Utah Muzzleloader Hunt???

Prism · Sep 30, 2005

What's the good or bad word out there?

Sure seems like it's been quiet around my neck of the woods.

I only know of one fair buck taken in the central region, and the NE region has been a bust as far as I've heard.

Just curious to see if this years hunt is going to be as poor as think it will be.

The area my family hunts is more crowded than ever. It's one of the few places you can legally drive an ATV on the roads and it is a freaking joke. There's plenty of people off in the woods hiking as well.

Hope you've had better luck than we have.

Good luck!

www.neverenoughbiggame.com

High_Wide_n_Heavy · Sep 30, 2005

Well...I got soaking wet, freezing cold, and saw 2 3points sparring........That counts for something, right?

Aggieman · Sep 30, 2005

I've been hunting in Logan Canyon with my brother who drew a limited entry muzzleloader elk tag and I've seen very few good deer. I've got a muzzle deer tag and all the bucks that I have seen have been small two and three point bucks. We've put some serious mileage on the legs and gotten into the high country but so far, not a lot to get too excited about. We saw several good ones in the area about a month ago but things sure can change fast.

Hope others are doing better out there.

SMELLYBUCK · Sep 30, 2005

My Dad & Uncle went around Kolob Res in Southern Utah. They said they didn't see a deer or any sign at all.

I don't have a tag but went for a hike opening morning around Little Dell in Salt Lake County. There was a fair amount of hunters & I saw 4 deer - two of which were small yearling bucks. I saw 3 hunters pursuing them. Heard about 5 shots all morning.

Deerlove · Sep 30, 2005

I saw more hunters during the bow than muzzy hunt. I found two small 4 pts but not the buck I was looking for. Will try again tommorow. Russ

gdog · Sep 30, 2005

Just returned from hunting around Chepeta Lake above Roosevelt. We didn't see squat up high and ended moving down the mountain to lower elevation. Saw a few forkies and two points. Nothing even worth getting excited about. Was pretty disappointed considering the distance we covered hiking and spotting. Going to try and go out again on Sunday to a different area.

hbh · Sep 30, 2005

Aggieman,

Where up Logan Canyon are you hunting? Just wondering. I shot a small two point with my bow earlier this year up Logan Canyon. I'm guessing you are going to school up here at USU right?

deadI · Sep 30, 2005

I took a small two point last night in central utah, haven't had and venison in the freazer for the last couple years so I wasn't to picky this year. Should be good eaten. Only saw one other two point close enought to shoot at. And only saw one 4 point, however he was a couple miles away.

Jared
aka: DeadI

muzz · Sep 30, 2005

I shot a good 26 to 28 inch 4x4 opening morning. I still havent found him yet, pisses me off, I have never lost a deer to date untill this one. I cant believe it. makes me sick as hell. Shot him and he went right down. I watched him for about 5 minutes and his head was layed flat out and down. Went over there to start the work and when I got within 50 yards of where he waws I looked up and he was gone. I looked all over and up the draw about 300 yards there he was limping out the top. I ran as fast as I could but never found him. No blood trail and couldnt find tracks because of the grass. I looked for 3.5 hours with a friend and nothing. Going back up tomorrow and sunday to look for him. Guess if I find him I get to cut the head off and tag him. No meat for me this year. Pisser to the fullest. I hope everyone else has a better turn out than me.

AntlerKing · Sep 30, 2005

I saw 10 bucks on the operner on the Wasatch Front. We hiked 1 hour in the dark to get into the remote canyon. I had a 24" 4x4 walk 80 yards past me. I opted not to shoot...want somthing better. Lots of small bucks.

littlebuck · Sep 30, 2005

Ive hunted each day. lots of walking, lots of miles on the quad. its been the worst of the last 3 years for me. I did see 2 wild turkeys up past hardware yesterday. I might go up logan on sat. if I see a small buck he might be a target?

wfm · Oct 1, 2005

Paul,

My wife killed a 160ish class buck opener morning. A 4x5 that is 26" main frame with cheater almost 28". The filming is not the best, so you will not want to use it.

How big was the Central buck you heard of?

Dustin

flight · Oct 1, 2005

Hey Paul This is Isaac I met you back at badlands and ran into you in gunnison, and back at the expo in aug i was telling you about the buck i was looking at for the past 2 years well this is my first time muzzleloading in central utah and i got him today he is a 4x3 with two small cheaters off his G-3

Prism · Oct 1, 2005

Isaac,

Mega congrats on that buck. That's a great deer! Sounds like you put in a lot of time and effort to bag that deer! Congrats!

WFM, congrats to your wife. It looks like one heck of a buck too. I'm kicking myself for not going along to film

I still wouldn't mind checking out the footage you did get though. Maybe we could hook up in SLC sometime.

