20 years trying to get a tag…..and it happened!!!!

Maddog66

5 year old buck +
After 20 years of applying and honestly starting to believe it was never going to happen, it did! I just got the email from Utah letting me know that I drew my dream Elk tag. It’s the early (Sept 20-24) any weapon tag in the Central Mountains (Manti unit).

I can’t believe it….like winning the lottery!!!!

Now I have to find an outfitter and make myself a little less round over the summer!

Anybody here have and thoughts or advice for a guy on his first, and likely last, elk hunt in Utah?
 
No, but congratulations! I drew my once in a lifetime tag for a bull in Nebraska when I still lived there. I killed a whopper and it was a fun hunt with a friend. Good luck on your planning and trip.
 
I can’t believe it….like winning the lottery!!!!

Now I have to find an outfitter and make myself a little less round over the summer!

Anybody here have and thoughts or advice for a guy on his first, and likely last, elk hunt in Utah?
Awesome! I’m right behind you with 16 points now. Had 2 buddies go with wade lemon for Mule deer. Both shot over 200” deer with their bow on public. Some of his tactics aren’t my cup of tea but honestly that’s the outfitting game in Utah especially. It’s very cut throat and one could argue shady. But with a tag that very well may be once in a lifetime you may need to rely on someone like them to make the most of the opportunity. I’m wrestling with getting an outfitter or diy when I draw.
 
I liked reading info from Hunting fool after I drew WY and Co moose,past articles gave alot of info.Another may be monstermulies.com
 
I have nothing to offer in regards to your question but CONGRATS on the tag.
 
Congrats, that’s awesome! Is it your first elk hunt or just first in UT? UT is the one Rocky Mountain state I don’t ever apply in so not that familiar with specifics. I’ve spent a lot of time on Rokslide and hunttalk over the years so if you’re a newby to elk hunting some searches in those forums would probably be helpful.
 
Awesome! I’m right behind you with 16 points now. Had 2 buddies go with wade lemon for Mule deer. Both shot over 200” deer with their bow on public. Some of his tactics aren’t my cup of tea but honestly that’s the outfitting game in Utah especially. It’s very cut throat and one could argue shady. But with a tag that very well may be once in a lifetime you may need to rely on someone like them to make the most of the opportunity. I’m wrestling with getting an outfitter or diy when I draw.


Lots of folks have allegedly bought trophys from Wade.
 

Lots of folks have allegedly bought trophys from Wade.
These two guys who drew are super close to me. I was zero percent impressed with his tactics.

SomeoneI know may have hunted with some of these guys south of the border. The season doesn’t stop at sundown… Allegedly
 
Hold on….hold on!,😂😂

I’m just a midwestern deer hunter who got talked into applying for the state where they manage for older age class elk…..20 years ago by a friend and avid elk hunter. He missed a couple of years and got behind me in points (re. My OCD good side :)).

Anyway, my intention is to harvest a nice bull that’s representing the area herd on public land. Not a score. I’m not shooting one off any roads, after dark, over bait, or at a distance further than I can reliably shoot my trusty A-bolt. I’m hoping for bow range 👍.

For me, it’s a chance of a lifetime and I’m going to make it about the experience of a rut hunt in the mountains.

I’m going to hire a guide for the full hunt 1-1. Plus 2 scouting days right beforehand. I’m not hiring any spotters or scouters and I want to stay in a camp on the hill. I’m talking to guides and outfitters now.
 
Hold on….hold on!,😂😂

I’m just a midwestern deer hunter who got talked into applying for the state where they manage for older age class elk…..20 years ago by a friend and avid elk hunter. He missed a couple of years and got behind me in points (re. My OCD good side :)).

Anyway, my intention is to harvest a nice bull that’s representing the area herd on public land. Not a score. I’m not shooting one off any roads, after dark, over bait, or at a distance further than I can reliably shoot my trusty A-bolt. I’m hoping for bow range 👍.

For me, it’s a chance of a lifetime and I’m going to make it about the experience of a rut hunt in the mountains.

I’m going to hire a guide for the full hunt 1-1. Plus 2 scouting days right beforehand. I’m not hiring any spotters or scouters and I want to stay in a camp on the hill. I’m talking to guides and outfitters now.
Following along…let us know who you go with cause I would consider a guide under those conditions as well. Good luck
 
Hold on….hold on!,😂😂

I’m just a midwestern deer hunter who got talked into applying for the state where they manage for older age class elk…..20 years ago by a friend and avid elk hunter. He missed a couple of years and got behind me in points (re. My OCD good side :)).

Anyway, my intention is to harvest a nice bull that’s representing the area herd on public land. Not a score. I’m not shooting one off any roads, after dark, over bait, or at a distance further than I can reliably shoot my trusty A-bolt. I’m hoping for bow range 👍.

