Split archery LE seasons

goforbroke

Active Member
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633
I love archery hunting and I am one of those that hate Utah archery dates. To me it seems that the rutting action is going into October later and later. As we can’t seem to get any traction in making archery season later, anyone like the idea of having archery 2 weeks before rifle then for 2 weeks after muzzy?
 
No. You don’t need the rut to kill elk with a bow. The dates are what they are. That’s the season. Don’t like it? Apply for a rifle tag and then hunt with your bow.

here’s something to consider. If they moved the archery hunt to later in the year and success climbed, you wouldn’t have unlimited OTC GS archery tags available for very much longer. Be grateful for the opportunities that exist now. At some point these opportunities will go away and the hunting seasons and permits will be more restrictive than they already are.
 
Season dates are not practical in utah. I pushed for an LE split season a few years back. The Manti used to have an extended archery hunt that allowed general tag holders to hunt big bulls. The purpose of this hunt was to keep elk from crossing the highway. The major issues were the same few hunters were killing big bulls using all kinds of bait, private property and what not, and elk were still crossing the highway. It didn't really solve anything. I proposed that Manti LE archery hunters be given a second season Nov. 20 - Dec31. for Sanpete valley only. Allowing the hunt to continue but only LE tag holders could hunt the mature bulls.

The only way archery hunters will be taken seriously is to organize and get archery sympathizers on the wildlife board etc.
 
Season dates are not practical in utah. I pushed for an LE split season a few years back. The Manti used to have an extended archery hunt that allowed general tag holders to hunt big bulls. The purpose of this hunt was to keep elk from crossing the highway. The major issues were the same few hunters were killing big bulls using all kinds of bait, private property and what not, and elk were still crossing the highway. It didn't really solve anything. I proposed that Manti LE archery hunters be given a second season Nov. 20 - Dec31. for Sanpete valley only. Allowing the hunt to continue but only LE tag holders could hunt the mature bulls.

The only way archery hunters will be taken seriously is to organize and get archery sympathizers on the wildlife board etc.
They have already catered enough to the archery guys. A season longer than the other 3 LE hunts combined AND special OIL tags just for archers. How many OIL muzzy tags do you see them handing out every year?

and there is already 1 archery sympathizer on the board currently that I know of. Might be more.
 
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They have already catered enough to the archery guys. A season longer than the other 3 LE hunts combined AND special OIL tags just for archers. How many OIL muzzy tags do you see them handing out every year?

and there is already 1 archery sympathizer on the board currently that I know of. Might be more.

Living in a state that is 100% random draw with no point system (not that is fixes anything) sucks in that you can't even plan to draw in 10, 15, or 20 years.

HOWEVER, archery seasons are longer because rates of success are lower. It takes 3 to 4 weeks to even achieve 12% success rates in "normal" hunting conditions and somewhat higher in highly controlled units.

The only thing a split season does is to attempt to control the people nose count in the hills at the same time and if an OTC general season were split, guess how many people would buy tags for the first hunt relative to the second?
 
They have already catered enough to the archery guys. A season longer than the other 3 LE hunts combined AND special OIL tags just for archers. How many OIL muzzy tags do you see them handing out every year?

and there is already 1 archery sympathizer on the board currently that I know of. Might be more.
Are you serious?.....rifle elk hunt is middle of the rut, muzzy elk hunt is basically a single shot rifle anymore in the prime of the rut. Nothing about this state caters to archery hunters when it comes to elk hunting. I'm not complaining, but this is a ridiculous statement.
 
You can buy a 3 season elk tag for Gen season, but you can't hunt past sept 12 with a bow? Stupid. Make it all of Sept, but you CANT do all 3 seasons.
 
