Silence on the Wasatch

hornsrus

hornsrus

Member
Messages
47
Was helping a friend from work with his LE Wasatch rifle tag. We were hunting near the trail hollow area by Strawberry. The elk were mostly silent with some pre-rut bugling at best. Was it our bad luck or did others in this area have the same problem?
 
I Archery hunted the Strawberry area for elk gen season we saw very few elk of few bulls an almost silent.
almost like a ghost town for elk.very dissapointed this year.
 
Berry...a fair few? Is that more than than the fair few that always eat tag soup each year?

I haven't been up there for 2 years. You starting to see changes for mature bulls regarding numbers and/or location?
 
I can't count how many people have came up to me asking if I had seen any elk and that they were struggling finding anything good . I also seen a very nice 360 bull hit the dirt.

But imo the aftermath from all the cow slaughters is beginning to show. Bottom line less elk and more panicking hunters.
 
Good stuff on the last minute bull! Those are the memories that can last a lifetime. I'm sure there is a pretty funny story to tell on that one for the hunter.
 
We struggled on the Wasatch this year, and usually are able to call in multiple bulls fairly easy during the same dates other years. We scouted for 7 straight days prior to the rifle opener, and then hunted every day except the Sundays and ate tag soup. We located a canyon the Friday prior to the opener where the bulls were bugling like crazy, and multiple bulls were sighted. When we went back opening day....silence. Had a close encounter with our first bull on Wednesday evening and he was bugling really well, 15 yards in the thick scrub oak and we had no shot opportunity. Went back in the next day and it was silent. That was really our only close encounter. We hunted hard for the rest of the hunt and had no other opportunities, even on rag horn bulls. Very little bugling, and I never saw any decent groups of cows during the whole hunt or scouting. We did see two small groups of cows 4-6 which had no bull with them, which I found odd. The cow slaughter has effected this hunt for sure. If there are few cows, then what reason do the bulls have to rut? Hard to rut something that is not there.

}}-SLIVER-->
 
I was up there on the rifle hunt helping a friend. We had scouted 6 different times before the hunt and had found a few elk to chase. Friday night before the opener we headed out to an area where we had seen a good group on Monday and found nothing but sheep. We counted 6 different herds between Trail Hollow and Willow Creek. We heard a couple bugles on the opener but couldn't get them out of the thick stuff. He did pass on 3 smaller bulls on Monday and Tuesday. We did not see many cows, and places we had seen elk in years past hardly anything. You use to see 6,8,to 10 sets of tracks together and most of the time we were seeing a single track here or there. We finally found a group Saturday night and again on Sunday but never quite worked out. We were either in the wrong area or the herds are thinning out. We sat water 3 different times and had a cow and a calf come in while it was hot before the rain and snow. We hunted to dark on the last day and heard a single bugle around O'dark thirty. I was surprised at the lack of elk we saw.
 
Was a tough year for sure. I thought with the later dates the elk would have been going a bit better than what we encountered. Scouted a lot beginning the first part of June and found some smoker bulls. One bull in particular caught my eye. The hunt came around and I spent multiple days chasing this bull. Opening night had him at 200 yards, but he wound up going about 15 yards beneath his cows which offered no shot opportunity. Chased his bugle the other days but could never get on him again.

For the most part it was up and down as far as bugling was concerned. If we found cows the bugling was obviously intensified and created for some fun opportunities. Had multiple chances to kill several bulls in the 280-320 range, but could never seem to get the big bull out of my mind so I went home with tag soup.

Overall I was disappointed in the number of bulls and cows we saw. One bull had about 25 cows, but for the most part it was a few cows here and there and it seemed there were more bulls hanging out together than in years past. I had the same tag in 2008 and there were far more elk to chase and the quality of bulls seemed to be better. Its too bad the DNR has given out so many tags on an awesome elk unit. Felt a little ripped off for cashing in so many points on a LE hunt.

It is what it is though. At least I got to spend a lot of time in the hills with family and friends. I have a friend with the late tag this year... maybe we will get the upper hand on his hunt.
 
There were sure a lot of a Muzzleloader Hunters setting up camp in the same area we hunted. I think a lot of them will be disappointed.
 
Wait a minute...just wait a darn minute!

hunter03--You've drawn the Wasatch early rifle tag two times in less than 10 years?
 