For me, it’s a chance of a lifetime and I’m going to make it about the experience of a rut hunt in the mountains.

I’m going to hire a guide for the full hunt 1-1. Plus 2 scouting days right beforehand. I’m not hiring any spotters or scouters and I want to stay in a camp on the hill. I’m talking to guides and outfitters now.

You should be in for a treat.

Wish I had a good tip for you on how to handle the buck fever and adrenaline dump that accompanies a mature bulk bugling his ass while running at you but i'm still working on that one myself..
 
Hold on….hold on!,😂😂

I’m just a midwestern deer hunter who got talked into applying for the state where they manage for older age class elk…..20 years ago by a friend and avid elk hunter. He missed a couple of years and got behind me in points (re. My OCD good side :)).

Anyway, my intention is to harvest a nice bull that’s representing the area herd on public land. Not a score. I’m not shooting one off any roads, after dark, over bait, or at a distance further than I can reliably shoot my trusty A-bolt. I’m hoping for bow range 👍.

For me, it’s a chance of a lifetime and I’m going to make it about the experience of a rut hunt in the mountains.

I’m going to hire a guide for the full hunt 1-1. Plus 2 scouting days right beforehand. I’m not hiring any spotters or scouters and I want to stay in a camp on the hill. I’m talking to guides and outfitters now.
I'm late on this one, but congrats on the tag! Those hunts are a ton of fun!

I drew the LE any weapon early tag in the neighboring unit to the north a few years back. I had done a bit of western hunting before but never killed an elk. I began applying 19 years before I drew with the intention of drawing a tag with high enough odds of success on public land that I didn't need to hire a guide.

I live at 650' elevation in PA so I did a lot of walking the summer before the hunt, climbing the steepest hills in my neighborhood, and with a progressively heavier pack as the summer progressed. That and watching my diet to drop 10 pounds was just about all the training I did, but I walk fast enough that I'm a bit winded and my heart rate is up the whole time, but not so fast that I get side stitches and need to take breaks. I just sustain that pace, uphill and down, for 30-40 minutes three or four times a week. That has worked pretty well for getting my lungs in better shape for altitude and for building the core muscles that I use to carry a pack, for several hunts now.

I scouted 2.5 days in July - saw one bull briefly, some cows, but not many elk. I did learn a lot about specific areas and the access I had without using an atv. That knowledge was a huge help in deciding where and how to spend the hunt time.

I prepped to shoot out to 400 yards, but hoped for closer as I don't often have opportunity to shoot past 125-150 at home in PA.

I arrived a couple days early and spent those two days scouting. Watched a wide 350+ six point herd bull twice during those two days, but an archery hunter bumped him and his herd the afternoon before my season opened. The first day I passed on a 5x6 at 80 yards in the timber - partly because he was "just" a five point and I'd kinda set my goal as a 300" 6x6, but also because of that 350 we'd seen the two prior days.

Halfway through the second morning, having seen nothing of the bigger bull since the archer bumped him, I found the 5x6 again and decided I'd be silly to pass him again since he was quite a bit bigger than that 300" goal.

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I may or may not have taken a higher scoring bull had I hired an outfitter but like you, I just hoped for a mature representative bull so this (336 gross and 9.5 years old according the lab) more than met my expectations.

A couple years later a friend drew the muzzleloader tag on the same unit (week after the early any weapon) and I tagged along on his hunt. We saw even more bulls and rutting action on his hunt, so mine was not a fluke.

All that to say that in my limited experience, these hunts are pretty doable DIY given your stated goals. If you need to kill one of the top 5 bulls in the unit, hire a guide for sure. But these units are managed to produce LOTS of the kind of bulls you described.

Regardless of how you go (guided or not), you're in for an awesome time! Best of luck to you!! I'm looking forward to seeing how your hunt goes.
 

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I'm late on this one, but congrats on the tag! Those hunts are a ton of fun!

I drew the LE any weapon early tag in the neighboring unit to the north a few years back. I had done a bit of western hunting before but never killed an elk. I began applying 19 years before I drew with the intention of drawing a tag with high enough odds of success on public land that I didn't need to hire a guide.

I live at 650' elevation in PA so I did a lot of walking the summer before the hunt, climbing the steepest hills in my neighborhood, and with a progressively heavier pack as the summer progressed. That and watching my diet to drop 10 pounds was just about all the training I did, but I walk fast enough that I'm a bit winded and my heart rate is up the whole time, but not so fast that I get side stitches and need to take breaks. I just sustain that pace, uphill and down, for 30-40 minutes three or four times a week. That has worked pretty well for getting my lungs in better shape for altitude and for building the core muscles that I use to carry a pack, for several hunts now.

I scouted 2.5 days in July - saw one bull briefly, some cows, but not many elk. I did learn a lot about specific areas and the access I had without using an atv. That knowledge was a huge help in deciding where and how to spend the hunt time.

