Back from elk / antelope in Utah

[David Heitsman]

Just returned from a 10 day elk and antelope hunt in Utah. I hunted antelope in the desert near Duchesne.
Saw a few bucks and took the 2nd best I could find
with my new Bansner's rifle. This is a pretty easy hunt as you drive most places till you find and then initiate a stalk.

The elk was a landowners tag I bought north of Vernal that bordered a huge BLM (crown) reserve. I spent four days in there staying at a ranch cabin at 8,000 foot level. Got onto about 6 different bulls with the best in the 310" class. The area holds 350" plus bulls and we had one a couple weeks prior on the trail cam that pushed the 375" mark so I kept holding out
hoping that a big one might come in for the herd of cows we were monitoring.

Wasn't to be this year and I was disapointed at the short 8 days season. I'd like to see it longer for out of staters to be able to try and come back. The locals get two seasons for elk. However of the six of us hunting that week I was the only one who didn't take a bull.
The weather was in the 30's daily even at that elevation and the elk tended to get nocturnal to avoid the heat.


The mule deer in this area are exeptional. I'd say the ratio is 3 - 4 to 1 / does vs bucks with at least 4 of the
50 bucks I saw in 4 days exceeding the 170" mark. It was pretty unreal to see batchelor groups of up to a dozen bucks at a time. Utah has excellent trophy game management and is producing some great trophy hunting opportunities. Hat's off to their beaurocrats who emphasize quality over quantity.

Won't likely go back however unless I can draw as the cost is high.

I didn't have an antelope yet so it's one less on my "29 quest" to go.

[bearass]

All in all sounds like you had a good trip.Sounds like fun. Did you ask them how they manage there mule deer?

[Devilbear]

Just returned from a 10 day elk and antelope hunt in Utah. Utah has excellent trophy game management and is producing some great trophy hunting opportunities. Hat's off to their beaurocrats who emphasize quality over quantity.

Won't likely go back however unless I can draw as the cost is high.

The cost is high and they manage for ...quality..., eh? It seems to me that they "manage" for commericial trophy collecting by wealthy people and discriminate against those humble "average" hunters who cannot afford such rarified pursuits as "trophy" collecting.

This attitude is exactly what we DO NOT WANT here in B.C., as OUR hunting tradition is based on getting meat for your family and this is, IMO, THE best reason to hunt.

There is FAR too much Yankee influence and interference in Canada, now, we do not need to emulate their hunting practices and favouritism shown to the wealthy.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Pretty sad that we let the masses of peasant hunters ruin it for the all the rich hunters here in BC.

Glad you had a good time.

As you can tell by past threads here on HBC we have some pretty damn nice mule deer and elk hunting here in BC. Just have to work for them.

SSS

[BiG Boar]

Congradulations on a great hunt. Would love to see pictures of it!

[6616]

I was disapointed at the short 8 days season.

Hat's off to their beaurocrats who emphasize quality over quantity.

Contradictions....?
We can have trophy management in BC too, it just means killing fewer animals, and it might mean 8 day GOS seasons for all species all across the province.

[David Heitsman]

The cost is high for those who don't draw. The residents draw any of the trophy areas within 7 years or sooner. That's because they have implemented a preference system which BC insists is coming but haven't seen it yet.

The tags you can buy are given to the landowners in exchange for reducing cattle grazing and providing and maintaining water source to the game even when the cattle are moved off the ranges. Seems like we could try that here too. The tags are also taken away when the ranches are subdivided so this provides incentives to maintain large tracts.

As to techniques they use, I'm not sure. It's just that the kill is limited and this lets them grow up as you are reluctant to kill a young animal on a draw you waited for knowing that the trophy potential is high.

As to Utah meat hunters, there is a lot of cow elk available for cheap as some are allocated to the ranchers as well and they can barely give them away.

There is also non-managed areas in the state where the 'masses of peasant hunters" can hunt with over the counter tags. I glassed into some of this near the Diamond Slope and could see herds of deer. Plenty of bucks as well but too far to judge quality.

[Devilbear]

The situation in the western USA is far different in respect of land ownership/alienation and historical development as well as hunting traditions than is the case here in B.C. Due to "limiting factors" that affect ALL populations of "game" as well as other organisms, the sort of "stockpiling" of Elk, Mulies and so forth that can, to some extent, be done there will not work here.

I also take exception to the use of the adjective, "quality" in respect of hunting, as my concern is, WHO defines WHAT this means? To me, the real quality in a hunt is to hunt wild, free-ranging and freely-evolving animals in a non-strictured and wild environment and to harvest these so that the populations remain as they evolve in terms of sex ratios and age classes.

This is destroyed by so-called "trophy management", which reduces magnificent free, wild animals to a sort of "barn stock", manipulated by tame "bios" to provide ego-satisfaction for quadhuggers who shoot them....even at feeders.

We can certainly improve ALL aspects of environmental management here in B.C. and I hope to see a government actually DO this before I am too old to hunt, but, a programme that gives preference to "trophy hunting" will not do what I think most B.C. hunters want.

I DO agree with landowners being well compensated for assisting with preserving wildlife habitat and am willing to pay more for licences to further that process, BUT, I would like to see some carefully regulated access to such lands for RESIDENT hunters if we do provide such compensation...."quid pro quo".

We DO NOT NEED ...a preference system... or ANY increase in "draw" access to OUR game here in B.C.; we NEED to BAN ALL foreign hunting here and keep our game for ourselves and to share with our fellow Canucks who live in other jurisdictions in "The Great White North."

[David Heitsman]

Devilbear,

Your thoughts are a tad narrow minded for me but hey it's a free country and you're entitled to your opinion.

Most of the Utah landowner tags are sold to Utahns who didn't get the draw that year, according to my outfitter. The fact that they are willing to pay 10 - 15K for a decent area only shows how much they enjoy hunting.

In BC we are no different, especially when you look at the large increase in resident hunters employing BC outfitters. Some of us are just as into it as our US hunting fanatic counterparts.

[hntcrazy]

Hunt at home spend money at home keep it at home ......
And Thats That