When I found that I would be moving to Wyoming I decided to put in for a cow elk tag just south of the Flaming Gorge area in Utah. I was lucky enough to draw the tag and I am hoping that some of you might be able to point me in the right direction to find a fat cow.

I will be hunting the first two weekends in October. The hunt is #4111 and the area is the "South Slope, Vernal-Blue Mtn". Basically Vernal is smack dab in the middle of this hunt area and the zone extends North up to the Gorge and East to the Colorado border. Here is the map of the zone: South slope, Vernal-Blue Mountains

Any insight and advice is appreciated.

UPDATED Elk down

I don't know that this warrants a full report but I thought I would let you guys know how this turned out.

I had made about 5 trips down into the hunting area and spent about 7 days looking but I had not seen a single elk. Deer were everywhere, as were RVs, hunters and 4wheelers. But no elk.

I spoke to a lot of people and got some good intel but as opening day approached I was getting worried. There were simply too many hunters in the area and the elk had left for better parts. Of course I could have hiked out away from the roads and past the pressure but that would not work with my 4 year old daughter in tow.

Opening day, Saturday Oct 5th rolled around and I found that pressure was just as bad as it had been during my scouting trips. The good news was that we had just had our first heavy snow. I did see a moose at close range which made it all worth while. But still no elk.

That evening I decided to change things up a bit. I had heard that the elk would be migrating out of the national forest and into a private mining operation. Late in the afternoon I scouted the area and found a path that looked well used in both directions. I decided to set up an a saddle the next morning.

Sunday I awoke at 4 am and headed out. Shortly after first light I heard a few shots. Several trucks were headed my way and I was disappointed as I had hoped to have the drainage to myself. Just after sunrise I checked on Renee and she was still sleeping so I headed just below a saddle to glass.

Within a few minutes two groups of mule deer does came barreling over the ridge to my left followed by a fox. I don't know what spooked them but the fox was going about mach 3. I moved a bit lower and marveled at how the does seemed to disappear in the junipers when they stopped moving.

About this time I heard several volleys of shots coming from the next drainage over. I actually heard the bullets whizzing overhead(not real close, but still unsettling). I stopped counting at 9. I wondered what they could have been shooting at.

A few seconds later I saw two elk appear in the saddle to my right. I set-up on a rock but could not shoot as I saw a truck parked about 1,000 yards behind the elk.

Suddenly the larger of the two cows ran down the hill not far from my perch. She paused on a small knoll and I took the shot. I did not have time to estimate the range, but I would guess it was a touch over 200 yards.

I heard the shot connect but the cow ran down the creek bottom toward the private land. I caught glimpses of her as she moved through the brush.

Fearing that the rednecks would tag her and claim to have shot her(after all they had fired a lot of shots at her group) I headed down the hill.

The blood trail was amazing. Beside the fact that there was fresh snow on the ground to make the blood stand out what was most impressive was the volume of blood. I could not believe that she was able to move so far.

A group of hunters watched me doing the follow-up from the opposite ridge. I didn't mind until I saw one of them looking at me through his rifle scope.


When I got within about 40 yards of the cow I could see her breath rising above the junipers in the cold morning air. A shot to the head ended the chase.

I look for the first shot and found that I had hit her in the neck, but a bit too low. I realized that I was in the creek bottom and Renee and the truck were half a mile and 800 feet above me. I had not planned to get far from the truck so I didn't have anything with me, not even a knife.

I scrambled up the hill. When I got to the truck Renee was still fast asleep. I woke her to tell her that I had shot an elk. She was still groggy but managed to say, "Good job daddy!"

The recovery was an all day ordeal. I had luckily brought along my Eberleestock J107 so I was somewhat prepared but packing an elk uphill is never fun. I boned out the meat(but left the legs whole). Renee asked a bunch of questions about the elks anatomy(What's that?/The liver/Can you take it out so that I can look at it?/OK/Do I have a liver?/Yes, but it is smaller/Can I touch it's eye with this stick?/Sure. etc.)

Buy the time I brought the third, and final, load of meat out the sun had set. Renee had made all three trips down and back without complaining. I can't see how a 4 year old can be so tough. When things get rough she just seems to buckle down and deal with it. I have quite a hunting partner!

Renee and our opening day lunch-break snowman(her first).


Renee and our elk. She was having a hard time with the sun...


Renee snapped a photo of be trying the gutless method for the first time.


Renee having oatmeal for dinner just before our last trip down. Yes, she looks pooped!


