Bearpaw's OIL Utah Elk Hunt

[WapitiTalk1]

Dang vehicle problems can sure throw a big stick in the wheels of forward progress  .  Sounds like you're having more than your fair share.  On the bright side, sounds like your area(s) is/are looking good!    

[wheels]

rough start so maybe that means later on  you will bring you luck later

[HillHound]

At least your getting all the problems worked out now. Vehicle trouble sucks. Especially when you have places to be, which is always. Good luck on your hunt. Tagging along.

[bearpaw]

We use quite a few various machines and autos, it's sort of funny how repairs seem to go in spurts, I'm hoping I have most of the major repairs out of the way for the season, I am actually glad all these breakdowns occurred now and not in the middle of the busiest time of the season.

I'm waiting to see how my friends did this weekend, but it seems like most of the bigger bulls were still bachelored up last week and not talking at all. The rut should break loose in the next week or so.

[idaho guy]

Just tagging to follow along. 👍 sounds like you will have a great hunt.

[C-Money]

Good luck Bearpaw!

[bearpaw]

Thanks everyone for the good wishes! 

My friend just texted me, they are headed home after 4 days hunting, mostly the same issues I had, the bulls aren't rutting and they could only get a bugle at night. He said they saw a lot of elk including a new monster bull, I'm anxious to hear more about this monster bull.

[Gringo31]

Good Luck Dale!

[DOUBLELUNG]

Good luck Dale!  I hope your arrow splits the hair you are holding on when you let fly, and he dies within 100 yards at the end of a solid road of blood!

[gasman]

Tag..... good luck Dale

[bearpaw]

I've been busy guiding and trying to catch up with business that I didn't get done while guiding, so I have not made it bow hunting and am thoroughly disappointed about that. I'm cramming trying to get away again to scout before rifle season opens. My friends never saw their big bull again so I think it got bumped by another hunter. When I do finally get to hunt for myself I'm going to try and find the two big bulls I saw when guiding a couple weeks ago, fingers crossed.

Here's an interesting story though:
My friend and his son were calling in a good bull last weekend and a bear started stalking them while calling, they had to keep calling to keep the bull interested, but the bear kept coming. Finally the bull saw the bear and split, my friend said they started waving but the bear kept coming, he said he finally had to holler at it to get it to turn and go away. His son hasn't gotten a bull yet and he can probably only get away for one more day of hunting before bow season ends. He did however apply as partners with a friend who got a nice 6x6 bull last weekend so their weekend hunt was a success after all.

[bearpaw]

My friend's wife also drew a Utah bull tag. He called in a 6x6 this week, the biggest bull they've seen since season opened and she dropped him with one shot. We figured he's about a 300ish class bull, her biggest. The only problem they were about 4 miles from the end of the ATV trail, so I loaded up 3 of the horses and headed to meet them. I had to ride an extra 4 miles in the ATV trail with the horses then we all went the other 4 miles on horseback through some pretty rough real estate, had to lead the horses in a couple spots, we were right across from one of the highest peaks in Utah. There were some nasty rocks that were hard on the horses and then we waited part way out a couple hours for the moon to rise so we and the horses could see where we needed to go to get the rest of the way out, we got back to the truck at about 1:30 am. She had only been on a horse once before as a kid, she said this whole hunt and using the horses ranked right up there as one of the most memorable experiences of her life.

[RB]

WOW nice Bull! 

[bearpaw]

I finally made it out hunting for myself with four days of early rifle remaining. I first went to where I had seen the two largest bulls in late August, but they were nowhere to be found, I focused the entire day on them and saw no elk at all or sign of them, and I couldn't get any answers to my calling. There was sign of a fair amount of hunting pressure and I concluded that other hunters must have known about those bulls and either the big bulls went nocturnal or they got bumped out of the area due to hunting pressure, I find it unlikely they were both killed, but I suppose that's a possibility too.

The next day I decided to hunt a different 6x6 I had seen in late August, but I couldn't find him either. I did spot a raghorn first thing the second morning and then mid-day I stalked within 50 or 60 yards of a 4x4 I heard in a wallow. I also managed to get some cows to answer me a few times early afternoon but no bull sounded off and I never got to actually lay eyes on the elk in the heavy cover so don't know if there was a bull with them or not. Later I heard one bull make a dinosaur growl (lol) across the canyon but he never bugled. I needed to get back to business so I cut my trip short after two days, figured I was better off to work a few days and give the elk a chance to start bugling.

When I go back I may hunt a different area that my friend likes, I'm still undecided about that. For now I am licking my wounds trying to figure my next best move?

[bearpaw]

We have had a really busy hunting season and it prevented me from hunting again until the last day of the last season. I was too tired and couldn't drive straight through so I was 2 hours late getting into the hunt area. I focused on trying to figure out where the bigger bulls I scouted earlier had gone. I couldn't find any fresh sign of them so in the afternoon I headed over to the area where I had passed one of the raghorns, all I found were cutoff legs, I think someone else got him in the last few days. So it is tag soup for me on this hunt, mostly due to just being too busy to hunt for myself, but a guy has to take care of business.