Wasatch LE Late Archery

The weather limited us during the first two days. We’ve seen a handful of bulls, with a couple of the biggest being around 300 inches. Now that there’s a break in the weather, we’ll be covering a lot of ground, hoping to find an even larger bull.
 
300" on a late season Archery tag, on the Wasatch seems pretty good from whats been shared around here, and knowing late season Archery is new and will likely be the lowest harvest rate of any tag out there.

Keep after it, I hope you turn up something your buddy really likes..!
 
BrowningRage said:
300" on a late season Archery tag, on the Wasatch seems pretty good from whats been shared around here, and knowing late season Archery is new and will likely be the lowest harvest rate of any tag out there.

Keep after it, I hope you turn up something your buddy really likes..!
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For sure. Up to this point still nothing that is obvious over 300. We’ve looked over a lot of bulls. Also shout out to @Stubaby he has put a lot of time behind the glass and has looked over a lot of bulls. Keeping our fingers crossed there is a Diamond in the rough out there.
 
This is the best bull we have seen so far. The hunter got to around 80 yards when he busted out. This hunt is difficult and IMO even a rag horn is a trophy.

I would guess this bull to be in that 325" range. Anyone else care to throw out a score? If anyone wants to know where this bull is, it’s on the way to your mom’s house. 🤪

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Stubaby said:
This is the best bull we have seen so far. The hunter got to around 80 yards when he busted out. This hunt is difficult and IMO even a rag horn is a trophy.

I would guess this bull to be in that 325" range. Anyone else care to throw out a score? If anyone wants to know where this bull is, it’s on the way to your mom’s house. 🤪

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Yep, up to this point, this is the biggest bull we have seen. My buddy was able to stalk a smaller couple of bulls last night, but they must have winded him when he was 30 yards out. They were bedded, and he was waiting for them to stand up so he could get a shot over the oak brush. Like @Stubaby said, this hunt is even more challenging than I had thought it would be. I'd love to know if anyone is having success with this new tag.
 
peak2020 said:
Yep, up to this point, this is the biggest bull we have seen. My buddy was able to stalk a smaller couple of bulls last night, but they must have winded him when he was 30 yards out. They were bedded, and he was waiting for them to stand up so he could get a shot over the oak brush. Like @Stubaby said, this hunt is even more challenging than I had thought it would be. I'd love to know if anyone is having success with this new tag.
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No doubt it is a tall task to kill a mature bull elk in the winter with a bow, especially in the thick oak brush. The success on this hunt will be extremely low and likely not even double digits.

I would consider setting up the hunter in a likely exit route and try pushing the bulls to him if spot/stalking in the thick oak brush is not working so well.
 
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With 10(9 res, 1 NR) tags being given I wonder if 4 will get punched at all. 🤷‍♂️. It’s a fun hunt but you better be in shape enough to do a 1200-3000 ft vertical climb during a 3-5 hour stalk every day. If they wouldn’t make you get in the 5 year wait after having drawn then I’d put in for the tag.
 
Yes, last year was a different beast but more often than not, mid December is just like this year and applying in May is a crap shoot at best.
Hats off to the guys out trying to get within bow range of a bull in this crusty snow.
 
Stubaby said:
View attachment 129062


With 10(9 res, 1 NR) tags being given I wonder if 4 will get punched at all. 🤷‍♂️. It’s a fun hunt but you better be in shape enough to do a 1200-3000 ft vertical climb during a 3-5 hour stalk every day. If they wouldn’t make you get in the 5 year wait after having drawn then I’d put in for the tag.
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I will be very surprised if more than 1-2 hunters tag a bull. Will definitely be interesting to see the success rate once the hunt ends and the data is made public.
 
Alright, as @Stubaby mentioned, my buddy managed to get it done last night right before dark. Here's a rundown of the last few days. On Tuesday night, @Stubaby spotted by far the best bull we had seen. We didn't hunt on Wednesday due to work commitments. Thursday morning, @Stubaby relocated the big bull, and my buddy decided to go after him. My buddy hiked up the south side from where this bull, along with four other smaller bulls, were bedded. The night @Stubaby saw this bull, he was feeding on the south slope my buddy was now hiking up. However, on Thursday, the bull, along with the four others, were bedded in the snow and pines on the north slope. Our thinking was that they would bed on the north slope and then, close to sunset, head over to the south slope as they did the other night.

After a couple of hours of hiking, my buddy reached a good spot where we thought they would top over. During the day, the big bull stood up and moved to a spot where we couldn't see him. As the evening approached, three of the smaller bulls stood up and began making their way to the southern slope. However, the big bull still had not shown himself. We knew he was up there. I contacted my buddy, who was up on the ridge, to see if he could peek his head over the ridge in the area where the big bull was bedded in the morning to check if he could spot him from his vantage point. That's exactly what he did. He peeked over, and just 130 yards from my buddy, the big bull was bedded in a spot where we couldn't see him. The bull had no idea my buddy was there. My buddy kept his eyes on the bull, but the bull showed no signs of standing up. It was getting dark, and my buddy knew he needed to make a move. He moved down the ridge a bit and figured that if he could get to a certain spot and pop over, the bull would only be about 50 yards out.

As my buddy moved closer to the big bull, to his surprise, the fourth smaller bull was only 30 yards away and busted him. The smaller bull took off, taking the big bull with him. Seeing that the big bull had left the area, my buddy headed back up the ridge to try and make a play on the three other bulls that had made their way to the south slope. He got into position and was only 50 yards out. With this hunt being such a grind and only a few more days left, my buddy decided to knock an arrow and shoot one of the bulls. He made a great shot, and the bull only went 10 yards before dropping. Due to it being dark, my buddy gutted the bull and left it until morning, when we could join him to help pack it out.

What a crazy, hard hunt! We found a lot of bulls, but getting within bow range of them was quite the challenge. Another issue was the lack of size of the Wasatch bulls this year—just not a lot to choose from. Definitely not the biggest bull, nor my buddy's largest one, but considering the difficulty of this hunt, it might be his most prized kill. A huge shoutout to @Stubaby for his help; couldn't have done it without him.


This was the big bull bedded at 130 yards.
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So much fun. Congrats!!! Thanks for letting me crash the party. It’s fun watching people stalk unsuspecting critters.
 
Thanks for sharing this hunt.! Seems y'all got everything anyone would want out of a hunt, even if the bull might not look like a "trophy", your buddy may never have to work that hard for a bull again. I think that is meaningful. Kudos to you guys.!!
 

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