Our Nebo Early Rifle Elk Hunt

woodruffhunter

woodruffhunter

Long Time Member
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I hope this thread doesn't get too ?long winded?, but I am sure it probably will?..

This hunt started last year when my dad unexpectedly drew an Expo tag for the Nebo Early Rifle unit. Like many, we put in for a lot of elk units and had zero knowledge
of the unit. We were in for a BIG surprise.

After talking to others that new and/or hunted the unit, we came to the conclusion that a 320? bull would be a great goal with a bigger bull a bonus. My dad wasn?t too concerned with numbers and felt that any ?good six point? would be great.

We finally made our first scouting trip back in July. We did nothing more than drive the boundaries of the unit and travel over the Nebo Loop. The first thing that came to mind as we were looking things over was how STEEP it was. We didn't accomplish too much but the scouting trip was a decent start.

Thanks to some great help, we narrowed an area for our next scouting trip. It was about a 3 mile hike in. After hiking in about 2 miles on a good trail, we saw our first elk. They were far away but we could tell that they were 2 good bulls. The first bull was probably a decent 5X5 (too far to tell). However, the other bull was really good and definitely a ?shooter?. Next to the antlers, the first thing I noticed about the elk on this unit was their capes. They were very light colored and looked amazing with their large velvet racks. Seeing these bulls, caused us to shift a gear and really get excited about the upcoming hunt.

We ended up making a few more scouting trips down to this general area and each time we would see elk. The last weekend before the hunt, there were at least six bulls bugling in the area. We had seen a few people on horses, but we were the only ones that we had seen on foot scouting this area. Therefore we had high expectations before the start of the hunt. As I said earlier, it was the weekend before the opener so we were confident that we would be into bulls on opening morning.

To be continued...
 
Sorry it taking a little while to type...

Saturday the 13th:

It was hard to sleep the day before the opener. We were excited about the opening day (Saturday). We were very worried about other hunters beating us to the area we had scouted. Therefore we decided to wake up at 3:00 AM and start hiking. When we arrived at the trailhead, we were the first ones there. Off we went. As we were hiking, we were surprised that everything was quiet. We kept on walking and finally arrived in the area well before light. Finally, it started to get light and we started making out the trees and mountains with our binoculars. Still, we had not heard any type of bugle or sound. We spent the next few hours glassing. As it was warming up, it was obvious that the elk had left the area. To say we were frustrated was an understatement.

We decided to hunt back from where we had come. We worked our way back stopping to glass, cow call, and occasionally bugle. We never heard anything. Later that afternoon we finally made it back. We decided to eat lunch at camp, rest, and work on another plan for an evening hunt.

After we rested, we decided to try a new area (that we had heard about) and see what we could find. It was on the other side of the unit and we had a long ways to drive. When we finally arrived at the trailhead we were still a little tired from the morning. We started hiking and it was straight UP. It was 80 degrees and we were just about dead from hiking. Continued hiking and never made it as far as we wanted to go. We didn't see or hear any elk. Dejected, we came rolling in to our camp late that evening.

Sunday the 14th:

Decided not to hunt Sunday morning and rest. Went for a drive and stopped and talked to some other hunters. They had been successful opening morning and had taken a nice bull. They gave us some information to a new area and we decided we would give this a try. We went that evening and looked over the area. We made a plan for the next morning and would be in the area well before light.

Monday the 15th:

We arrived that morning to bulls bugling everywhere. However, we were in a large steep canyon and the bulls were on the opposite side on the top third of the mountain. Where they were at was steep and thick. You could catch a glimpse of an elk at times but for the most part, they would hardly move. We hunted lower figuring it would have been an 8 hour hike just to reach the bulls that we had seen. This area was some of the steepest, thickest terrain I had ever hunted. The elk knew they were safe and as we would find out later, would not move much as the hunt progressed.

After another long day and several miles of walking, we were unsure of what we would do the next day.
 
