2023 Family Adventures

Elkslayer1125 · May 22, 2023

2023 is already shaping up to be a good season for my family and myself. I was fortunate enough to draw a Summer bear tag here in Utah and have some fun hunts planned for the fall. So far my dad has drawn a Wyoming elk tag and I plan on hunting Idaho deer and Colorado elk with family and friends! It should make for a fun season!

So far my year has consisted of putting miles on my new horse Chisolm, hopefully he will be a big contributor to my hunting this fall!

Elkslayer1125 · May 22, 2023

I’ve also started making and rounding up bear bait which has consisted of old food, dog food, and popcorn. Here’s how I’ve been making the popcorn!

First it gets popped on the camp chef.

Then it gets moved over to this cardboard box where sugar and kool-aid are added. This mixture has worked in the past and hopefully it works this year!

Elkslayer1125 · May 25, 2023

I just got my unsuccessful email from the Utah DWR. For this first time in my life I did not draw a Utah deer tag, or any big game tag in Utah for the matter. Guess I’ll really be focused on Idaho and Colorado now.

Elkslayer1125 · Jun 2, 2023

Made it out for the first few days of the bear hunt. Went to my first site and somebody else had already set up bait there, not sure how that works but they had a registration certificate just like I did. I moved on to spot #2 and got the bait all set up.

I spent the next morning glassing and didn’t turn up any bears but while driving back to camp had a beautiful cinnamon bear run across the road in front of me about 200 yards away, he disappeared without any shot opportunity. Later that day I got my tree stand set up and ready to go!

I’ll head out next Friday for 4 days of hunting, hopefully the bears will be hitting the bait!

Elkslayer1125 · Jun 11, 2023

I was only able to get out for 2 nights, I had 1 bear that had hit the bait a few times while I was gone but nothing else. I spent Friday night in the stand and had a sow with 2 cubs come into the bait, they spent about 45 minutes there and it was pretty cool to watch!

Then on Saturday night I sat the stand again but no bears came in. I’ll be headed out again on Thursday where I’ll be able to do 4 maybe 5 evening sits, hopefully by then the bears will be hitting more consistently.

Elkslayer1125 · Jun 16, 2023

Yesterday was a good day, I got up on the mountain at about 2:00 and went to check my bait. The bait was pretty much gone and I had numerous bears on my trail camera.

I reset the bait and did a honey burn, then the weather started to get bad with heavy winds and rain, I decided to head back to camp and wait until the morning to hunt. At about 7:00 the weather broke and I decided to go sit the stand for the last hour and a half of light. I began walking into the stand with the wind in my favor, as I got closer I could see a bear was already on the bait. I took my pack off and knocked an arrow, I began sneaking closer but he either saw or heard me and spooked about 10 yards. I had a clear lane and drew my bow but he turned and walked straight away from me. He wasn’t able to resist the bait though as he turned around and came back. He began to circle to my left trying to catch my wind and I had an opening at 35 yards. I stopped him in the opening and let the arrow fly, he ran about 25-30 yards and that was it! Pretty exciting and my first bear, not a giant but I’m super happy with him!

Elkslayer1125 · Jun 29, 2023

I just got some good news! I’m super excited! I may turn the deer tag in but am still undecided.

Elkslayer1125 · Aug 21, 2023

I had a good opening day here in Utah, I had to work in the morning but headed up in the early afternoon to help my Step-Dad Tim who had a general archery deer tag. Just before I got to the trailhead he messaged me saying he shot a buck. He made a good 20 yard shot on his best velvet buck! My sister joined me for the pack out and it made for a good first day of the season! Next up is Wyoming Elk and Idaho Bear!

Elkslayer1125 · Sep 5, 2023

I just got back from a great trip to Wyoming, I spent the weekend with my dad hunting the opening weekend of his limited entry elk hunt. The area was beautiful, and it was my first time in that part of the state!

The hunting was also great, our first night we got into a bugling bull but couldn’t make it happen, we then spotted a really good bull with 27 cows right at last night and decided to come back the next morning and look for him. We were able to find him in the morning but couldn’t get on him before he hit the timber, we spent the morning hunting another good bull and got within 125 yards but couldn’t get any closer. We then spent the rest of the day exploring the area. That evening the wind moved in and we didn’t see many elk, the last morning was more of the same without many elk sightings and a storm moving in. We packed up and headed home, but we’ll be back on the 15th for 9 days of hunting and I’m optimistic we’ll have a really good hunt! Here’s a few more photos.

Elkslayer1125 · Oct 2, 2023

Well the last few weeks have been fun, my dad and I returned to his elk unit on September 15th and had a great week of hunting! The rut wasn’t in full swing but we had elk in bow range nearly every time out in the field, he ended up missing a small 6 point on the second day we were there and we came home empty handed after 8 days of hunting. Fast forward to the 30th and we headed back to Wyoming for the rifle opener. That night found us watching a bull we had chased multiple times on the archery hunt, we had a great plan and figured we could ambush him in the morning.

Sure enough the next morning we found the bull with his 18 cows, we were able to sneak into 150 yards and dad made a great shot! Not the biggest bull on the unit but it was the second best bull we saw after spending 16 days there! My dad definitely deserved this bull!

Now it’s off to Idaho in 2 weeks for more elk hunting!

Elkslayer1125 · Oct 24, 2023

My hunting season has come to end, I had a great week of hunting in Idaho and was able to fill my tag. The hunt started the day before the opener setting up camp.

After setting up camp we hit the hills looking for a shooter bull, just before dark we spotted a great bull in the 330-340 range with a herd of cows. We decided to go after him opening morning. We managed to get into his herd opening day but never got a look at the bull before they busted, we spent the rest of the day looking for him but were unsuccessful.

Day 2 we decided to hike into a new area that looked promising on the maps, we hiked in about 4 miles and glassed up some elk 2 miles further into the drainage, we decided to loop around the other way to see if we could find them that evening but were unsuccessful once again.

Days 3 and 4 were more of the same with us glassing up bulls at long distances or only finding smaller bulls. On the evening of day 5 we hiked down into a nasty canyon where I spent the evening within 150 yards of a herd of 50 cows that had 2 bulls, unfortunately they were both rag horns so I decided to pass.

On the morning of day 6 I decided to drive the roads and cover country in search of a shooter bull. At about 8:00 my Dad spotted a good bull with a group of 10-12 cows about 1500 vertical feet above us and about 1000 yards away. I decided this was a shooter bull for me so we scrambled up the steep face until we were close enough for a shot. My first 2 shots hit the bull in the lungs and my 3rd hit him in the neck, I’m pretty sure the 4th shot was a miss but the bull went down! Shortly after recovering the bull my Step-Dad Tim showed up to help myself and my dad pack out the bull! I’m so grateful for My Dad, Tim, and my Uncle Patrick for all of their help on this hunt! Hopefully I’ll be able to return the favor sooner rather than later.