Daybreak,
I was up there last year with a friend that had that same tag. Boy did he score on one hell of a tag. Some say that the quality and the quantity has slipped, well I have to disagree. having spent numerous days in the wilds of Wyoming chasing Elk over many years. I can say with no reservation what so ever that this is a fantastic and wonderful tag.
We were up in 31 last year for 12 days before the opening day of the rifle hunt and 5 of them were during the archery season of the hunt, you can hunt there early if you buy the bow tag for the unit before the hunt. Highly recomended.
During the first 7 days of scouting before any hunting we were into elk every day easily without fail. Not a soul in the country either. What a place to camp. Beautiful camping spots all over the place. Just stay away from any thick tree areas, ALOT of BEARS. We had 4 in camp during the first 7 days. Wished we had a tag for bears. We were grateful to have taken a good GPS. Becouse the area has a spiderweb of roads which for me was hard to handle for the first bit until I realized that I can get to anywhere in the unit with a wheeler, without any effort at all. We seen a ton of elk and a few great bulls. 300 to 315 class.
Now for the archery hunt part of the scouting and hunting. it was fantastic. I was able to talk with about 30 to 35 others during this time with the last 5 days before the rifle hunt. It proved to be very helpful. Every time I would sneak into a area I found that someone was already there and was more than helpful with letting me know what they seen and what there ideas were for the remainder of the hunt. We were sure to bring the gps and make sure that you do. The roads in the dark can get very confusing without being able to see. In the daylight after the scouting I pretty much had it down pat. Just use the gps and you will be fine. We went twice bowhunting and scouting both during the middle of the week where I thought that the pressure would be down and acording to the others it was compared to the weekend but we still seen a ton of folks. 3 camps were raided during the nights that we were aware of by those damn bears. I dont think that they get hunted there becouse they seem to have no fear of humans. Both times we only heard of the bears in the night but never had them actually come into camp. This time we had one of those electric fences. They work! No bears with the fence in camp. We could have possibly had some chances on some of the smaller bulls, 3 and 4 points. The bigger 5x's and 5x6's and the 3 6x6 bulls that we seen were being chased all to often and they new it. We decided with a coveted tag to wait it out and get one of the better bulls with a rifle. Dont let me get you thinking that there wasent oppertunity for these bulls, you have to be polite to the others in the field. the problem is that for every hunter, there was 4 to 5 others helping with the hunt and so be it you just dont know who is hunting and who isnt. And with that ammount of folks and having the elk concentrated in a few areas it was difficult to get these monsters seperated from the herd.
Now for the big hunt. The rifle hunt proved to exceed our expectations. having truely been to every reach of the unit and trying to find an isolated bull out of the way we were forced to get with the group of hunters in the same areas as before. Sure you can get that 3 or 4 point out of the way but we were going to hold out for the BIG ONE! With rumors of a 32o bull spotted the race was on for a bull of this caliber. We never seen a bull of this size and a rumor was all we needed to get excited about a bull that big. Unexpectadly we were the only ones up top of the ridge they called Windy. We had atleast 13 bulls in range that day with 3 being grate 5 or little 6x bulls. Most of the shooting was to the east of Windy and what a ruckus it seemed like with the shooting going on. We decided to pass on the bulls we seen that day and later regretting not shooting the 290 type class bull I insisted that he take but you know how it goes if you shoot to soon you might miss the opertuntity on the monster. The next day after the morning hunt we drove arround and foung that some one was stuck with one of those toyhauler trailers in the mud, the place has unbelieveable mud with any precipitation. can get messy fast with the clay type mud. We checked with the other hunters that had taken there bulls to see what else they had seen and also to see if that 320 bull was still out there. We found him killed and what I thought it was a 310 type, people just cant score very well. We seen 3 six points a 5x7 witch was a 5x5 with 2 cheaters and was really cool 300 class bull. A few 5x6 and 5x5 with a couple of 4points. All but 4 of the bulls killed were ones that we had seen scouting and we knew that there was the 6x bull we named WT for wale tail. We figured he was a 310 bull with a great wale tail. Anyway to make a long story short I have been rambling, I loved the hunt. He took one of the 5points. Really it was the 4x5 with the big browtines but he liked him. He scored 266 gross but who cares about a score really anyway.
Bottom line is that it is a great hunt and you should do well in the unit. Just keep your expectations in line with what is out there. Pre season scouting is essential. I have gps coords for places that were good. Make sure that you are good at shooting in the wind. it never stops. its Wyoming what do you expect! Pm me and I will get you more info if you would like. Good Luck!
