Book Cliffs Elk - Deployed Military

[ndmarine]

Hey guys,
With 1 point I somehow drew the Book Cliffs, Bitter Creek South Archery LE elk tag this year. I am absolutely stoked and was hoping some of you might have insight into hunting this unit.

A little background on me: I'm a Marine Corps F-18 pilot stationed in Iwakuni Japan so getting back to scout before hand is going to be impossible. I have bowhunted for the last 22 years, and elk for the last 10. After 7 unsuccessful years in Colorado, Montana and Idaho I have gone 3 for 3 on my last 3 elk bowhunts (raghorn, 270'', and a cow), along with calling in a few decent bulls for my buddy. I would say physical fitness and mental toughness are my strong suits, but obviously still have a ton to learn and have zero knowledge about Utah or the Book Cliffs. Almost all of my elk hunting has been bivy hunting 3-12miles back in the mountains. The only open country experience I have is a hunt a few years back in the Montana breaks. My calling has definitely improved in the last couple of years and I would almost call it a strength. I have a tripod, 10x50s, mathews halon (good out to about 60 yards on game day elk), and all the backpacking gear.

I wont have access to horses or a quad unless i hire a guide.

- would you recommend I hire a guide? (and if so any recs?)( I have had some recent success DIY but I will likely have to wait 16 years to ever draw this tag again)
- anybody available to talk on the phone about their past experiences/recommendations?
- what dates within the archery season (aug 17-sept13) would you target if you only had 10 days?
- noticed on GoHunt there was huge fall off in archery success percentage (55% a few years ago to 15% last year) any idea why??

Please Pm me or text/call 434-284-3637 (again I'm on Japan time, phone is on silent at night so I might not answer, but will call you back after checking state side time to make sure you dont get a 3am call back)

 

[dreamingbig]

Thanks for your service. If I could help I would. Good luck to you!


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[toasty]

You don't need a guide unless you have your heart set on a huge bull. If you are happy with a 300-330 in bull, you can do it on your own. As far as timing, you want to hunt the last 10 days of the hunt. The elk are really getting going at the end of the hunt. The rut peaks here around Sept 15th depending on weather etc... My neighbor had an archery tag last year and shot all of his vacation in the first 2 weeks of the hunt. He didn't get it done until the last weekend of the hunt. He regrets not taking his vacation from the end backwards.

 

[jray5740]

Awesome tag! I have spent many days hunting the bookcliffs on the Colorado side close to the border hoping that a big bull would wander across. I never did see the type of bulls (or any bull for that matter) that live on the Utah side....after doing some research it appears they rarely come across.

At any rate you should be able to dig up a dandy from what I have heard about the Utah bookcliffs!

 

[dallinwood]

Thank you for your services. Like others, if size of elk isn't an issue then i wouldn't waste your money on a guide. Good Luck!

 

[Beendare]

I've hunted it. I spent 14 glorious days in there back about 10 years ago- best archery elk hunt I've done....and I've hunted AZ 4x. If I told you how many 6 point bulls I passed up in there it would sound like I'm exaggerating. That bull in my Avatar was killed in that unit....a 9 year old beast that was the biggest bodied elk I've ever seen...still to this day....in over 3 decades of elk hunting!

One of the guides for that unit that spends all summer in there saw us on the way out and told me he was the biggest bull in the unit....they had been trying to kill him. That bull had no cows in peak rut. He would locate a herd, stroll in, kick the herd bulls butt...then breed his cows. I had heard stories of that but first time I had actually seen it.

You drew a great hunt bro- awesome country too. You would never know by driving by on the freeway that country is up there.

PM me and I would be glad to help a soldier out.

 

[Beendare]

BTW, I'm going to be in Japan next week if you want to try and connect over coffee or something

 

[toasty]

It does not hold as big of elk as it did 10 years ago. It also doesn't hold as many elk as it did 10 years ago. Nowhere is the state of Utah is as good as it was 10 years ago. Keep in mind 6 of 41 people harvested a bull on the archery hunt last year. Most of them hunted at least 10 days. Shoot the first decent 6pt you have a chance to shoot.

