Would you turn in your tags?

[codycoyote]

Ok guys here is the scenario. I broke my ankle Memorial Day weekend (dirt bike wreck). I drew 3 Utah archery tags! I am going into my 5th season bowhunting and haven't killed a big game animal yet. The first tag up is black bear August 6th to September 7th. Limited entry elk August 18th to September 14th, and general season mule deer August 18th to September 14th. So it's been a little over 3 weeks since the injury. I am done with crutches and now walking on a boot cast. I have that on for about 2 more weeks and then I can most likely walk without it. Thankfully no surgery was needed. I'm not in much pain when I walk. The doctor said it should be healed by hunting season but I have heard it takes a whole year to get the ankle strong again. Right now I'm leaning towards surrendering my limited entry elk tag and keeping the bear and deer tags. There is a really good chance to draw the elk tag next year. I just don't want to waste it because it may only happen every 15 years. I'm nervous about carrying bait for the bear hunt but once I get it set maybe I can take it easy and use a tree stand? Also the deadline to surrender tags is 30 days before the season starts. Would you heal up and hunt and risk going into hunting season not quite 100%, or play it safe, surrender the tags and wait an excruciatingly long year and hope to draw it next season?

 

[Founder]

If you have until August 18th to decide, just wait and see. Test the ankle everyday and you'll know in mid-August.
You definitely want to give that elk hunt everything you can after waiting that long. You don't want an injury having you only give it half an effort.l

Brian Latturner
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[elkantlers]

I won't tell you whether you should turn your tags in or keep them. What I can tell you is that you don't need to kill yourself carrying bait for bears. We have killed 3 bears in 3 years and our baits are just over 100yds from a mountain road. no need to pack bait very far, the bears will come to the bait.
Good luck on your recovery and which ever hunts you decide to try.

 

[hhunter23]

physical therapy on that ankle to strengthen it up. just enough to get it right. lots of conditioning and strengthening. the human body is amazing. if it were me, i wouldn't turn the tags back in.

good luck



"Shoot Straight"

 

[BluffGruff]

How old are you? if you're younger than 50, and were in good shape prior to this, then keep the tags, go hunting, you'll be fine. If you are in bad shape, or have a few more growth rings, you should CONSIDER turning back in a dream tag if you have a chance at it next year.

And a bit of unsolicited advice: stop riding dirt bikes, you can't risk it getting in the way of your hunting.

 

[deerkiller]

I would for sure give your bear tag back. That hunt just by itself can require a lot of time and with an elk tag in your pocket that will require a lot of time as well, you probably won't be able to give either 100% effort. The deer tag isn't a big deal, but if it isn't in the same area as your elk tag, I'd give that one back as well. It's hard to hunt 2 different units during the same season. But honestly if it were me, I'd give the elk and bear tag back and just focus on deer this year and take it easy with the ankle until it's fully healed

 

[hossblur]

+2 on age. Also, what do you do? If you get lots of desk time, and are younger I'd wait til 11:59 on last day.

If your a little older, make your living with your body, healing will take forever.

I'd really only think about giving back the elk.

"With age comes a cage", dump the deathcycles, admit your not 18, get a sxs.




From the party of HUNTIN, FISHIN, PUBLIC LAND.

 

[elkfromabove]

If it were me, I would not turn in the tags for an ankle injury on the mend 'cause I have friends who would help in whatever ways they could.

 

[YZF_88]

A few years ago I broke my foot on a dirt bike the same time. I drew a Book Cliffs archery deer tag and turned it in.

Realistically, I should've kept it because it was good enough by then. Also, point creep kicked my ass the next year hard enough to make me give up deer and go for elk.

Part of the reason I turned it in early was to give the next tag holder plenty of time to decide/scout etc. The other part is I wouldn't have been in as good of shape due to not being able to exercise.

If I was you, I'd give up everything except the elk tag. You go all in for those. Bring extra Advil. Go slower.

 

[JakeSwensen]

If it was me I would keep the tags. [font face="verdana" color="green"]
Jake Swensen

 

[Robiland]

There are still a few things that need to be clarified. Age? Points on elk and bear?