I grew up on this unit, I have had the tag two times in the last 4 years. I have hunted this unit either with family, friends or my own tag every year for the past 16 years (for limited entry) and numerous years when it was "open bull"

This year was a hard year. Very sporadic, lower than normal elk numbers. While most think the quality of bulls has went down I would have to disagree. I think the quality is still very much there, its just the quantity of them is lower. I have been watching a few big bulls on the Wasatch this year including one really cool double beamed bull.

good luck to those of you that still have tags. With my experience on this unit if I were to apply for it again I would do the late hunt.
 
>I grew up on this unit,
>I have had the tag
>two times in the last
>4 years. I have hunted
>this unit either with family,
>friends or my own tag
>every year for the past
>16 years (for limited entry)
>and numerous years when it
>was "open bull"
>
>This year was a hard year.
>Very sporadic, lower than normal
>elk numbers. While most think
>the quality of bulls has
>went down I would have
>to disagree. I think the
>quality is still very much
>there, its just the quantity
>of them is lower. I
>have been watching a few
>big bulls on the Wasatch
>this year including one really
>cool double beamed bull.

I have a feeling numbers will continue to drop unfortunately. That cow slaughter was a dumb idea
 
Sounds like they are thinking of running this unit kind of like Idaho runs much of there area's. Lots of any elk archery tags with a high cap of around 1,500. And very limited rifle tags of around 50 in October and 25 in November. Awesome!!!
 
'They' aren't thinking of any such management strategy. 'They' are working collectively with Sportsmen, ag, forest service, and farmers to come up with viable solutions for the problems on the unit.

Last I checked those solutions included

1- raised objective Wasatch committee discussed and approved for rac and WB a herd objective of 8,900 head.

2-private land only cow tags, this was a short term experiment to try and redistribute private land elk on the unit

3-Aggressive agricultural solutions including the removal of problem elk

4-no increase in LE bull permits this year and a nearly complete removal of all antlerless draw permits as well as OTC control permits.

5-collar studies done on both bull and cow populations to get a better handle on current distribution of elk

6-exploration of incentive programs for private land owners with the end goal of increasing hunting pressure on the 'safe havens' within the unit.

https://www.facebook.com/strawberrybayoutfitters
 
>'They' aren't thinking of any such
>management strategy. 'They' are working
>collectively with Sportsmen, ag, forest
>service, and farmers to come
>up with viable solutions for
>the problems on the unit.
>
>
>Last I checked those solutions included
>
>
>1- raised objective Wasatch committee discussed
>and approved for rac and
>WB a herd objective of
>8,900 head.
>
>2-private land only cow tags, this
>was a short term experiment
>to try and redistribute private
>land elk on the unit
>
>
>3-Aggressive agricultural solutions including the removal
>of problem elk
>
>4-no increase in LE bull permits
>this year and a nearly
>complete removal of all antlerless
>draw permits as well as
>OTC control permits.
>
>5-collar studies done on both bull
>and cow populations to get
>a better handle on current
>distribution of elk
>
>6-exploration of incentive programs for private
>land owners with the end
>goal of increasing hunting pressure
>on the 'safe havens' within
>the unit.
>
>https://www.facebook.com/strawberrybayoutfitters

I am all for fixing things and am glad that they have put a plan together, but who in the hell decided that what they were doing sounded like good game management.
 

Similar threads

J
The Wake-up Call….
Replies
26
Views
3k
cgmoonsky
cgmoonsky
J
Mule Deer and CWD
Replies
45
Views
1k
HIcountryman
HIcountryman
nontypical
Winter range report
Replies
72
Views
6k
nontypical
nontypical

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos

Member Gallery Photos and Videos!

New Mexico.JPG
8 bachelors.jpg
BA78C69F-D693-479F-8832-A38EC8A78AE6.jpeg
153BD8A6-8669-41EA-B58F-12AA565E48DA.jpeg
3B062215-5B3F-40DC-B7AD-EE67F94227D4.jpeg
IMG_3026.jpeg
Spencer's NM Bull.jpg
Screenshot_20210329-204827~2.png
8EC8B459-D5B5-4A17-AAB4-0BD0A0D62A6E.jpeg
IMG_9792 copy.jpg
D4809792-6AD7-47B9-9CDD-E5393A446EDF.jpeg
20200131_221719-1.jpg
Back
Top Bottom