Back in high spirits as we begin our final accent. Oh to be a kid again! You can see the sun setting on the ridge above her. Time to get moving!


Me delivering the final load of meat to the truck.

many areas to the south of vernal is private land and ute tribal lands.
the mine owns a lot of the area to the north of town along hwy 191.
there are some other areas on that map i'm not familiar with.
but if I had to take a stab at it and was going myself I would stay to the north of town towards the lake in the national forest.
as many deer/elk and mountain sheep as I have seen along 191/450 i'd hedge my bets towards that area.
watch the weather up there it can change quickly and it's hard to see coming.

quote:

Originally posted by Lamar:
if I had to take a stab at it and was going myself I would stay to the north of town towards the lake in the national forest.

watch the weather up there it can change quickly and it's hard to see coming.

That is the area I have been concentrating on. I just got back from scouting and I saw a lot of mule deer does, but no elk at all in the NF.

I must admit that I am getting a bit frustrated after seeing no elk in the area on two separate scouting trips. Having said that, you are correct about the weather. We got snowed on today at 9,5000 feet and it looks like it will continue this week. I'm sure that will get the elk moving.

All I need is one cow.....

I have a mule deer tag immediately North of there in Wyoming. I have seen numerous elk each time I have been out there scouting or hunting this year. Good luck with your hunt.

This is an area which gets hunted very hard and the animals are very skittish. Red Cloud Loop is where you'll have the best chance of finding elk on public lands. You won't be alone, due to the fact that your dates overlap the General Any Bull season. You're going to have to hike away fromt eh roads and be willing to pack an elk out. Get to a spot where you can see some sidehills and saddles. Taylor Mtn and Pine Ridge are places to start. Moseby Park and Middle Mtn also.

I would call the biologist and inquire about elk down around the Green River- from Dinosaur down to Leota Bottom. Gotta be careful of Indian Reservation Lands and Private when hunting the south end of that area. In the future, there are better areas with less pressure to shoot cow elk in Utah. This is one of the high-volume hunter areas. You still have a chance though as the area also holds a large number of elk.

quote:

Originally posted by Lhook7:
I have a mule deer tag immediately North of there in Wyoming. I have seen numerous elk each time I have been out there scouting or hunting this year. Good luck with your hunt.

I know the elk are there NW of the Gorge: I almost hit one on the drive home last night. Luckily I was driving carefully at about 45 mph when the cow stepped out in front of me. The cow was pretty impressive up close. She was MUCH larger than the tule elk cow I killed in CA.

The idiot who had passed me in a Toyota Corolla a couple of minutes before was not quite as lucky(he was going about 65). He clipped a cow that was with the one that walked out in front of me. It's right hind leg was broken at the knee and swinging. It was still able to jump a fence. What a waste.

MC

Thanks for the info. I have been through the Taylor Mountain area twice in the past two weeks. It looks like great elk habitat but I haven't seen the elk. The RVs that are parked around every corner can't help the situation.

The Middle Mountain and Mosby Mountain areas look really good. But I still did not see the elk. The search continues...

I will take your advice and check into the Dinosaur area and the rest of the South end of the hunting area. After looking that area over last weekend I had decided to concentrate on the Northern portion as the South is so big and there is so much private property.

Thanks for all the info!

It's always tough to find the elk in these heavily timbered areas. And especially if folks can get RVs in and camp in the same area. ATV riders run up and down the roads and push the animals back into the trees. Any of the northern part of this area will be good hunting, But you will need to get off the road and back into the forest away from where folks ride their atvs.

Report added with photos in original post.

Good job and big congrats

Details...gun? load? scope?

Tell Renee awesome job helping Daddy! Good job to the hunter as well.

I 2nd what JAH said.
Full report and
BEAUTIFUL hunting partner Daughter!
Give this little gal 10 more years of
tagging along and she will be
Out hunting the boys.

Congratulations! That is awesome.

I was going to go out to the Flaming Gorge this Saturday to set up camp, but with all the rain & snow I don't think I can get into where I want to set up, so I am just going to wait until next week and hunt the last half of the week.

Congrats Jason


Good to see you are getting settled in the right way. So far how do you like the area around Mtn View and down thru Robertson to the Gorge?



Cal30

Congrats,way cool hunt for you and Renee!!!!

Great pictures of the trophy and the elk!

quote:

Originally posted by ravenr:
I 2nd what JAH said.
Full report and
BEAUTIFUL hunting partner Daughter!
Give this little gal 10 more years of
tagging along and she will be
Out hunting the boys.

