Bookcliffs Muzzy

[Clyde Hollinger]

I've hunted up there on the archery and last year on the rifle. I have enough points to draw muzzy or rifle. In your guys' opinion what's your thoughts on the muzzy hunt out there? Is it worth it? Or should I go with the rifle? Any pics of bucks that have been taken on the muzz hunt out there would be sweet!

Thanks in advance!

Elk

 

[slamdunk]

My son had that tag last last year.

Personally, i was disappointed in the lack of older age class bucks, i really thought we'd find some 170" bucks or better within our five day hunt, especially with two scouting days.

We saw lot's and lot's of 2 year olds, young 4x4's everywhere!

Now i'm not saying they're not there, they obviously are....we just failed to find any for whatever reason.
I have since learned a few spots i SHOULD have hunted, but it's obviously too late....hard lesson learned.

We had an awesome hunt though, so many deer it's simply crazy, and the midday coyote action was a blast....not too mention seeing all those big bull elk everywhere in full rut.

After seeing some god pix here on the forums from the Book's this year, a person CAN do really good if you do more homework and add in a little good fortune.

Gdog killed an awesome buck and sounds like he felt it was a great hunt (congrat's again bro!!), i'm sure he'll reply to this post and give some of his input.

Good luck either way you decide to go, elkster!!








Skull Krazy
"No Bones About It"

 

[BigPig]

Great hunt. Lots of bucks. A few good ones if you can keep your finger off the trigger and work at it harder than the next guy. Not a place to go looking for 190" bucks. But if you want to see lots of 150's and 160's, with a chance at a real nice one, it's a great place. You'll be hunting transition areas. Bucks may be moving off the top which makes it hard to scout for a particular buck. You could see him one day and he could be 10 miles away the next. Do a search and you'll see lot of pics.

http://www.wildernessathlete.org/ because the most important piece of equipment you own is YOU!

 

[Deerlove]

elk send me a email and I'll send a pic. Russ

 

[Smokepole]

My '05 muzzy buck.

Smokepole

 

[HuntinFoo]

I had the muzzy tag, and would never put in for it again. It is the wrong time of year to hunt deer out their, I was lucky to see one 24 inch buck every other day. If you want to shoot a 22 inch 150 than it is good, but I hope for a good buck (170+) when I draw a tag. I ended up with a 22 inch 4x7 that scored 163, but was real disapointed. If I were you I would go for the rifle, their is a better chance of finding a mature buck when they start chasing does.

 

[coalhunter]

I have some great pics of bucks killed on rifle hunt that i have personally spotted, and helped with. Muzzy is a great hunt, but bigger mulies come with rifle. personal favorite is archery

 

[Clyde Hollinger]

Thanks for all the input guys! I really appreciate it. I'll keep ya posted on what I do. As we all know nothing is 100% when it comes to drawing a tag here in Utah! Some of you have really made my decision harder! Thanks for that one Skull Krazy! LOL!! Sounds like you and your boy had a good time, and that's what it's all about!

Elk

 

[gdog]

>LOL!! Sounds like you
>and your boy had a
>good time, and that's what
>it's all about!
>
>Elk


If your going into the hunt with that attitude, then the Bookcliffs is a great time.

There are a ton of bucks out there. I scouted pre-season a good bit and found some really nice deer (to me) in the +170 range....NOT +200. I had three shooters that I would have loved to see during the season, BUT as mentioned the muzzleloader hunt is basically the start of the deers migration and what you found scouting pre-season might have started to move on already. Plus, with the bow hunters chasing deer and all the elk hunts, the deer definitely take cover and are much less visible then preseason (obviously).

You will see a bunch of deer like these.....

And quite a few of these...

I was out there 2 days prior to the hunt and only missed 2 day of the hunt. Saw a ton of deer, just nothing I was willing to pull the trigger on until the last morning of the hunt. This was probably one the two biggest deer I saw during the week of hunting. I'm happy with taking this deer and had a great hunt. Was able to meet up with BigPig and his brother and basically had "FUN".

The rifle hunt ends up with some really nice deer and most of the bigger bucks taken are killing during the rifle hunt...but the muzz hunt has 1/3 the number of hunters and usually good weather.

Fun hunt...you bet....booner hunt ...not really.

Good luck!