wasatch front

[mathewsman]

Just wondering how it's going on "the front." I spent opening week down south and had a great hunt-didn't tag out, but sure had a great time! The hunting was tough, but I got a chance at a dandy (missed-64 yards), and had several close calls so I can't complain. Since then I've been spending as much time as possible close to home hunting the wasatch at one of my trusty "back-up" spots. Haven't seen tons of deer, but have consistently seen some pretty decent bucks. In 7 afternoon, after work trips up, I've gotten one shot (missed again-50 yards-pathetic I know!) and seen three shooter bucks. Just wondering what your impressions/experiences have been this year. As you know, the hunting doesn't get any tougher than on the wasatch, but some darn big bucks always seem to get taken every year. As far as I'm concerned, there is not a harder earned trophy than a 150 or bigger buck taken with a bow on the wasatch front. Now that we're into the "extended" season, and the animals have seen some fair hunting pressure, what are some good tactics to impliment. This time in between opening and the rut can be tricky. Most of my experience on the wasatch has either been early or late in the season and even though I've been fortunate enough to have seen some good bucks, I'm always looking for some help. Any would be great! Yeah yeah, I know the best advice would be to practice more at the range!-kick me while I'm down.(ha,ha) I maybe 0-fer-2 now, but this is far from over!

 

[swbuckmaster]

There has been very few deer taken off the front this year and even fewer elk. The deer numbers are down a bit from the winter and they are all spread out because of the green forage we have up their. The deer that have been taken have all been good ones. I am assuming people that hunt this area pass up the little ones hoping for a big one because I have never seen a spike or two point taken off any of those hills in 10 years of hunting it.

The elk are so scarce you will think they don't bugle. I have been hitting it twice a week for several weeks now. The closes I've been to elk is about 80 yards and they were all bulls. ?Sausage fest? I haven't seen any cows.

It was last Friday and I popped up over the hill hiding behind a Montana decoy and the bulls started running without even seeing me. I blew a soft cow call and they saw my cow decoy and ran even faster.

I have come to the conclusion that if there are 7 bulls during the rut and they run when seeing a cow and hearing a cow call they must have been the bent wrist type of elk.

Archery is a year round commitment!!