I prepped to shoot out to 400 yards, but hoped for closer as I don't often have opportunity to shoot past 125-150 at home in PA.

I arrived a couple days early and spent those two days scouting. Watched a wide 350+ six point herd bull twice during those two days, but an archery hunter bumped him and his herd the afternoon before my season opened. The first day I passed on a 5x6 at 80 yards in the timber - partly because he was "just" a five point and I'd kinda set my goal as a 300" 6x6, but also because of that 350 we'd seen the two prior days.

Halfway through the second morning, having seen nothing of the bigger bull since the archer bumped him, I found the 5x6 again and decided I'd be silly to pass him again since he was quite a bit bigger than that 300" goal.

View attachment 53457

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I may or may not have taken a higher scoring bull had I hired an outfitter but like you, I just hoped for a mature representative bull so this (336 gross and 9.5 years old according the lab) more than met my expectations.

A couple years later a friend drew the muzzleloader tag on the same unit (week after the early any weapon) and I tagged along on his hunt. We saw even more bulls and rutting action on his hunt, so mine was not a fluke.

All that to say that in my limited experience, these hunts are pretty doable DIY given your stated goals. If you need to kill one of the top 5 bulls in the unit, hire a guide for sure. But these units are managed to produce LOTS of the kind of bulls you described.

Regardless of how you go (guided or not), you're in for an awesome time! Best of luck to you!! I'm looking forward to seeing how your hunt goes.
Awesome bull and congrats on diy! The big thing that I wrestle with is, I’m capable of going solo, done it before, but what do I do if I kill one! How did you get yours out.
 
Awesome bull and congrats on diy! The big thing that I wrestle with is, I’m capable of going solo, done it before, but what do I do if I kill one! How did you get yours out.
I recruited my brother and a cousin to go with me. They had never hunted the west so we put them in for easy to draw Wyoming pronghorn tags and planned to stop on the way back so they could hunt. They bought their licenses and bought their own meals on the road, but otherwise they got a free ride out of the deal and I had help at really low cost to me. I was driving my truck out and back anyway, taking all the camp gear, etc, so it cost me very little to have them tag along, and both are great people to be around. Win/win for me. Another cousin who lives in the west offered to join us on the elk hunt and arrived in camp late the night before season opener. So there were four of us to pack this bull, which was good since the packout to our camp at the truck was 3 miles.
And both my brother and my cousin filled both of their pronghorn tags. Bucks were small, but I doubt either of them would have ever gone pronghorn hunting at all if it weren't for this trip.

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Awesome bull and congrats on diy! The big thing that I wrestle with is, I’m capable of going solo, done it before, but what do I do if I kill one! How did you get yours out.

Problem with elk rut hunts is heat/time is likely to be a bigger problem than being physically capable of getting an elk off the mountain. Not a problem in later season if it takes you 4 days as long as you have the time and temps are cool enough. I have hunted elk solo as much as with a partner and getting em out is a big factor in where i'm willing to shoot one. I've rented pack llamas in the past to make sure I wasn't constrained by how far i could pack a bull in the heat before it spoils and I've also used a horse packing service that I called after killing to pack a bull I killed hunting solo. Problem is llamas aren't cheap and you often have to drive out of your way to get em and most of the horse packing options out there aren't 100% guaranteed to be available when you need them.

I'm in my 30s and i'm pretty confident in getting a bull out pretty timely on my own if it's within about 2.5 miles of the road and not too terrible terrain wise but I'm getting less and less capable in that regard every year. That might be pushing it this year if I don't get my ass in gear and get back in shape!
 
Nice bull @ng270 !

I've used an outfitter on two hunts now. One dall sheep in AK because they require an outfitter and I did my first guided elk hunt last year as I thought I saw a window of opportunity for a bigger class bull that might not stay open. The sheep hunt had all the makings of an epic experience in an amazing place and I killed a nice ram that exceeded my goal. We called in 7 or so bulls day one on the elk hunt, way more than any day i'd had before that and I arrowed one early in the evening. That said, neither of those hunts were as rewarding or fulfilling for me as a DIY elk hunt where I shot a raghorn on a general tag. Everyone values aspects of the hunting experience differently but for me there is something about having to figure everything out and make the right decisions that makes it rewarding. Success earned seems so much sweeter than success given or led to. That said, i totally understand the desire of anyone to give themselves the best odds of success on once in a lifetime type hunts and there isn't a thing wrong with hiring a quality guide to help out. If AZ gave me a strip mule deer tag this year, i'd be looking into guides the next day!
 
Over the past 2 weeks I’ve talked, seriously, to 5 different outfitters and one guide. I made my choice last night and he’s sending me a contract today. It’s a 5 day hunt plus 2 scouting days prior.

