back to the area we were at the day before. It was roughly 4 miles back to the spot we wanted to be. After riding for about a mile we heard a bull bugle. We decided to get off the horses and walk them up in case we needed to shoot quickly. As we made our way up we ended up right below where he was bugling. My dad not wanted to waste time tying up the horses told me he would stay there with them and that I should go see if I could get into him. I started hiking up the steep mountain side and could hear the big bow up above me. As I made my way up I could hear my dad cow calling down low and then shortly followed by the bull bugling back. I could tell I was getting closer and closer because he sounded so close when he bugled. I finally got to a spot where I could see the bulls antlers just above a tree about 30 or 40 yards in front of me. I cow called to try and get him to come to me but he kept walking away. I decided to cut my distance by ten yards. I got up and rushed over and cut the distance to about 30 yards from the bull. I set up the muzzleloader I could see him turning toward my dad and let out a huge scream. I then cow called again and watched his antlers turn and he started heading right to me. Watching him I couldn't tell how big he was. I could see that he had huge G-3's and as he got to about 20 yards I could see how long his beams were. I for that short second I thought he was the 5 point we had seen friday morning. As he walked right under me at about 15 yards I decided to shoot. I put the cross hairs right behind his front shoulder and shot. The bull ran about 10 yards and then stopped. I cow called and he fell right over and about 30 seconds later he completely expired. At that time fear entered my mind. Had I shot a small bull? I was nervous I had made a mistake. I walked the short distance to where he was and I could see the huge antlers sticking up. He was a monster! I then screamed down to my dad. After tying up the horses he made his way up and his first words were oh man he's HUGE! My dad was saying he is at least 350 Boone and Crockett. Adrenaline was pumping through my body and I couldn't have run up and down the mountain.

After finally making it back home we put the tape on him. After adding up all the inches he came out to 371. Needless to say I was ecstatic. After 10 years of putting in for a bull elk permit in Utah it was over. I was tired and still on cloud nine. I had shot the bull of a life time and couldn't believe it. Hard work and patience paid off.

Well the end of July is coming and only a month until the hunting season starts here in Utah. Due to my procrastination I was unable to get an archery deer tag this year. It was really disappointing to me but there is nothing I can do now. I guess I can't complain since I did draw a coveted limited entry elk tag on the book cliffs roadless unit muzzleloader hunt. It's becoming more and more of a reality to me. I just got approved the time off for the entire hunt from work and I'm ready to go. The only think left is the waiting for it to come.

I was also lucky enough to draw a cow elk permit here in Utah up in East Canyon. I'm exicted to hunt my cow this year with our long range rifle. I was able to take my little mulie with that gun last year at 900 yards and I'm hoping to beat that with my cow. With our new Berger bullets we should be able to take down an elk at 1000 yards. The only things that could stop me are my own shooting skills and wind.

My dad drew the buck bull northern tag this year that will allow him to hunt deer in the general elk season. Basically what it means for me is that I get to hunt early Septemeber for doves then from the middle of september for my Muzzleloader elk, then early October for my dads buck bull tag. Then late October for general buck rifle with my Uncle and neighbor. Then late November till mid January for cow elk. Also the Chukar hunt in utah runs until the end of January. I also hope to be able to find a few grouse while we are out and about. The down size is that the population for grouse and chukars has been down the last few years.

Unfortunately that is all The Rocky Mountian hunting that I get to do this year. Next year I won't be so stupid to wait to buy my archery tag. At lease I will get a solid 4 and a half months of hunting in this year. Hopefully that will be enough to carry me through to the next season.