I jsut got done hunting my 1st bear hunt. I used 12 points on it. It was easy and hard all at the same time. If its a bait tag, it can consume alot of time. If you have an established bait site from someone you know that has baited before, it may be easier. I went in blind. But my baits were only like 200 yards and 500 yards from the road. It was easy baiting but used alot of time.

Elk hunting can be tough. And depending on the unit and points invested, I may turn this tag back in. I have been on elk hunts where it was kind of easy. And I mean, not steep or nasty or thick. I have been on a few that it was a TON of hiking and step and NASTY AND ROUGH and grueling. The elk tag is the hardest to get, in my opinion. So if you are guaranteed the tag next year and it was not a random draw, turn that one back in. And do it with plenty of time so that the other hunter has time.
I know that after my 3 elk tags that I have had, I was beat, tired and lost a lot of weight. We covered ground. All 3 were archery tags.

Good luck!

 

[MT_55]

That's easy. Surrender your tag so you have something great to look forward to next year or the year after. All your seasons overlap and lets be honest, we all love hunting but burn out does happen. No question in my mind I would give it up and take it at a later time. Allows you to focus on the 2 that you have going on this year bro..

 

[nontypical]

June 6, 2016; I broke my ankle. I had finally drawn a Nevada archery elk tag after 18 years of applying. I was 64 at the time. My ankle was completely healed and I was hunting the first week of September. I couldn't seriously prepare physically until the first week of August; so, essentially, I had one month to get into shape for the hunt.

Tag punched on a fantastic hunt! Not saying that's what you should do; just that it can be done. If my old fat ass can do it, you should be able to as well. (Well...I'm really not THAT fat..)

If you are sure you can draw next year, then maybe you should wait. On the other hand, you have no idea what the future holds. Hunt when you can...life is short. A bird in hand.....

 

[codycoyote]

Thanks for the feedback guys!
To clarify, I'm 26. Pretty good shape. I ran a marathon the weekend before breaking my ankle haha. My elk unit is about an hour from my house (wasatch mtns) and the bear unit is about 5 hours away (book cliffs roadless). I had 6 points for elk and 2 for bear. My original plan was to hunt bear August 6th to 12. Elk from August 18 to September 14th. And deer from September 15 to November 30 (extended archery season). I can turn in my limited entry elk tag and just buy a OTC elk tag? I don't know, would you guys do a limited entry elk hunt with little to no scouting?

 

[Robiland]

You can draw that elk tag next year. Hunt the bear tag and spend the time on that. Enjoy it. If you rush it, I fear you will regret not being able to enjoy it. If that were me, I would return the elk tag. Then next year, FOCUS on that hunt and scout and enjoy every minute of it.

 

[Robiland]

Also, if you are baiting. I have about 30 buckets of bait that I used from my work (arctic Circle). There is ice cream, used fryer oil, and food waste of fries, corndogs and so on. I have thrown this out in a few spots. So I dont know if there will be any or not by then. But you can message me if interested.

 

[AfricanAddiction]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-21-18 AT 03:49PM (MST)[p]Every body is different. I stepped in a badger hole in October 2016. Even in May and June of 2017 I had limited strength when putting torque on the ankle and I did not trust the ankle at all on a ladder. It was weird. I was not used to something like that. It honestly took almost a year before I think it was good to go. I have had multiple knee surgeries with recovery times substantially faster than a bad ankle sprain.

Turning in tags is a personal thing. I have turned back a few and have zero issue doing it. A very good friend of mine would not turn in a tag for any reason under any circumstance. We are all different and have different thought processes.

 

[ElmerFudd]

I broke my ankle in early 2004, the same year I drew an AZ 10 early bull tag. I just went. If I had the option of next year like UT does, there would have actually made not going a choice to think about. The doctor said that it was healed enough I wasn?t going to do any long term damage if I was careful. I was still hobbling and noisy, but still went. I can't say it's as fun hiking, downright painful at times and I couldn't go as far, but after landing laid up, getting out was great! I ended up with an awesome bull too! No regrets about going hunting!