U
Utarded
Guest
Now this situation caused me some heartache, grief, frustration, and well more frustration this weekend on my Utah spike muzzleloader hunt. Saturday afternoon I got on a group of 4 bulls, a beautiful 6x7 that was palmated on the 7 side at the tail end, a pair of 4x4's, and at first what appeared to be a 3x1. Now, I was at 110 yards and was preparing to pull the trigger on the 3x1 as it would be legal. I stopped and checked one more time to be sure that he was just a spike there, and he just looked too thick up top so I didn't take the shot. Now, Sunday afternoon I took another look at this bull, and sure enough he did have a point that I doubt was all of 1/2" but I didn't want to risk it.
The curious part of this scenario was Sunday morning I was headed out of camp and another hunter(a lucky sob with a LE tag...) asked me about some bulls and I told him of the 6x7 and naturally my frustration with his younger companion. Well, this guy then asked what I thought the proclamation meant in its definition of a spike being "a bull whose antler does not branch above the ears" and would an eyeguard count? So I double checked and sure enough that is what the proclamation says. This made my Sunday encounter all the more tempting because his 3pt side is a pair of eyeguards and the remainder of the beam, the two eyeguards being below the tops of his ears from where they originate. I didn't take the bull as I wanted to hear some more thoughts on this matter...
Does this definition bother anyone else? I seem to feel that a spike is simply a spike with one tine per antler....
Any thoughts/insights? I think according to the proclamation I could have legally taken this bull, but I didn't want to haul out a couple hundred pounds of elk 3 miles uphill to camp only to have it, my gun, and my truck taken away!
The curious part of this scenario was Sunday morning I was headed out of camp and another hunter(a lucky sob with a LE tag...) asked me about some bulls and I told him of the 6x7 and naturally my frustration with his younger companion. Well, this guy then asked what I thought the proclamation meant in its definition of a spike being "a bull whose antler does not branch above the ears" and would an eyeguard count? So I double checked and sure enough that is what the proclamation says. This made my Sunday encounter all the more tempting because his 3pt side is a pair of eyeguards and the remainder of the beam, the two eyeguards being below the tops of his ears from where they originate. I didn't take the bull as I wanted to hear some more thoughts on this matter...
Does this definition bother anyone else? I seem to feel that a spike is simply a spike with one tine per antler....
Any thoughts/insights? I think according to the proclamation I could have legally taken this bull, but I didn't want to haul out a couple hundred pounds of elk 3 miles uphill to camp only to have it, my gun, and my truck taken away!