Utah Bull Elk Late Hunt

HoofingIt

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LAST EDITED ON Nov-29-19 AT 05:25PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Nov-29-19 AT 05:24?PM (MST)

For the first time ever I was going to be able to hunt big bulls in Utah! I'll lay out the details of our adventure below for those interested (long winded)... if you don't want to read all the boring details just skip to the pictures below and know it was everything we'd hoped for!

Back in early May I heard cards were being hit so I raced to check my cards pending transactions and could not believe my eyes... could it really be that after 16 years of putting in I was going to beat the odds and draw that coveted Pahvant tag?! After waiting a little less than a week I finally got the email to confirm... but low and behold it wasn?t my time yet... but even more exciting, my 18 year old son had drawn a late season Wasatch tag with only 3 points (it's nice to be ?that guy?!). Bigger dream than me getting a bull was one of my boys getting one!!

We are DIY guys and started to scout WAAAAY too early but could care less as we dreamed about what could be out there and spent as much time as we could in the hills. Everything I saw (except 1 bull that was taken during the early rifle unfortunately) and read supported the notion that the Wasatch had been over hunted and expectations should be tempered with regards to scoring anything resembling a trophy on the unit now days.

As we got closer to fall a good bull here and there started showing itself which got us pretty pumped... then about the spike hunt everything started disappearing again. We spent time all over the unit and some may recall I was finding dead bulls from the muzzy hunt more than I was seeing them on the hoof. The new midseason rifle was going on during the spike hunt this year which just put more pressure on our unit. Talk about being frustrated.

About 2 weeks prior to the start of our hunt we were scouting EVERY morning and night trying to locate what we were looking for but now looking nearer to winter grounds. I was getting really worried as everything I was seeing was in the 310-320 range but at least we were seeing a ton more bulls. With about 5 days to opening weekend I finally located 2 good bulls running together. 1 was a 6x6 bull with a big frame, heavy, dark horned with white tips, but no real good tine length, the other a solid 6x6 with a shorter main beam, a funky G1, good 3rds, and overall a bull that would look great on the wall. We decided the light horned bull was our number 1!

Day 1: Opening morning we put 3 spotters in position as we hiked about half way to where we saw him the night before. Our spotters located him within about 15 minutes of light. The only issue is they hit the pines right away. We decided to close the distance and wait for him to come out in the evening. That hike was only about 2.5 miles so it was a good place to be. We got into position and had ate lunch by about 12:30.

At about 3:00 we had moved 2 spotters closer to us and left 1 back on the original ridge. i was getting bored waiting and since I now has my spotter I started to look further up the canyon to see if anything else was moving (there were already several other bulls on the same ridge we were on moving around). As luck would have it I spotted a new bull way up the canyon in the middle of some pines. My son got 1 look at him and declared that we had a new #1 (even with a broken 5th he was bigger than our original #1)! We immediately started moving as it was 4:00 now and we had 3.5 miles of nasty terrain to close. We got to within 300 yards of where he was but it was too thick and we couldn't see anything from our vantage point which was below him. Darkness closed in and day 1 was over!

Day 2: Our legs were GASSED from the 12 mile day 1. We decided we were going to sit on the ridge, locate the bull, and develop a plan for day 3... so that's what we did, sat and glassed. We didn't see him in the morning but did locate him in the early afternoon about 200 yards from where we saw him on day 1.

Day 3: The plan was in place... we were going to take the long way around, hike from early morning to get in position from above him and ?hope? to get a shot on him at the bottom of a rock slide area where we had seen him. Only issue was we didn't have a spotter as they all had to get back home and to work. We hiked 11 miles one way with an elevation gain equal to 205 flights of stairs (according to a phone app) by about 2:00. We waited and waited... nothing!

About 15 minutes before dark I decided to blow the old cow call to see if I could get a response... sure enough we got a bull about 500 yards east to whistle back and just below us within 150 yards were got an old bull bugle/growl! You know, that don't eff with me type of bull!!! He was just below us... but again, we couldn't see a damn thing! Darkness set in and you guessed it, we still had a tag to fill. We hiked back what seemed like all night and got back to the cabin at 2:30am! I was now ready to go back to the other bulls but my kid was right ?when you see a bull like that and know he's still up there you gotta stay after him?.

Day 4: Yep, leg rest day. We ?only? put about 8 miles on our legs as we decided to go spot him again and put attack plan 3 together! Well, we didn't see him at all! We knew he was still in there though. There?s a reason these bulls make it thru 600 Wasatch hunters/tags a year.

Day 5: Plan C... We got a spotter back! Plan was to go with him to the place we spotted the day before and once we locate him go straight after him! We spotted him at about 8:00 right on top of one of the rock slides. We watched him go (with 2 other bulls we hadn't seen before) into a patch of about 20 pines. GAME ON! We mapped out a spot to get to (which was really the only open spot in the vicinity) and plan the next step.

We got there (about 900 yards out) and ate lunch. It was about 2:30 and we decided to try and get closer by dipping into the pines to the west of us, gain a ton of elevation (we were at about a 50% grade), and pop out at about their level in the rock slide. As we were getting ready to move I radio?d my spotter... the sun was right in his line of sight and he couldn't see anything! I glassed up there real quick and holy crap, he was out feeding already!! We moved quick and within about an hour we were at the spot by the rockslide right where we wanted to be. The bulls were now all out feeding and moving into heavier cover but our spotter still couldn't see them.

I sent my son by himself to sneak up the snow covered slide (we were about 400 yards out). After about 10 minutes I snuck my way up with him. I could see 2 of the bulls silhouettes in the brush but was having a tough time seeing which one was the shooter we were after. About this time my spotter got visibility and told me he was in there but that we may want to look at the bull in the middle which was new to us. That bull stepped into a window where we could get a good look at him and game over at 218 yards!

52 miles in 3 hiking days but well worth it to us... We LOVE this bull!

We worked our butts off! Hunt of a lifetime, experience of a lifetime, bull of a lifetime! Huge congratulations to my son Nick on a trophy of a lifetime!

Shoutout to my best friend from childhood to now Brennen (spotter), my good friend and cousin Chad, and good friend Shea for their help and dedication during this hunt!

PS- There aren't any good bulls left on the Wasatch so don't put in there so my wife and other son can draw it next year;)


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Awesome story and what a bull !!!

I think you guys passed me opening morning and had guys glassing on either side of me. I think I filmed your bull opening day in the afternoon, but he was so far away the heat waves made that thing look freakish and I wasn't sure what I was looking at.

I was glassing for and helping a friend up that way for one day and they were done with that spot :)

Congrats on a fantastic reward for you efforts !!!

Cheers,
Pete
 
Smoker bull

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
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Awesome recap of your epic adventure.
Late Elk are tough...unless of course you find a pocket of big bulls :)
I Love seeing young guy's have success.
Congratulations
 
What's not to love about that bull great shape, unbroken, nice ivory tips and he's big. Congrats to your son.

"We don't have a gun problem we have prescription drug problem."
 
Very awesome bull, I love his character!
Congratulations on a great bull and thank you for sharing the story?
 
Great looking bull! He's a big one!!

Brian Latturner
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