Maybe I am pouting but here goes... My dad and I both drew the general region E tag for wyoming and the wasatch west tag here in Utah. After a tough five hunting days (and many scouting trips) in wyoming of 50+ mph winds and very few bucks (only caught a half second glimpse of one shooter before he spooked from his bed and was long gone done the backside of the ridge)we thought we'd have better luck closer to home in the wasatch west unit. Last year we hunted near strawberry ridge and diamond fork and saw some nice bucks so we put in for that tag again. We were successful in drawing the tag but boy was it hard to fill the tag. Both my dad and I were okay with coming home from wyo empty handed knowing that the utah hunt would be much kinder or so we thought. We hunted the diamond fork area near strawberry ridge for 4 days (again excluding many scouting days) and only saw two bucks. One was a forked horn and one was a tall two point.... That is it! We saw about 15 does and fawns every day but those were the only two bucks. My dad and I are anti-four-wheeler and really enjoy putting the backpack on and getting off the beaten path... and boy did we ever on this trip. I have never hiked so many miles on ridge tops, in short we hunted harder than we ever have before. We talked to several other hunter that were very frustrated as well. The deer did not seem to be where they were last year at all. We thought the snow was going to help but it did not. I think there are a few factors that led to our tag soup. That area seemed to increase in pressure since the conversion to the 30 unit system. Last year we saw few hunters a field and practically none way back in there. This year we saw several people many miles in. Last year we saw most of the deer using/bedding/feeding near the large aspen bowls/groves in the area. This year none of the aspen trees had any leaves. They had all fallen of early cuz of the drought. Last year many of the trees still had golden leaves. Anyway, we did not see any deer using the aspen groves like last year. During the heat of the day we like to push these groves and jump deer and in years past we have jumped good bucks. This year we did not jump a single deer. The third reason I believe is because of the full moon. I think the bucks have seen increased pressure in the area and because of the full moon as well they were able to go completely nocturnal. We saw lots of sign of bucks (tracks and droppings) but we couldnt find em during the day. Maybe it was just an off year for me but as hard as we hunted and as little as we saw I am wondering if I should start to question my hunting tactics. It always seems the road doggers get the bucks and the backpackers like me dont, despite working harder. Maybe the solution is stick to the roads and cover more ground or maybe its just the unit. I dont know... Hopefully my luck improves next year. I am now wondering if all the deer had moved way down low because of the snow and the leaves falling off early. Anybody out there have success in the Wasatch West 17a unit? Anybody have success in the diamond fork area specifically? I would love to see some pictures... Even though seeing the sluaghterfest of huge bucks from this year is depressing for me and my double tag soup! The worse thing is I have to wait another entire year for revenge.