Nice to see a few great bucks were shot, and considering what us Utahn's have to work with on the general hunts they mean that much more!

berg · Oct 2, 2005

Never saw a horn in 4 days

see my post in the MZL section

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/DCForumID14/1155.html

AspenAdventures · Oct 2, 2005

Just got back and it was amazingly beautiful. We went to the same high country we have gone to for the last 11 years. We saw a few 22" 4 point bucks but the quality is down from the average and way down from last year. There are still many deer but the total number of bucks and the quality of bucks is down drastically. The largest buck taken in our area was a 26" 3 point with no eye guards. There seemed to be a lot of 2 points this year and very very few mature bucks.

AndymanSavage · Oct 2, 2005

Hunted the south west end of the monroe and saw very few bucks. Even far from the roads and quads there was nothing. lots of deer, just not many bucks.
Andy

Justice44 · Oct 2, 2005

Went out to run a few errands sunday evening, seen everyone coming home with their trailers and seen a couple of nice bucks in the back of the trucks, I wanted to stop them and see if it was a LE or not, hard to tell, but looks like a few did quite well

Foreman4x4 · Oct 2, 2005

My daughter has a central muzzleloader permit, but we weren't able to make it out until this weekend because of work and school. Spent a couple hours Friday, all day Saturday, and a few hours this morning hiking and glassing country that has normally held a good population of deer. Saw one doe the entire time. I don't know what's going on, but something isn't right.

A lot of the leaves are off the trees, so I thought it'd be a great year for glassing, but the deer just weren't there. I don't really care if she killed a deer, but it sure would've been nice to at least see something to maybe get a little excited about. This past weekend is kind of making me re-think my plans for the general rifle hunt. I sure hope someone is having more success than what we had....

Prism · Oct 2, 2005

Family just got back from 5 days in the NE Region.

The lowest number of deer they've seen since the muzzleloader hunt moved to September.

They saw 3 bucks, one decent 4x4 and 2 dinks and covered A LOT of country.

I hope the DWR, SFW, MDF, etc. get an earfull this fall and look into a different approach at managing our deer-like Colorado's approach!!!

We could of and should of avoided what happened last year. The only thing that got us to a decent level of bucks last year was the mild winters the past 10 years, and all of the conservation tags-hahahahaha

Gator · Oct 2, 2005

I understand that in the SE unit it pretty much the same thing not too many big ones shot, several small ones, IF there is a big one killed it on CMU. Starting to think last year snow hurt the herds more then we want to think.

1shot1kill · Oct 2, 2005

I know he's not a monster, but he's my biggest buck so far. He's a 3-point with eye guards. I took him opening morning, at legal shooting light in the Currant Creek area. Saw him while scouting a couple weeks ago. He's not the biggest buck on the mountain, but he was just too hard for me to pass up. It's going to be great to have some meat in the freezer.

I want to thank everyone here on MM - I've learned a lot from y'all. Happy Hunting!

Prism · Oct 2, 2005

Congrats on yer buck, and to be able to shoot something you found a couple of weeks ago makes it all the better. You were one of the lucky few in the NE region I think!

PleaseDear · Oct 2, 2005

Never saw another hunter on the mountain until friday evening hunt. 2 horse hunters heading up.
All the 'hunters' where sitting on their asses on ATV's down below.......
Saw lots of small-average bucks, bull elk, bighorn sheep, antelope and a ton of cottontails.
I had the 'coveted' NE tag.......... hehe

bobcatbess · Oct 2, 2005

WELL

ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU GUYS ARE GONNA START LISTENING TO THE OLD cat!!!

I'VE WARNED EVERYBODY ABOUT THE 'COVETED' N.E. REGION FOR A FEW YEARS NOW!!!

THIS WILL BE THE YEAR A FEW OF YOU WILL START BELIEVING ME!!!

DAMN FEW HUNTERS & FEWER DEER HERE,I SEEN THE SAME THING LOOKING WAY DOWN BELOW,THE PROFFESSIONAL ATV'ERS RUNNING ROADS & SITTING ON THEIR LAZY A$$ES!!!

JUST THE WAY I LIKE IT!!!

KINDA SAD!!!

NOW IF THE DWR DONE THEIR COUNTS,BOTH CHECKING STATION COUNTS IN '04 & NUMBERS OF DEER LEFT AFTER THE '04 BUCK HUNTS & CURRANT CREEK DOE SHOOTER HUNTS (SLAUGHTER)DON'T YOU THINK THERE SHOULD OF BEEN ONE HELL OF REDUCTION IN PERMITS???

OH NO,WE'VE STILL GOT PLENTY OF DEER LEFT,NOBODY CAN FIND THEM BUT THEY MUST BE SOMEWHERE,YA RIGHT!!!

THERE ARE A BUNCH OF LOCALS HERE THAT ARE PI$$ED BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T GET A DEER TAG,THEY SOLD OUT IN 5 HOURS OVER THE COUNTER,THESE LOCALS ARE USED TO BUYING THEIR PERMIT THE NIGHT BEFORE SEASON,THIS TELLS ME WE WILL BE INVADED BY A BUNCH OF NON-LOCALS ON THE RIFLE HUNT,OH THE 'COVETED' REGION!!!

