Utah Manti Archery Elk, I got lucky....

[chukar_chaser]

I hope he had a better hunt than me! The reason I was curious is that I just returned from hunting the muzzleloader season, which did not go nearly as well as expected. I was only able to scout the last day of rifle season and then hunt the first 5 days of season before we had to get home. Fully expected that to be enough time to have an opportunity on a good bull, but it's tag soup for me. During our time in Manti, across the dozens and dozens of hunting camps we saw and people we met, we only saw three dead bulls total; one in the back of a truck on the last day of rifle and two at a camp a couple days into muzzleloader season. Nearly everyone we came across was struggling. Everyone we met were Utah locals (I'm a non-resident) and they all said the same thing; it USED to be the type of tag where you'd see big bulls running around everywhere and get to take your pick. We were willing to do the hard work of hiking as far in away from all the OHV roads as we needed to so that we could get into elk. Indeed we did get into elk and had some really fun experiences being surrounded by bulls bugling back and forth, but they stay so timbered up and the brush gets so thick down in the bottom of those drainages that I never once had a shot opportunity. The closest we got was on opening day when a nice 6 point chased his cows past us at 19 yards, but they were downhill from us and I could only see him from the neck up. We never saw him again. I think if you pay attention to the harvest success data, we're going to see a huge decrease in 2023. Overall, morale seemed pretty low but most of the hunters we met were extremely kind, welcoming, and helpful. One guy had eaten his archery elk tag there in 2018 but said he wouldn't trade the experience for the world. So it does happen. Some of us didn't get to notch our tags.

Screaming bulls on your hunt didn’t meet expectations? They don’t just stand in meadows waiting to be shot. Most of my elk hunting is in heavy timber areas, which is most elk country. Gotta learn to get in front of them, change tactics etc if your not getting shot opportunities. All you can ask for is them talking, you gotta do the rest!

 

[Muley_Julie]

Screaming bulls on your hunt didn’t meet expectations? They don’t just stand in meadows waiting to be shot. Most of my elk hunting is in heavy timber areas, which is most elk country. Gotta learn to get in front of them, change tactics etc if your not getting shot opportunities. All you can ask for is them talking, you gotta do the rest!

Na, the getting into screaming bulls was incredible and I loved every second of it! That's what kept a smile on my face and made it all worthwhile. Of course nothing in elk hunting is easy or guaranteed. The thing that didn't meet my expectations was going on a LE Utah September hunt that people often wait 20 years to draw, and then seeing almost every single person we encountered getting skunked for 5 days straight. Only seeing one medium sized dead bull in a truck bed out of the dozens of trucks we saw leaving from the last day of rifle season. People who had hunted that unit for deer or accompanied friends on previous elk hunts not having shot opportunities on any bulls at all, let alone big bulls, when they've seen how insanely good it has been in years past. Most everyone agreed it was a weird year for the Manti. I'm thankful for the hunt and the experience and we definitely put in the hard work from lifting weights and rucking religiously to prepare all summer long, to hiking in deep on foot to escape the road systems and road hunters each day. I think with more time in the area we hunted on the last day where we got into the really good action, I would've had a solid chance at filling my tag in there. I don't mean to sound like a complainer or come off as though I didn't try and just expected a bull to step out with no work required on my end. I just thought we were going to see more elk and more people fill tags than I'm used to seeing on general OTC tags in other states. That doesn't seem too unreasonable.

 

[realunlucky]

Na, the getting into screaming bulls was incredible and I loved every second of it! That's what kept a smile on my face and made it all worthwhile. Of course nothing in elk hunting is easy or guaranteed. The thing that didn't meet my expectations was going on a LE Utah September hunt that people often wait 20 years to draw, and then seeing almost every single person we encountered getting skunked for 5 days straight. Only seeing one medium sized dead bull in a truck bed out of the dozens of trucks we saw leaving from the last day of rifle season. People who had hunted that unit for deer or accompanied friends on previous elk hunts not having shot opportunities on any bulls at all, let alone big bulls, when they've seen how insanely good it has been in years past. Most everyone agreed it was a weird year for the Manti. I'm thankful for the hunt and the experience and we definitely put in the hard work from lifting weights and rucking religiously to prepare all summer long, to hiking in deep on foot to escape the road systems and road hunters each day. I think with more time in the area we hunted on the last day where we got into the really good action, I would've had a solid chance at filling my tag in there. I don't mean to sound like a complainer or come off as though I didn't try and just expected a bull to step out with no work required on my end. I just thought we were going to see more elk and more people fill tags than I'm used to seeing on general OTC tags in other states. That doesn't seem too unreasonable.

You drew a limited entry hunt but the age class of bulls on the Manti is managed to maximize hunting opportunity which is why they issue the tag numbers they do. Other units are managed for older age class trophy bulls but of course the trade off is non-resident tags being offered as a single tag possibly 2 and rare occasions 3 total tags.

Sorry you were disappointed.

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[Muley_Julie]

You drew a limited entry hunt but the age class of bulls on the Manti is managed to maximize hunting opportunity which is why they issue the tag numbers they do. Other units are managed for older age class trophy bulls but of course the trade off is non-resident tags being offered as a single tag possibly 2 and rare occasions 3 total tags.

Sorry you were disappointed.

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That makes sense. And no worries, I still wouldn't trade the experience for the world even though it didn't go the way I expected it to. That's just hunting. The Wasatch Plateau is some of the most beautiful country I've ever laid eyes on.

 

[Huntnnw]

I had a late rifle tag last year and was a unbelievable experience to see that many bulls in just 1 area of a huge unit. I can't even imagine how many bulls were in the unit. I saw 53 5 and 6+ pt bulls in 5 days. Coulda been way more if I wasn't stalking a few and spent most of the day not glassing.

 

[twdjr]

Congrats!

 

[BigElk1]

Awesome bull! I put in a lot of time this year for my LE muzzy tag. Total of 21 days scouting throught the summer and hunted a week. All together I found 2 mature bulls in the summer and one bull around 310 during my hunt. Ended up getting a shot at a 5 point 10 minutes before dark on my last night so I took it. Thats an awesome bull for what I have seen this year on the manti! Awesome job and effort!

 

[Kyle C]

Awesome bull! I put in a lot of time this year for my LE muzzy tag. Total of 21 days scouting throught the summer and hunted a week. All together I found 2 mature bulls in the summer and one bull around 310 during my hunt. Ended up getting a shot at a 5 point 10 minutes before dark on my last night so I took it. Thats an awesome bull for what I have seen this year on the manti! Awesome job and effort!

Yeah it was definitely a tough one, but still super fun. I also had no idea that residents go on the same 5 year waiting period for LE like I do. Seems kinda shity to do that with residents also.