Ditto with the ice procedure... Drew the muzzy tag for this unit 2 years ago. Very tough hunt. Ate tag soup. I'm on the edge of my seat here waiting to see how your hunt ended.
 
Tuesday the 16th

We decided that we would spend the day and evening in the same area. Although it would be difficult hunting, we knew there were elk in this area. This would perhaps be our last day of hunting. Without going into too much detail, my son was scheduled for foot surgery (2 days at least in hospital) and my dad did not want to be hunting alone.

We were back in the same area and experienced similar results as the previous day. We decided to move to the bottom of the canyon and walk a trail through the bottom. As we walked, we could still hear some bugles so we started calling. Apart from all the other bugles, there was a raspy sounding bull that was lower of to our right (instead of the upper left side of the canyon with all the other elk).

We started calling but it was obvious that he did not want to leave his cows. He did get close (a 100 yards or so), but would come closer. It was so thick we felt a stalk was impossible. We quietly moved up the trail and could see several wallows that elk had
hitting. By this time, it was late morning and everything had pretty much shut down (including ourselves).

We decided to wait it out all day and save ourselves from an extra 3 miles of hiking.
We dosed off for a while and woke up to cooler temperatures and some light rain. Shortly after, I thought I heard a bugle. We got up and started moving down the canyon.
I made some cow calls and immediately got a response from some bulls. They were in the pines and had no intentions of moving.

Another bull bugled and it was obvious from the sound and location it was the bull from earlier in the morning. It was moving in and was fairly consistent responding to my calls. I did not want to bugle as long as he was responding to the cow calls. I didn't want it to move its cows again and leave. Once again it got within a 100 or so yards. I could hear it raking trees and obviously it was irritated. But once again, it would not come closer.

We continued to hunt the evening and heard, in my opinion, no less that 15 bulls in the canyon. I had never seen elk act this way. They would not move and just held up in the pines and maples. I am sure they had been pressured by earlier hunts and were not going to move.

As we walked back to our truck it started to rain and we could still hear the elk bugling after dark. Soaked and frustrated, we didn't make it back to camp until 11:00PM that
night. It had been a long tiring day..
 
Wednesday morning was spent cleaning up and getting ready to leave for home. I would arrive home and wait to see
how my sons surgery went. As I was with my 2 other kids at home, my wife called and said it did not go well. Long
story short, my sons full was full of infection. I called my dad and told him I was done with the hunt.

Thursday was still the same and as Friday morning came, my wife told me to go back hunting, everything was stable. I did not really want to go given my sons situation. However,after another call my son and my wife told me to go (again) and spend Saturday hunting.

So I left Friday night and finally arrived back at my trailor. We decided we were going to stay hunting the same area as the previous days and see what would happen. However, this time we were not going to spend a lot of time waiting on the bulls to come to us. We were going to be more aggressive in hunting them-we were running out of time.

Saturday September 19th

This would be our last day hunting and we wanted to leave early. We did leave early but still had to hurry in order to get back to our spot. Once there, same thing happened. Lots of bugling, elk were in pines and on the other side of the mountain. We waited for about 20 minutes hoping a bull would come down to water or show itself in the lower part of the canyon.

My dad said he wanted to hike to the elk. I was surprised he said this. I have hunted some rugged steep terrain but this areawas the toughest and steepest terrain I had ever been on. I hunted the Henry Mountains last year (which is pretty steep), but it didn't even compare.

I agreed to do it and we started our hike. I had figured it would take us 8 hours in order to get to the top. We soon had
3 bulls calling back to us. However, they would not come to us. I was using a "Hoochie Mama" cow call and was having
a lot of doubts about it (but that is a whole other story). After it warmed 2 of the bulls went silent and we were left with onebull calling back. We actually found some good trails when we got right in the center of the pines. We were making bettertime than we had anticipated, and could see elk sign everywhere. As we would walk, we would come across tress that had been stripped of their bark and had been beaten to death by a rutting bull.