Everyone I talked to was just flabbergasted I drew the tag at my LOW (??!!??) point total. They say I drew one of the “random” tags for the unit after the high-point guys got theirs. One resident friend of an outfitter didn’t draw with 24 points and he said the “Expo” tags go for almost $40k in the Manti.

Anyway, all of the people I’ve talked to have been so friendly and helpful. Just great guys who obviously know the game and love to share their knowledge. We’ve talked everything from bulls, to guns, ammo, backpacks, horses, dogs, food, snow, population dynamics, expectations, …….etc, etc. it’s been a blast!!!

The operation I chose is a family run business where dad is the boss. He and his son are the guide / spotter and we’ll stay in a historical off-grid family cabin actually in my Unit. They have 80 acres completely surrounded by public land. At the cabin, we have access to his horses, mules, side by sides, and trucks to hunt wherever we like…..from out the back door hiking to traveling 30 miles with UTV’s or trailering the stock. They also have family all over the mountain who love to get involved when a bull is down…..young, strong family😂😂

They take 1 hunter for my tag per year and I’ll have both dad/son working with me the whole time. All I need to show up with is my rifle, clothes, personal effects, and a way to get my meat and rack back to WI if I’m lucky. They’ll help me bone out the meat and cape out the hide for travel. (Most I talked with said they pack out quarters to your truck with the head skinned out to the upper neck……then you either bone and cape it yourself or go to town).

I just got back from a fishing trip and my training starts this week. 800’ elevation in WI and 8-11000 feet in Utah has me a bit spooked.
 
Sounds like a good setup @Maddog66! I'm excited for you.

RE meat handling - the only real thing I was disappointed with in both of my western big game guided hunts was the meat handling. I'd been taught to be very cautious when breaking an animal down, keep the damn hair and dirt off the meat. I carry a polycro plastic sheet (weighs like an ounce) to keep meat off the ground. With my sheep, i had to stay on the guide to keep hair off the meat and he put all of the meat in gallon zip locks vs a breathable game bag. With my elk, we were getting lots of hair and dirt on the meat and he just said "oh we'll spray it off back in town". To hell with that, just keep it off in the first place. If I ever hire another big game guide, I'll let them know before a knife comes out that i may be more particular than the avg guy but I actually intend to eat the meat and would like to take a few extra minutes to make sure it's as good as possible.

As far as boning out - i really like to keep my elk quarters on the bone for a little bit for a number of reasons, some may not be applicable in a guided situation depending on how they handle the meat.
- Allows everything to go through rigor mortis with the muscles stretched out rather than contracting
- Way easier to keep cuts straight until meat is in final processing location when you can package and label it
- Keeps meat cleaner than doing it in the field and having all those cuts exposed to dirt/debris/air
- for packing out and hanging, keeps everything tight and not in a loose bag of meat

Probably my favorite elk meal is making osso bucco out of the shanks. So saving whole shanks rather than boning them out for lousy grinding meat is always nice. I use a sawzall after frozen to cut them into disks for osso bucco.

RE elevation - it seems to impact people differently. All you can do is be in as good of shape as possible and try to get acclimated once you get there before a bunch of exertion.

Do you have a good pair of stiffer boots? I have pussy feet and use all the support I can get to bite into the hills. Some folks with tougher/stronger feet do fine without. The catch is once they get stiff they are also more prone to ripping up your feet if fit isn't just right.
 
wade lemon?

As far getting in shape obviously things like walking hills and a stair climber at a gym will help but one thing I found a good proxy for altitude is heat and humidity. Don’t try to be comfortable when exercising! Last august I paced my bro in law in the leadville 100 of which I did the last roughly 40 miles never dropping below around 9000’. Because I came from rolling hills of the east I could never replicate that condition. But what I did was run in the middle of the day in June and July to be miserable. Heat and humidity will deplete your performance just like altitude.

I’ve run a 58 and 72 mile race this year so far gaining roughly 15,000-17,000’ each race. Unfortunately I know a thing or two about training! It’s all about staying with it and not making excuses! The mountain won’t give a crap about your hard day at work or your family vacation or your blister on your pinky toe. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a lot of people so I’d start now and go hard 4-5 days a week. I’ve seen too many people I know be limited by their fitness on what they could potentially accomplish.
 
Thanks WJ!!! I’ll take all the advice I can get since I’m a complete newb😂

I work in the meat packing biz and I agree 1000% with everything you said…..but I also have a 1600+ mile drive home and I’m not sure how I’d get full quarters home in good shape.

Should I put a freezer in the back if my truck? Big coolers and dry ice?

It would take a pretty big freezer and coolers way bigger than I have. I don’t want to leave the meat and have it shipped back.

Boots: Yes, I have Kettetrek mountain boots that I wear hunting at home. They’re the 400g insulated ones, but they’re broke in well and I can’t add another pair of expensive boots to the rapidly growing tab $ for this hunt.
 
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