+1

Congrats!

Where to start? First guys, I am humbled by your words.

Second: as a guy who has done a lot of trophy hunting and not much meat hunting until recently I can tell you that there is a lot more pressure on the meat hunter. When a trophy head was my goal I could come home empty handed and not care a wit(case in point: I traveled all the way to Cameroon for a roan and failed to connect but it didn't change the fact that I had a great hunt) but when a year's supply of meat is on the line things get serious. I knew that if I failed I would be feeling like a heal, and buying beef at the store.... I was already planning on heading down to Utah each day after school ended until I got a cow or the season ended(talk about burning the candle at both ends!). It is an understatement to say that I was becoming obsessed. Getting this cow was a huge relief.

Just-a-hunter
I look forward to Renee and I sharing a camp with you and yours. I was secretly glad that you were not able to come out for this hunt because I was ashamed that I had not been able to set up on any real sure fire areas.

Ted and Taylor: thank you!

Mike: I never had time to load your bullets. The new town/job/hunting area had kept me busy(disclaimer: over the past several years Mike Dettore's Magic Mono-Metal Bullets have been the secrete to my success. Mike gives me a bunch of bullets and they proceed to knock the snot out of anything I have in my sights. This formula has worked on everything from California elk to harnessed bushbuck in Cameroon. This year Mike sent me a bunch of .270 GMXs but I never had a chance to load them.) I was using a Sierra Game King with Re22 pushing the 130gr SGK at about 3100fps. All shots exited. The rifle is a "meat-and-taters" JC Higgins 270 Winchester with a B&L 2.5-10x scope. I have it in a B&C stock. It is a grab and go rifle.

ravenr: a lot of your predictions are coming true. Renee still talks about visiting you and her "cowgirl friend". I look forward to meeting up again.

Lhook: on the way home I made it to Dutch John before realizing that 191 was still closed. It was late, I was exhausted and I was pissed that I had to reroute to Manilla. I did not get home until midnight and did not have the meat in the freezer until 1:30 and I still had to be up at 5:30 to teach!

Cal30 1906: that area is amazing. I have only been through there a few times but I am looking forward to doing some more exploring.

BTW: the best part of the photos of me is the fact that Renee took them. Amazing for such a young gal.

I have said before that Renee is fond of stating that her favorite meal is "elk and black(wild) rice", but here is the real trophy of the hunt:

quote:

So this past Saturday myorning I was cutting a wrapping the elk that we got last week. It was about 10am when Renee asked what I was going to make her for breakfast. I told her that I could cook up some of the elk that I was cutting(I was wrapping it in the kitchen).

She said, "Um, no thanks. It's kinda disgusting"

I cooked her pancakes, but I fried up a bit of backstrap for her also(Recipe: Season salt, olive oil, fry until done all the way through).

She ate the meat and told me that it was great. I guess the smell of cooking venison helped her to get over the butcher shop scene in the kitchen.

As she was finishing breakfast I had resumed cutting and wrapping the elk. She walked into the kitchen and said, "Daddy, I like it when you shoot animals and turn them into meat."

Gotta love that girl!

And to top it off, Sunday morning she asked: "do we have any of that elk meat left?"

Jason - Great report and congrats to you and your new hunting partner. Sorry we could not hook up on my trip to Wyoming, but will try another time.

Larry Sellers
SCI (International) Life Member

It's reports like this that once made this a great place to spend time.

I wish we could get more of the "way it was" once again

Thank you Jason for taking the time to share a great life experience with us

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
Jason - Great report and congrats to you and your new hunting partner. Sorry we could not hook up on my trip to Wyoming, but will try another time.

Next time my man. I'll look forward to it!

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
It's reports like this that once made this a great place to spend time.

I wish we could get more of the "way it was" once again

Thank you Jason for taking the time to share a great life experience with us

I have always enjoyed reading your posts. Maybe it is time "we" take this place back. I will be looking forward to your next report!

We'll just have to ignore the idiots.

Love the picture of you beautiful daughter. I know you will enjoy watching her grow up but it happens way to fast.
Congrats on the successful hunt.

Well done on a tough public land hunt Jason... man that takes patience and controlling one's temper in dealing with other less conscientious nimrods! And kudos on taking your daughter with you on your forays, we never know if our kids will follow in our foot steps as hunters but we owe it to them to make sure they have the experiences to allow them to make an informed decision!