081 elk

[huntemdown]

How did all you 081 elk hunters do this year? My buddie and I hunted the late rifle hunt , we were disappointed in what we saw and found. The outlook from all the hunters we had contact with was negative for the most part, looking for some others feedback , wondering if the unit has taken a nosedive ? Thanks for any imput .

 

[mtnarchery]

I applied after hunting deer with a buddy in this unit 4 years ago. There were good bulls everywhere back then. This year drew the late tag and saw way more hunters than elk, and very few mature bulls. I think they are giving too many tags now.

 

[dwalton]

My wife had the permit in '07, and I hunted this year. A big drop off in terms of quality bulls.

 

[rwchunter]

I had the early rifle tag. I hunted with a friend that's been going to the area we hunted many years. They've been seeing elk there for the last 10 years or so and the numbers have grown each year. We hunted the first day and a half without seeing an elk. We saw a spike and 3 cows at the end of day 2, and around 25 head about 3 miles away the morning of day 3. They'd moved off by the time we got to where they'd been and we never saw them again. They'd been gathering cows in that area just before the hunt started and I figured they must have ran most of the elk out of the area before we got there. My friend said the area has been full of elk for the last few years. We hunted that same are the morning of day 4 and saw 3 cows, so that afternoon we went to an area about 15 miles away for the evening hunt. I ended up taking a bull that evening after only being in the new area for about 2 hours. We did see another decent bull and some cows just after I took my bull.

I had my hopes set pretty high for this hunt, talked to several guys that hunted this unit the last few years and most said they saw lots of bulls. I was feeling like I stayed in that one area longer than I should have and that I missed out on seeing all the bulls I'd been hearing about. I'd also be interested to hear how others did there this season.

Huntemdown,mtnarchery and dwalton, did any of you take an elk?

 

[nvbones]

Brother had late rifle. Missed a 350+ and ended up taking a decent sized 5x6

 

[huntemdown]

My buddie killed an old regressed bull , biggest bull we could find ! Hunted deep in the China Jim mountain area , where where you guys when you killed ? North part of unit south part , general mountain range ?

 

[ramhead55]

A friend got this one in the late hunt with a guide, the first day.

 

[dwalton]

Took my bull just to the north of the Pequops.