Elk hunt 2020

[hossblur]

Got home yesterday. I could show pics of of empties, but my 9 yr old is still fuming me and his 14yr old brother missed a chip shot, twice each. We are now "going to tge range to learn how to shoot better". 9 yr Olds are brutally honest.

Few take aways:

1. Hunter who died last year on the N. Slope got found, closure for a family.

2. Its a miracle this entire state isn't actively burning. I've never seen dust at 9800 ft during a elk hunt in Uintas. The Mantis was just as bad muzzy hunting.

3. I hope they never ban atv/sxs. The Uintas were packed. Dudes running around everywhere. Yet as usual, a simple 1/4 mile walk from the road and you have the place to yourself.

4. Rumors of big black dogs running around seem to be less and less rumor all the time.

5. Newbies. Good on guys for trying. Congrats to them. But the N. Slope aint a great place to learn, which im sure all of them learned. Along with learning 2/3 of what Elk 101, Newberg, Born and Raised "taught" them was not real useful either. Im glad it was a warm year, that many newbies running around on a usual nasty weather year would have been dangerous.

 

[Deerlove]

The wasatch soil is like sand.

 

[yoteduster]

Yeah we're in a severe drought Allright

 

[DesertRanch]

Powder dry on the wes desert. I know of nine springs that have quit running water. It’s beyond bad. And the elk hunting out here is almost exactly how you described it. Lots of brand new SXS’s filled with hunters who need a picture to know what an elk is hunting an area that holds a tiny amount of elk.

 

[deadibob]

Lots of dry springs for sure. My archery elk hunt on the Paunsagaunt hovered around 90 most days, this was at 9,000' The weather forecast showed two days where the highs would be around 50-60, I was looking forward to that. Sure enough it cooled off but they didn't mention we'd have winds over 50mph and trees falling over left and right everywhere. The muzzleloader hunt on Pine Valley was nice, it was around two degrees cooler.

It is what it is and you either roll with the punches or go home. There wasn't one day hunting this fall that I wore long pants, shorts every day and man do I have some shredded up legs to show for it ?

 

[rmanwill]

Hateful year for newbies to try to starting hunting!!! Hot and dry all summer made the hunting very tough. Awesome to get out for 10-days on muzzy and enjoy the mountain, friends and good food. Not all about the harvest. Making good memories is what it is about!!!

 

[Broadside_Shot]

Not only is this fall Dry and Tough Hunting. The animals are in bad shape. We killed 2 Bulls in the Book Cliffs during the Archery Hunt and the layer of Fat that should be on them was non existent, very lean, and this was before the Rut hit. It is going to be a hard recovery if we get any amount of Cold and Snow. Everyone I talk to is wishing for snow but I truly hope we just get a lot of rain for a while and maybe some feed can grow for a minute before the winter really hits. Plus next years Antler growth could be as poor as we may have seen. Rough Conditions for the Animals this Year.

 

[slamdunk]

Not only is this fall Dry and Tough Hunting. The animals are in bad shape. We killed 2 Bulls in the Book Cliffs during the Archery Hunt and the layer of Fat that should be on them was non existent, very lean, and this was before the Rut hit. It is going to be a hard recovery if we get any amount of Cold and Snow. Everyone I talk to is wishing for snow but I truly hope we just get a lot of rain for a while and maybe some feed can grow for a minute before the winter really hits. Plus next years Antler growth could be as poor as we may have seen. Rough Conditions for the Animals this Year.

As badly as we need deep snowpack this winter, our animals are so lean this year as you stated that we could have a catastrophic winter kill.
Pray for moisture, just not extreme cold late winter temps.

 

[rmanwill]

Yep. Rain in the valleys and low hills and snow in the mountain tops!!!

 

[JakeH]

Not only is this fall Dry and Tough Hunting. The animals are in bad shape. We killed 2 Bulls in the Book Cliffs during the Archery Hunt and the layer of Fat that should be on them was non existent, very lean, and this was before the Rut hit. It is going to be a hard recovery if we get any amount of Cold and Snow. Everyone I talk to is wishing for snow but I truly hope we just get a lot of rain for a while and maybe some feed can grow for a minute before the winter really hits. Plus next years Antler growth could be as poor as we may have seen. Rough Conditions for the Animals this Year.

If this is true it could explain the rather lack luster rut this year. Cows need to have about 6% body fat to go into estrus, if it takes them longer to reach this goal then the rut could come in late or not at all if there body conditions are in to bad of shape.

 

[ruger1022]

If this is true it could explain the rather lack luster rut this year. Cows need to have about 6% body fat to go into estrus, if it takes them longer to reach this goal then the rut could come in late or not at all if there body conditions are in to bad of shape.

That is super interesting, because as far as I know, the rut never really did kick off in the desert that was under the exceptional D4 drought. I talked to rifle hunters, muzzleloader hunters, and went out for the spike hunt. All the people I talked to didn't hear a bugle or see a bull with a cow. I set out a couple cameras for fun to check when I got back for the spike hunt, and the bulls were grouped together and the cows were grouped together. Never got a pic of a cow and bull together. The animals were in extremely poor condition, no fat on the bull or spike we got. Going to make for a poor spike hunt in a couple years if they never got bred.

 

[deadibob]

As badly as we need deep snowpack this winter, our animals are so lean this year as you stated that we could have a catastrophic winter kill.
Pray for moisture, just not extreme cold late winter temps.

I've never seen the does in such bad shape as I have this year. Not just on one unit either but multiple areas and units. Not all but most of the does I've seen had ribs sticking way out like you would see after a hard winter. Several had hips sticking out like a 20 year old Jersey milk cow (I honestly don't know if they get to 20, but if they did that's what the does look like ?).

Most of the bucks seemed to be faring much better. The buck I shot on Pine Valley had some fat, not a lot but some.

 

[slamdunk]

I've never seen the does in such bad shape as I have this year. Not just on one unit either but multiple areas and units. Not all but most of the does I've seen had ribs sticking way out like you would see after a hard winter. Several had hips sticking out like a 20 year old Jersey milk cow (I honestly don't know if they get to 20, but if they did that's what the does look like ?).

Most of the bucks seemed to be faring much better. The buck I shot on Pine Valley had some fat, not a lot but some.

I suspect the does may be in worse shape due to nursing fawns and being more dehydrated in really dry areas with very limited water sources?

 

[DesertRanch]

Interesting topic. I saw plenty of fawns where I hunted and the does were in spectacular shape as well. We only saw one old doe with twins that looked rough. Out here where I live and ranch the deer are in great shape even with our bad drought. I guess it is different from area to area. We sure need some moisture this fall winter and spring. Hopefully it doesn’t come in the form of 12 foot snow drifts