 

[Rmhely]

Good luck on your hunt. Utah LE elk tags are getting harder and harder to draw, even at max points, so feel blessed. Glad that one of our servicemen pulled the tag.

 

[ndbuck09]

I'll help ya for some days bro

 

[Wapiti1]

Just my thoughts, but for that tag, I would go guided, and have a plan to continue hunting if you don't score with the guide service. Fastest way to learn the area and get in the game without scouting. I would call Aaron Nielson (global hunting resources) and Greg Brownlee (Neal and Brownlee) for the outfitters they recommend. I've booked several hunts through these two and they have done well for me. May be able to arrange packing service as well if you keep hunting after your outfitted hunt is over.

Just how I would plan it out. Best of luck to you.

Jeremy

 

[publichunter1]

That’s awesome. Congrats and thank you for your service.


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[sneaky]

It does not hold as big of elk as it did 10 years ago. It also doesn't hold as many elk as it did 10 years ago. Nowhere is the state of Utah is as good as it was 10 years ago. Keep in mind 6 of 41 people harvested a bull on the archery hunt last year. Most of them hunted at least 10 days. Shoot the first decent 6pt you have a chance to shoot.

There are still some great bulls in that unit. This is shaping up to be a great moisture year which will equal a great horn growth year. 6 out of 41 is almost 15% success rate, almost double the average for real world archery success. Are you always this negative? He's got a great tag, his primary snag is not being able to scout ahead of time.

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[sneaky]

Hey guys,
With 1 point I somehow drew the Book Cliffs, Bitter Creek South Archery LE elk tag this year. I am absolutely stoked and was hoping some of you might have insight into hunting this unit.

A little background on me: I'm a Marine Corps F-18 pilot stationed in Iwakuni Japan so getting back to scout before hand is going to be impossible. I have bowhunted for the last 22 years, and elk for the last 10. After 7 unsuccessful years in Colorado, Montana and Idaho I have gone 3 for 3 on my last 3 elk bowhunts (raghorn, 270'', and a cow), along with calling in a few decent bulls for my buddy. I would say physical fitness and mental toughness are my strong suits, but obviously still have a ton to learn and have zero knowledge about Utah or the Book Cliffs. Almost all of my elk hunting has been bivy hunting 3-12miles back in the mountains. The only open country experience I have is a hunt a few years back in the Montana breaks. My calling has definitely improved in the last couple of years and I would almost call it a strength. I have a tripod, 10x50s, mathews halon (good out to about 60 yards on game day elk), and all the backpacking gear.

I wont have access to horses or a quad unless i hire a guide.

- would you recommend I hire a guide? (and if so any recs?)( I have had some recent success DIY but I will likely have to wait 16 years to ever draw this tag again)
- anybody available to talk on the phone about their past experiences/recommendations?
- what dates within the archery season (aug 17-sept13) would you target if you only had 10 days?
- noticed on GoHunt there was huge fall off in archery success percentage (55% a few years ago to 15% last year) any idea why??

Please Pm me or text/call 434-284-3637 (again I'm on Japan time, phone is on silent at night so I might not answer, but will call you back after checking state side time to make sure you dont get a 3am call back)

Hey sir, 12 years in the Corps here, but just a lowly SSGT lol. Had a CO who was an F18 pilot. Some interesting conversations with him for sure. Good luck with the tag, should be a good year barring any late summer fires. You know the drill...Semper gumby.

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[Touchdown88]

Even though I'm from Utah, I haven't hunted that area yet. If you decide to go the guided route, try Wade Lemon Hunting or Mossback. They're two of the top guides in the state and they might cut you a deal because of your military status.

Good luck to you and than you for your service.

 

[ndmarine]

thanks a million guys. For some reason whenever i try to reply to anyone via pm it claims i'm sending spam - thanks to those that have reached out though - you guys are awesome!!!!

 

[ndbuck09]

you have to get to 10 messages before sending pm's since you're a newbie