No. You don’t need the rut to kill elk with a bow. The dates are what they are. That’s the season. Don’t like it? Apply for a rifle tag and then hunt with your bow.

here’s something to consider. If they moved the archery hunt to later in the year and success climbed, you wouldn’t have unlimited OTC GS archery tags available for very much longer. Be grateful for the opportunities that exist now. At some point these opportunities will go away and the hunting seasons and permits will be more restrictive than they already are.
You don't need the rut to kill an elk with a bow, but apparently you do to kill them with a single shot rifle (muzzy) and a long range sniper rifle? Ya that makes sense haha. Move your rifle hunts into mid October and restrict your muzzys back to open sights or 1x scope. Give archery guys the month of September like all our neighbors do. Utah is bassakwards when it comes to our elk hunting, because it is strictly based on money and big auction tags.
 
They have already catered enough to the archery guys. A season longer than the other 3 LE hunts combined AND special OIL tags just for archers. How many OIL muzzy tags do you see them handing out every year?

and there is already 1 archery sympathizer on the board currently that I know of. Might be more.
The length of the season has noting to do with what any of us are talking about, but you. Nice try. There's only one type of hunting that still requires a little effort to get close. Muzzleloader hunting doesn't come close in that category anymore. We will continue to organize and pursue better season dates. BTW they could offer double the archery tags and success rates still wouldn't equal the number of animals killed on the rifle or muzzleloader hunt. Even with the Gigantic, Colossus season archers currently have.
 
The length of the season has noting to do with what any of us are talking about, but you. Nice try. There's only one type of hunting that still requires a little effort to get close. Muzzleloader hunting doesn't come close in that category anymore. We will continue to organize and pursue better season dates. BTW they could offer double the archery tags and success rates still wouldn't equal the number of animals killed on the rifle or muzzleloader hunt. Even with the Gigantic, Colossus season archers currently have.
Then why don’t you push for a 7 day archery hunt September 13-19?

archery really doesn’t force anyone to “get close” anymore with equipment that makes 100+ yards shots possible. Yeah guns might kill more, but I’d bet the wound/loss percentage for bows is equal or higher to the guns wound/loss percentage.
 
Success rates don't lie. I call BS on archery wound/loss percentages being any higher than long range rifle/muzzy hunting has become. If you want to give me 10 days Sept 20th-30th, archery only, on a LE unit you have a deal IMO.
 
If you archery guys really think the LE early rifle week is when you want to hunt, then wait a few more years and draw the early ANY LEGAL WEAPON tag and hunt with a bow. Simple. The way I see it, archers have the most opportunity because they can hunt on the any weapon tags too!
A few years back, I archery killed a pretty good bull moose on a rifle tag. It took discipline. I just refuse to put down the bow, even when the woods were filled with guys packing rifles.
 
The Any weapon (rifle) lobby is about ten times bigger than the archery lobby. That is the reason it is the way it is now. Good luck changing those minds.
 
If you archery guys really think the LE early rifle week is when you want to hunt, then wait a few more years and draw the early ANY LEGAL WEAPON tag and hunt with a bow. Simple. The way I see it, archers have the most opportunity because they can hunt on the any weapon tags too!
A few years back, I archery killed a pretty good bull moose on a rifle tag. It took discipline. I just refuse to put down the bow, even when the woods were filled with guys packing rifles.
Filled with rifle moose tags??
 
If you archery guys really think the LE early rifle week is when you want to hunt, then wait a few more years and draw the early ANY LEGAL WEAPON tag and hunt with a bow. Simple. The way I see it, archers have the most opportunity because they can hunt on the any weapon tags too!
A few years back, I archery killed a pretty good bull moose on a rifle tag. It took discipline. I just refuse to put down the bow, even when the woods were filled with guys packing rifles.
I hear you on a once in a lifetime hunt I prefer to archery hunt. I killed my mountain goat with a bow. You are also right an archery guy could wait more than a few more years to draw an any weapon tag and hunt with his bow, but that is nearly as ridiculous as putting the gun hunts in the heat of the rut. This has been a debate for years. With that said I will continue to put in for LE archery elk tags and hunt the early dates, but it would make biological, opportunistic and common sense to move the rifle hunts into October....
 
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