As we were getting responses from this bull, it dawned on us that it was moving about 100 or so yards ahead of us every so often.This continued up the steep mountain until we were near the top. We were now in the area of where we had seen and heard manyother elk in previous days and that morning. We started to angle to our right and hope that we could get a response or possible jump them from their beds........
 
The biggest spike we have ever seen walked about from the trees surrounded by his harem of cows, we knew it was way bigger than Stinky's bull... Easily B&C... JK Waiting patiently for pictures.
 
As we continued across the side of the mountain, we came in to thick patches of maples and oak brush. Everything was silent and it was now around 11:00 AM.We decided that they had moved out and that we needed to get back.

Our hunt was pretty much over. We were hungry and thirsty and decided to sit down and rest for a while. We sat down and just as we got ready to eat/drink, we heard a the brush below us moving. We both jumped on our feet and seperated.

I didn't see anything and was waiting. Just then, my dad told me there was a good bull and that he was taking him. A fired a shot and then lost the elk. A few moments later, out came the bull again. Two more shots and it disappeared. I blew a quick cow call and waited, still in shock at what had just happened. Shortly after the cow callI heard the strangest bugle that I had ever heard. I guess it was some sort of death bugle or something. I had never heard of anything like this and just stood thereas my dad when down to look for the bull.

It took a while directing hime to where I thought it was. He finally found the bull and the hunt was over. Its amazing to me
that he was lucky enough to get a shot in that thick cover. I guess sometimes everything just falls in place. the bull was no monster but a nice six point and wecouldn't have been happier with the results. We were not able to get field photos (my fault), but did get some pic's of the rack and also of the pack off the mountain.

I will send them to Brian and post them later this evening.
 
Man, what a great story!!!! I can't wait to see the pics.

buck1.gif


Later, Brandon
 
Very good/entertaining read; looking forward to the pics, too.

I hiked that darn mountain a couple times back during my college days, so I can appreciate what you must have got yourselves in to, and have a lot of respect for you being able to pull it off. Big congrats.
 
LAST EDITED ON Sep-23-09 AT 08:18PM (MST)[p]Browtine/Kilo,

I sent you the pic's to post; thanks in advance.

I appreciate all the nice comments. I have a whole new respect for elk hunting. I have been on a lot of different elk hunts, but this hunt was the hardest one I have been on.

I admire someone who applies for this unit. I sure wouldn't lol.. It was very rewarding and I am grateful for the opportunity to do it. But I will say I am glad its over!!

I am not too big on scores but I guess this bull to be around
300-310" We feel fortunate and very lucky to have got it.

If any of you are hunting this unit and want help, I would be
more than happy to give you GPS's coord's. Just send me a PM me.

Hope everyone has a great season!!
 
Jason ? Great story and hunt! Congratulations to your dad and to you for helping him. The two of you sure worked hard for the bull. Great job. Hope your son is doing well and the infection is under control. A big thank you for your help with my antelope hunt. You showing me the area and what to look for was a big help. Very grateful to you for all you did. Thanks for sharing your story, it was a good read and enjoyable.
 
Congratulations to DAD!
Would love to see a pic of the bull! :)
I was with my dad 10 years ago in Colorado when he killed his first and only bull. It was a great moment!
 
Man Jason you made my day with that story!

Awesome writing, you had me hooked on every word.

I was seriously clenching my fist hope'n you'd pull it off.

Some may call it luck, I say you made it happen. You came up with the plan, put the effort and work in, climed that SOB of a mountain, and you both need to be commended for sticking to it and MAKING it happen. Alot of others would have thrown in the towel.

So cool to share it with your dad too. Give him my congrats.
 
Ya shoot em over to me, I'll post em up. You still have my email? My MM profile email should still be active too.
 
Great story and Nice looking Bull. Hope everything with your son turns out OK.


"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
 
LAST EDITED ON Sep-24-09 AT 08:32PM (MST)[p]lucaar,

We did not see it. However, I really appreciate the help. I hope your elk hunt was a success.

Gator,

Thanks for the concern, my son is doing much better. What started out as a bad week, turned out great..
 

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