Monroe Bulls???!!!

FishlakeElkHunter · Aug 13, 2013

So I spent the weekend up on the Monroe. I hadn't been up there this year, and it is a favorite spot to take the kids and look at elk and go fishing and just have fun. Normally we find LOTS of bulls and the kids love watching the big bulls wander out in the meadows.

This year was CRAZY! In two days I counted over 250 elk..they were everywhere......and the biggest bull I saw???....A SPIKE!!!!!! I could not believe it. In all the areas that usually hold LOTS of bulls this year...NOTHING! I saw 5 spikes and all the rest were cows and calves. I will say that there were lots of calves and the elk herd looked good. But it was amazing that I saw not one brach antlered bull. I have talked to other guys around town the last couple days and everyone is saying the same thing. NO BULLS on Monroe. The feeling is that they gave out too many tags and just shot out this small unit.

One GOOD thing that I did see is some GREAT bucks! This unit has been in bad shape for good deer for a while, and I did see 5 great bucks that would go over 140" and one smoker that is gonna be a 180" plus buck.

Anyone else been up on this unit lately...please tell me I was just unlucky and did not see the bulls?

Ticks N Tines · Aug 13, 2013

You usually don't see the mature bulls hanging out in the same areas with the cows and spikes. In my experience most of the bigger bulls head down into the canyon bottoms and shady stuff this time of year to rub off the velvet and get some good rest before the rut starts.

I think bulls use different areas from year to year as well. There as some canyons on the Pahvant that are full of bulls some years in July, and other years there's nothing in there.

I'm pretty sure someone has seen a bull on the Monroe this year. Rest assured, they are there. Try going down there in Spetember where you saw all the cows and I'm sure you will start seeing bulls.

FishlakeElkHunter · Aug 13, 2013

I agree that bulls do not hang with the cows this time of year. Usually it is 5-6 bulls together and no cows in sight.

But the thing that is concerning is that all the areas...that bulls almost ALWAYS are...there was NOTHING! All the cows were in different areas and we saw them over two days.

I do know that the bulls are there...just nothing like they used to be. I have talked to a lot of local guys that know the mountain better than I do and everyone is saying the same thing. VERY few nice bulls this year. Just wondered if anyone else has been seeing the number of bulls that used to be up there.

2lumpy · Aug 13, 2013

Until recently, taking spike bulls off the Monroe was not legal. The result was a higher ratio of bull/to cows across the unit. J, that I believe you're encountering is the consequence of spike hunting the last three or four years on the Monroe, that is fewer yearling bulls are growing to branch antler status. It usually takes a few years to see the effect of a management change, the spike elk hunt on the Monroe has started to manifest itself. This result was expected by everyone involved from the agency folks, RAC members and the Wildlife Board and the sportsmen. The idea being, with fewer bulls there could be more cows, and more cows produce more offspring, more offspring provide more hunting opportunity for more hunter harvest, Those folks that prefer more opportunity to hunt/harvest like the "hunt spikes" management program, those folks that like to see and or hunt/harvest older bulls, not so much.

My annual branch antler bull count over the last 15 years has been a high of 104 in 2004 and a low of 22 in 2012. The 2013 count was up for the first time in the last 4 years, at 44 branch antlered bulls. (I think this most likely relates to fewer mature bull tags being issued the last two years, in order to increase the age class of the mature harvest that change in 2011.)

To do my count, I drive the same route, on the same morning of the day every year, that being the Weds prior to the 4th of July weekend.) The only year I've altered my route was in 2012, because I'd only seen 11 bulls on my standard route.so I diverted about 500 yards and looked into Henries Hollow which I normally drive past. I found 9 bulls there that I believe moved over from Long Flat, due to the three/four new cabins that were built there recently.

And yes, in the last three years, the cows and calves have moved into the area where the mature bulls used to graze, the most noticeable is the intersection area at Christensen Springs and the road out to Porter's gate.

DC

PleaseDear · Aug 13, 2013

+ 1 2lumpy

Starting to really hear and see the effects of the spike hunt/harvest.

I would not be surprised to see certain LE Bull units have a limit on spike tags available in the near future.

Like a Spike tag draw per some LE Bull units for a spike tag.

Robb