Back in the year 2000, I had 5 Utah resident elk points, I didn't want to wait for years to draw a tag, so I started to do some research. I made some phone calls and contacted some of the different CWMU operators in areas that I felt might have some good bulls. I rolled the dice and selected one of them and drew the one permit available to the public. I had an outstanding experience on this property that I had never set foot on, the operator actually took me onto the place in early September before the paying clients showed up. I had a couple opportunities that weekend at a couple of 320" bulls and elected to pass them up. I was able to hunt the ranch off and on for 4 weekends, and on Friday October 6 2000, I had one of the funnest elk hunting days of my life. Spotted an awesome 6x7 bull, hunted him for a better part of the morning, then got on another nice herd bull with 6 raghorns around him. Called in each of the Satellite bulls and finally got the herd bulls cows to come right to my cow calls. He was right in tow and I slammed the bull at 25 yards with my trusty little .270.
I did not even know this operator prior to this hunt, and I have done a bunch of elk hunting since this one, and this hunt remains my favorite. My bull was the largest harvested on the ranch that year, he was a very heavy 6x6 bull that gross scored just shy of 350".
My point in posting this is, this program is under appreciated by Utah residents. That elk tag would have run me around $10,000. I paid $180 for it. Did I need to be patient, sure. Did I need to work and communicate with the operator, sure I did. Did it work out for me, it did. Could I have possibly not taken a bull, absolutely, but that is hunting. I took a risk and it paid off. Ive taken other risks with points in draw areas and have come up short of filling my tag more than once. But to me, the harvest is the icing on the cake, the hunting experience has always been the most important part of a hunt to me and these CWMU properties can be outstanding.
All you need to do is go deer hunt public general season lands in Utah. I am grateful that there are properties such as these that conserve deer and elk. These hunts are outstanding, and the public of Utah can draw them out and have very good hunts. I would dare say that if you did your research and chose a CWMU, with realistic expectations, your hunt would be outstanding, and a much better experience than the Utah general hunt. And, you just might pickup a few more tags during your lifetime, than say waiting for a Henry Mtn tag to come along.
Okay, I understand the longer season dates, what is worse, hunting a 20,000 acre ranch for two month time frame, harvesting 15 bucks and 8 bulls, or opening those gates up for 1 week, and lets put 15,000 hunters in there for a 9 day season. Sounds like a no brainer to me if we are trying to create quality hunts.
Conservation is what a CWMU is all about.
Todd, this program is great for wildlife, great for sportsman, and good for landowners and operators.