THE ONLY bobcat SUGGESTING ONCE & AGAIN TO TRADE THE N.E. REGION PERMIT FOR ANY OTHER REGION WHILE YOU STILL CAN,DON'T BELIEVE ME??? JUST COME ON OUT & SEE HOW GOOD THINGS ARE WITH YOUR OWN EYES!!!

RuttCrazed · Oct 3, 2005

I hunted my guts out in the Current Creek area and saw a total of 3 freakin' 2-points! To make things even worse, we didn't even hardly see any does either. I was hitting the mountain hard on the opener and my brother was glassing alot of the basins and bowels and together we saw a couple of does.

Bobcat,
I will be going back out on Thursday, so if you could send my the coordinates to one of the big 4 points you have tied up I would appreciate it.

Rut

cabinfever · Oct 3, 2005

My younger brother killed his first 4 point opening day. Shot him right out of his bed. Not a big four point, but decent. My two other brothers shot at nice four points but did not connect. I did see a nice 5x7 in the back of a guys truck. I saw one small 4 point myself, but elected to pass. The area I hunt has very few deer, and I did not see another hunter in the area we were hunting, however there are a few really good bucks in this area.

Mike

predator · Oct 3, 2005

Hey Bessie, PleaseDear is holding out on you....we do have GPS coordinates for one of those monster forked horns you told us about!!

As for me, I went back out this morning, and once again am seeing only does and fawns.

So SFW, what is the reason for that, huh? Since you took credit for the results of a massive early snowstorm, take credit now for there being no bucks!

HornyMan · Oct 3, 2005

Missed a 27" tall 4 x 4 and shot a 23" 3 point.

I shot the little buck at 282 yards open sights.

muleygrande · Oct 3, 2005

We packed about six miles into Pine Valley's roughest country and never saw a mature buck but lots of does.

Prism · Oct 3, 2005

Whoaaa. I think my dad may have missed the nomad buck tonight. Went out for a quicky tonight to an old archery stomping ground and actually ran into a nice little 4x4. Dad shot high and that's about that. Still don't change my mind when it comes to Utah's shizzy deer management and our overall crappy general season hunts. C'mon Oct. 15 Wyoming is a calling me!!!

I've got a whole list of reasons why our hunts are going down hill, but they all boil down to one thing-too many people for the resource.

The doe slaughter of Currant Creek is going to take MANY years to repair. I'm even starting to think we've pounded the cow elk a bit too much on the Wasatch. Seeing a lot of lonely bulls wandering around and not many good bulls with cows. Maybe that 450" bull on Tabi Mountain is having one hell of time with all of the cows. He's got almost every cow from Heber to Hanna!

bobcatbess · Oct 3, 2005

WELL Pred

WILL YOU PLEASE INDUCE THEM WITH A QUICK ANTLER GROWING HORMONE PLEASE???

RIFLE SEASON AIN'T TO FAR OFF SO PLEASE HURRY!!!

SORRY Rut!!!

I ONLY WISH I HAD ONE TIED UP!!!

ME & MY SON HIKED BACK INTO AN ALPINE BASIN,WE LEFT AT 3:30 A.M. TO BE THERE BY THE CRACK OF DAYLIGHT,WE PEAKED OVER THE EDGE & THE ONLY BUCK IN THE BASIN WAS ALREADY BEDDED & STARRING RIGHT AT US AT 60 YARDS,WHAT I'D OF GAVE FOR THIS TO BE THE NOMADS BUCKS GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER BUT TO NO AVAIL,NOT A BAD BUCK BUT NOT WORTH PACKING OUT OF THIS HOLE!!!

WE HAD A FULL MOON FOR ABOUT 3 WEEKS STRAIGHT,VERY NOC-TURNAL & I THINK THE BETTER BUCKS ARE STILL BEDDING EARLY DUE TO WARM WEATHER CONDITIONS!!!

WELL I GUESS THERES STILL SOME BIGGER BUCKS AROUND,MAYBE I'M WRONG???

THE ONLY bobcat NOT WANTING TO ACCEPT THE DAY & NIGHT DIFFERENCES IN JUST TWO YEARS!!!

oakcreekhunter · Oct 4, 2005

My boss and I went out last Thursday and killed a 30 inch 5X5 with matching cheaters on both G-2's (southern region). The mass on this buck was awesome, he had blades on every antler he grew. There are plenty of big bucks, but its how much work wants to be done to get a monster. My boss shot at this buck last year and missed, and we found him and two other monsters within the same area as last year. I am going back out for the other monster on the rifle hunt.

AntlerKing · Oct 4, 2005

With all this snow I need to be up hunting tomorrow...but they won't give me the day off a work. I missed a 27" 4x4 with deep forks (both backs and fronts). It's a 175'ish buck. With this snow I should have good luck getting him or a bigger one.

B_F_E · Oct 4, 2005

Goodluck Antlerking, I thought you were the boss ? You still are in my book.

I've seen fewer deer up high this year (southern unit) same #'s in the lower elevations.