Wasatch late elk, worth it????

[PaleHorse]

The RAC has proposed a late rifle l.e. elk hunt for the Wasatch in 2013 to reduce overcrowding. My wife has 13 points. Is it worth burning them on the late season hunt? Or should she hold out a few more years and try and draw a rut hunt? I figure with 13 points she ought to have a fair chance at drawing.




"Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day!" -Harry S. Truman

 

[Towhee]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-05-12 AT 11:54AM (MST)[p]Hopefully they wont pass a late hunt, the quality of the wasatch has slipped considerably over the last few years and the late hunt will only make things worse.

 

[bowhunt]

The late hunt in that unit, was a SLAUGHTER. So, yes a good tag to have. I hope they just reduce tags a little, and not spread them out.

 

[Cam@strawberry]

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BRING IT ON BOYS NOT MUCH LEFT NOW ANYWAYS.......LETS KILL OFF THE LAST OF THEM WHILE WE GOT A CHANCE!

 

[Coyote_chaser]

The bull to cow ratio is insane on the Wasatch, 100 tags on the late hunt is not gonna be that devastating! The unit has like 8,000 elk with a bull to cow ratio north of 40 bulls to 100 cows!! Thats like 3500-4000 bulls! You think another 60 or so bulls killed off the unit is gonna kill it??

 

[swbuckmaster]

What do you prefer first choice at the ladies in a bar or last call for alcohol i'll take sloppy seconds ladies. I mean you're still getting a chick but one you haul around in your truck and show all your friends and the other you hope gets out before your friends see her in your truck.

who farted?

 

[ARROWHNTR]

Berryblaster is right if they pass this hunt you can kiss any qauilty the wasatch still has left goodbye. Its is not a matter of the qauntity of bulls that will be killed but the quality of bulls. They issued a few tags for this hunt in 2005 and it was an absolute slaughter of the top end bulls on the wasatch.

The wasatch bulls are very vulnerable in November even more so than during the rut. There was good reason they only had this hunt for one year, not sure why they think this time will be different.

If you like to hunt the wastach you better voice your opinion becasue if this passes as a November hunt you will be lucky to find a 300" bull after 2013!

 

[UT1031]

For what is worth, I would certainly wait. There is nothing like experiencing a bull hunt in the rut and the weather will be considerably better..........

 

[Elkhunter96]

I would wait as well, rut hunts are a better experience.

The thing with the wasatch as it is not being managed with a trophy objective, but an opportunity objective. Why do you think they give so many tags on that unit and Manti? The bulls have been above the age objective, so they hand out more tags like it is candy. If trophy was the objective for these units, they would have a higher age objective.

The objective for those units is to get people through the system. I cant say I disagree with doing that on some units because it does reduce the amount of people in the system waiting for their turn.

Sure, a few big bulls get taken out of snatch every year, but it is not the average experience. I always laugh a little when I see posts about "how good a year the snatch is having" when I think of all the 500+ other hunters that didn't tag out or tagged out on small bulls. It is what it is. If you are wanting a 350 plus bull, look at another unit and plan on waiting a lot longer. If you are looking for a fun hunt with lots of 250-320 bulls, go for it.

 

[PaleHorse]

Scott, The bar comparison really put it in perspective! Seriously that is what I was worried about. Having to deal with broke bulls that have already been hunted for 3 months.

Kelly, I appreciate the input. I agree there is nothing like hunting rutting bulls! My wife has never got to fully experience that before.

I was able to be on two hunts on the wasatch last year. One was the any weapon and the other was muzzy. Both of those hunts were very difficult for the people who had the tags! The area we hunt has had a drastic decrease in both quality and quantity of elk! That being said my wife is dead set on hunting the wasatch! This hunt for her is as much about nostalgia as it is killing a big bull. She grew up hunting an area an it is close to her heart. I just worry that if she doesn't draw soon she will be very disappointed in her hunt if the trend of elk in this area continues.




"Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day!" -Harry S. Truman

 

[littlebighorn]

My only late hunt elk experience was on the Manti and it was a gang tough hunt. The big bulls were tough to find.
I don't know how the Wasatch is different in that respect, but if I were in her place, I would wait as well. Nothing beats listening to bulls bugling their brains out.
I will say that many guys had a tough hunt this year on the "Snatch" even with the early rifle tag.

 

[Cam@strawberry]

Unless a major shift in antlerless permits occurs, expect a very tough hunt with few public land elk to hunt.........

i know a few of the number crunchers will jump out and start telling you how many elk the Snatch has on paper, but the truth is for a few years now THERE HAVE BEEN WAY WAY TO MANY TAGS ISSUED.........both antlerless LE and Spike. Management on the wasatch is sad, very very sad.........expect the overall quality of any elk hunt to drop exponentially over the next few years......The problem with paper is it doesn't differentiate between public and private land elk.......the public land elk are being slaughtered leaving only those that can't be hunted......

 

[kawboy]

Maybe we can get everybody to burn their points. Then I will finally have a shot at drawing a tag.



I'll tell you who it was . . . it was that D@MN Sasquatch!

