LE Archery elk in UT

[Gonefishin6]

Guys... it finally happened! I know 8 points doesn't sound like a long wait to you 25 point holders, but I finally got my hands on a limited entry archery elk tag in Utah! I've been hunting the unit since I was a kid, and I've had shot opportunities every year for the past 4 years on cows and spikes, and I've harvested two elk so far!

Those of you who have had a tag like this: what were you glad you did, and what do you regret? Tell me about gear that was helpful, how you stayed motivated when the mid season slump comes in, and your hunt stories to help me stay hyped!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bziegler6843]

Drew the beaver east this year as a non-res with 6 points. And its now burning...Still gonna be a great hunt, just causing a little stress..

 

[theycallmemud]

Drew the beaver east this year as a non-res with 6 points. And its now burning...Still gonna be a great hunt, just causing a little stress..

Dude that sucks the elk might be more concentrated??

 

[theycallmemud]

Guys... it finally happened! I know 8 points doesn't sound like a long wait to you 25 point holders, but I finally got my hands on a limited entry archery elk tag in Utah! I've been hunting the unit since I was a kid, and I've had shot opportunities every year for the past 4 years on cows and spikes, and I've harvested two elk so far!

Those of you who have had a tag like this: what were you glad you did, and what do you regret? Tell me about gear that was helpful, how you stayed motivated when the mid season slump comes in, and your hunt stories to help me stay hyped!

Thanks in advance!

What tag did you draw? Maybe I can help, i live in utah.

 

[Bziegler6843]

Dude that sucks the elk might be more concentrated??

Still gonna be a good hunt. Scouted the week before the fire and found plenty of bulls. Giving myself the week before to scout again and the fill 13 days of the season to kill a giant.

 

[Gonefishin6]

Drew the beaver east this year as a non-res with 6 points. And its now burning...Still gonna be a great hunt, just causing a little stress..

Go hunt the ashes, you won't regret it!

 

[Gonefishin6]

What tag did you draw? Maybe I can help, i live in utah.

Manti archery, been scouting my butt off!

 

[theycallmemud]

Ive hunted the manti quite a bit

 

[Aperventure]

Nice! Lotta elk there.
Getting in shape so you can get off the SxS roads for that unit would be my suggestion

 

[Beendare]

Depends on the unit what I would expect and how I would hunt it

For example, some of the LE bull units give out unlimited cow/spike tags to residents and those are flooded with guys screwing you up.

 

[realunlucky]

Depends on the unit what I would expect and how I would hunt it

For example, some of the LE bull units give out unlimited cow/spike tags to residents and those are flooded with guys screwing you up.

All of the le units are open for general archery until the last week

 

[theycallmemud]

Depends on the unit what I would expect and how I would hunt it

For example, some of the LE bull units give out unlimited cow/spike tags to residents and those are flooded with guys screwing you up.

Yep, me my friends and family are those guys.

 

[HunterGatherer]

All of the le units are open for general archery until the last week

True, as well as archery deer seasons, and then fall bear hunters…

Overall, I found the resident hunting pressure in Utah was easier to deal with than pressured units in my home state of Idaho and some of the other western states. Most of those spike and cow hunters aren’t hunting all that hard and mostly
hunt the weekends. I also found that many of them were very friendly and helpful when they found out I had an LE tag.

The the OP’s original question :

Since it took me so long to draw the tag ( plus the 5yr lockout after) I treated it like a OIL hunt. I knew there wouldn’t be much action for the first two weeks of the season but I went anyway. I wanted to hunt just about every day of the season, to inventory the bulls, learn every part of the unit, and also not feel rushed to tag out. I really just settled in and enjoyed the experience, pacing myself to hunt til the end if necessary. I set a big (for me) base camp (usually I’m a solo backcountry hunter with no base camp) and invited various friends to come and join me when they had a weekend off or whatever. I enjoyed solitude most of the time but it was nice to see a familiar face and have some company now and then.

I read books, cooked nice meals, took a crazy amount of pics and videos… the kind of stuff I don’t usually get to do on elk hunts.

I made my mind up ahead of time that I would hold out for a certain size bull and I stuck to it. I passed on several bulls even though the action was indeed very slow the first two weeks of the hunt. I was ready to eat the tag if I had to. Whatever your mindset is I think it’s important to define what success is for you ahead of time and don’t give in to temptation. Ultimately, I spent 22 days hunting before tagging out.

I think I can honestly say I have no regrets. I killed a great bull but more importantly I had the hunt of a lifetime- just as far as the enjoyment level and overall experience . A LOT of it is mindset- not acknowledging the pressure to tag out and committing to enjoying every day of the hunt without stressing about the outcome while still “taking it seriously”, if that makes sense .

I read books, cooked nice meals… the kind of stuff I don’t usually get to do on elk hunts.

Hope you kill a big one man ! Best of luck.

 

[realunlucky]

Here's Ryan Carter of DCOutfitters on the Rokcast with his thoughts on archery season- https://www.rokslide.com/how-to-kill-giant-bulls-with-ryan-carter/
When Ryan talks about killing elk I pay attention.