Solo 2023 Utah Wasatch Muzzleloader bull elk

[CNEdeer307]

great bull! Thanks for sharing...

 

[MallardSX2]

Congratulations

And thanks, I can't wait to see the point creep because of this thread. Could you have at least left out the name of the unit?

 

[hoythunter130]

Great write-up, felt like I was right there with you. Thanks for sharing.

 

[TreeWalking]

Nicely done. You kept at it, learned a bit about what happens when get excited and things like the powder get skipped or can't find the pack for a few minutes as darkness builds, got the bull down and the meat off the ridge, plus engineered the truck back on the road. You will kill a lot of bulls in the upcoming decades. Good job.

 

[GTC22]

Preface

This is a really long read, about 7,000 words, you have ben warned! Thank you to those of you that provided help on this hunt. Several members provided location information that proved to be correct and extremely useful to the success of my hunt. I was able to harvest about 300 yards from one of these provided points. Contrary to what you may hear, there are still respectable bulls to be found in the Wasatch unit- you are going to work for them though.

Also, resident Utah hunters, please get your fellow hunters to pick up their trash, I picked up multiple water bottles, Twisted Tea, and Michelob Ultra cans. Hang onto your trash and dispose of it at the gas station if you don’t want to take them home- just don’t be a slob.

To appease the powers that be, I will refrain (or attempt to) from identifying specific locations and will speak in generalities. For those of you that are familiar with the area, and those that want to do a bit of sleuthing, you should be able to figure out where I am.

Applying as a NR in Utah started over 20 years ago when I got bit by the sheep bug. I had a young family and not much in the way of money and Utah allowed me to apply for not much, though even then, the draw odds were poor. Then about 15 years ago, things changed, and UT allowed NR’s to apply for multiple OIL and limited tags. I started to apply for everything, mostly the top tier units. This year I was tired of not drawing anything over all these years so I did a bit more research and changed my approach a bit. The Limited ML bull elk tag for the Wasatch unit had good success rates and better draw odds so I put in, with a rather low expectation of a “successful” draw result.

This ended up being a solo hunt, as my brother, my usual hunting partner had other obligations to attend (plus a vet emergency with one of his dogs). I had waited a long time for the tag and had the leave, so I went for it. It was an experience/adventure soon not to be forgotten and learned a lot as we often do with these types of activities.

Cell service is highly variable in the unit, but if you are on a high point, you are able to text and sometimes make good quality calls. Since I was solo, I activated my InReach that had been sitting in my safe for a couple years. InReach works well but can be slow to send or receive and you are limited to 160 characters per message, both incoming and outgoing, so sometimes the second half of a message arrives before the first. I had daily communication with my brother and other family members making the long solo days a bit better.

Awesome!

I slept in the next morning knowing that I would need some sunshine and hopefully a bit of wind to dry out the muck pool that my truck was sitting in. I puttered about camp, having multiple cups of coffee, packing, and organizing stuff and just keeping busy. I told myself that I would be patient and wait till noon before hiking up to let conditions to improve. Being impatient could lead to disaster if I tried to move the truck while the ground was slippery. Shortly before noon, I started the hike back up the road to the truck. When I arrived ground conditions had improved dramatically, and I got to work digging trenches for the hill-side wheels to ride in and building up the down-hill side with rock and dirt to build a level shelf. After about an hour, I was ready to give it a try. I backed the truck out, then came forward and was fully back on the road. I had to back the truck a couple hundred yards down the road to a wide spot to turn around, a bit stressful on frayed nerves, but uneventful. I kept the chains on till I was back to the main road, then headed for camp to pack up and head for home! At last headed home! The last handful of days I felt like I was on a never-ending hamster wheel, but now I am really on my way home.

Back to camp, break down the rest and pack and repack a couple times to get all to fit. On the road finely, nice to be able to relax a bit and roll along on smooth pavement. I stop in Heber City for a burger, fries and a drink- the first meat that I didn’t have to prepare in 12 days, then back on the road headed west. I made it to NE Nevada that night and spent the night with a friend- my only request was a shower. I gave him a hind quarter as they were not able to harvest this fall and having a few challenges as of late, then on the road for home.

This was probably the longest and the most challenging hunting trips that I have done. Multiple lessons learned and an experience that I wont soon forget.

Awesome!