 

[Foxskinner]

I would have to agree that its not the quantity that is an issue, its the quality. Maybe they should do a management hunt for bulls to take off a few raghorns like they did on the Southwest Desert a few years ago. It would give some opportunity to those that just want to hunt and still keep some of the quality????


www.biggamedrawodds.com

 

[Coyote_chaser]

I dont know what people call "quality" but I feel any bull over 330+ is a quality bull. I have never hunted the Wasatch except for 4 days this year on the Archery hunt with a buddy. I saw 3-4 bulls over 330+ and one bull pushing 360+, all in an area we have never been before. I also ran into 5-6 hunters on the road complaining about the exact same thing in the posts above me, no elk and no quality. I will say we saw a very small amount of cows, which I feel is a bad sign. We saw three times the amount of bulls that we saw cows.

 

[325wsm]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-08-12 AT 12:06PM (MST)[p]The late season on the wasatch is the easiest elk hunt I have ever been on, my buddy and his wife had tags,we saw 56 bulls in one day of spotting before the hunt. They killed a 378 and a 353 bull first day. The dwr got rid of the hunt because the success rates on mature bulls was nearly 100%, why would they bring it back now? With all the leafs off the trees and not much for low juniper type country on the wasatch it makes the elk extremely easy to find. Anyways from my previous experience on this hunt I would say it's worth spending 13 points on depending on how many tags they issue

 

[Zeke]

I don't have all the answers but I wish I did. Some of you THUNK you have all the answers but you really don't.

Here's what I do know since I've spent 4 out of the last 5 trophy bull seasons hunting the Wasatch and hunt the Wasatch multiple times every year for the past 30 years; The quality is going down because they issue too many tags. I've been on the unit early, middle and late and the elk can be found. they don NOT need to bugle in order to be found. There are plenty of elk (except cows since we keep killing them off) but the overall size of the bulls is dropping.

This year the trophy hunt was so hot and dry that I KNOW that the hunting was better during the general season and certainly would have been better during a late trophy hunt. So much for all the "advantages" of the rut hunt!

The late hunt would be great for the hunter but in the long run would be a negative for bull quality..... but then again, some of you guys care nothing of trophy size and that's OK too. Everyone has an opinion and a standard.

Good luck to us all,
Zeke

 

[Coyote_chaser]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-08-12 AT 03:58PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Nov-08-12 AT 03:57?PM (MST)

You realize the early rifle shoot is like 90% success rate!! So not much of a difference, and they issue like 300 tags for that hunt.

And the rut will always be an advantage! Always.

Zeke one question, what is a trophy bull in your opinion? Score wise.

 

[JREDBUCK]

i would be worried about roads being closed I know that they close "the loop in american fork canyon and a lot of those around strawberry.
Access will be an issue if you dont have horses ect.

 

[PaleHorse]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-08-12 AT 04:59PM (MST)[p]When it comes to trophy, she would be stoked with a bull better than mine. So anything bigger than 320" would be a great bull for her. I don't see why that wouldn't be achievable on the late hunt. I think the weather is my main worry. Like I said before the hunting experience to her will be as important as the kill or antler size.




"Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day!" -Harry S. Truman

 

[ARROWHNTR]

325 WSM is right on the money. Being able to hunt the rut is a huge advantage on any unit, but being able to hunt the wasatch in November far outways the advantages of the rut. Like mentioned above there are very few pinion and junipers and almost no place for the bulls to hide. I have hunted all of the seasons on the wastach limited Entry and none even come close to the late hunt as far as the ability to locate and kill huge bulls.

Those few of us that hunted the only late hunt ever held on the wasatch know what it was like and why they cancelled the hunt the next year. As mentioned before its not about the number of bulls that will be taken, the wasatch can handle a high bull harvest, it is about the quality that will take a huge hit when most of the largest bulls will be killed. There were only like 15 tags last time and almost every tag holder ended up killing an above average bull for the wasatch.

 

[PleaseDear]

They got some huge bulls off that late hunt before they took it out of the draw.

Might really be worth her points to go for it.

Robb

 

[justr_86]

The wasatch is at carrying capacity. Want more elk? Make more winter range... More people have their hand in tag numbers than the dnr....

 

[hogg_65]

The best hunt for big bulls in the state.

 

[justr_86]

I had the Heber east cow tag last year, hunted quite a bit. Finding elk was not hard, seeing between 60 and 100 head per day. Finding cows was tough, finding cows where I wanted to shoot one was tougher! I saw bulls of all sizes! If they open the late hunt I will put in for it!

 

[Zeke]

I think the "advantage" goes to the late hunt.... at least on the Wasatch.

There might be an issue with rough weather on the late hunt and travel might be an issue as well. For most guys this wouldn't be an issue but remember you're taking your wife.

Zeke

C_c, You and I will never have a "meeting of the minds" on this issue. Our opinions are both valid.... yet opposed.
I know you would like to see the hunt take place during a later time-frame and have more tags issued. It's not a bad plan but certainly not the only idea. Respectfully, Zeke