Who's hunting big game in the wasatch?

[ilanimaka]

So I've hunted small game for years now and I'd like to branch off into larger game now. I'm self taught, not having any family who hunts. The old man raised me to be safe and I'm a fair shot. Guess what I'm looking for is somebody I can tag along with to observe for now on weekends (family issues ran out my vacation time for the year ).

I hear that mule deer taste like sage brush; is that true? I've had whitetail and enjoy it plenty, so if mule deer are at all similar I'd be interested in hunting them, otherwise I'd like to try my hand at elk.

[fourtycal]

Me and Ride-on have general deer tags this year, the hunt is the third weekend of October but we are hunting the Blue mountains out of Monticello, 5 hour drive away so we usually camp for a week.

I find Mule deer to be very tasty when processed properly.

I think you can still get an Elk tag if you hurry but deer are sold out for this year.

What rifle do you shoot?

[BruteForce]

What are we doing wrong? 3 years in a row, we've not been able to get a deer, elk or antelope tag. WTF?

Is there some sort of State blacklist? Are known ATV'ers blacklisted from hunting?

[DOSS]

What are we doing wrong? 3 years in a row, we've not been able to get a deer, elk or antelope tag. WTF?

Is there some sort of State blacklist? Are known ATV'ers blacklisted from hunting?

Don't Feel bad I am in the same boat as you are

[fourtycal]

Are known ATV'ers blacklisted from hunting?

Stop licensing your atv's and maybe they will take you off the blacklist


Between me and ride on we applied for 8 other tags that we did not draw, I guess we should feel lucky to have the deer tags.

[ilanimaka]

I've never put in for a drawing, but buy points just in case I decide to one year. I tell ya... Utah is odd. Never heard of a place where you draw for females and buy males over the counter. It's always the other way around.

Anywho, next year, perhaps, I could do a week long event, but I seriously have like 2 days of vacation left for the year and need those for Thanksgiving & Christmas. Ideally though, I have always loved the idea of taking a week off just to head out and hunt. Right now, it would have to be something I could do on a weekend. Not ideal, but it's the card I have to play with.

As for shootin irons, I am currently looking for a 7mm-08. I have three options for it really. There's the beloved Stevens 200, but I'm not much of a bolt fan really. The second option, which I'm leaning towards in spite of the larger price tag, is a TC Contender G2. Always loved the Encore & Contender. The third choice is a plain jane H&R single shot.

[DaveG]

Elk and deer tags are easy to get - sort of. About the only region that doesn't sell out during the draw is a northern tag and those will sell out in the first few days after they go on sale in late June.

Just put in for the draw and make a deer tag your last choice - I think you get at least 3 hunt choices. If you don't - more than likely you won't pick up a tag.

I bow hunt so I don't really worry about these things. I've found the bucks to chase this year up on the front so I'm waiting for Sept 2nd to roll around so I can start chasing them. I'm hoping to get up there this weekend and snap a few shots of them. My hunting bud spotted them in the same spot last year

Bow hunt is nice - hunt until December and not worry about the pumpkin patch in October!

[ilanimaka]

Hey Dave. Yeah, I wouldn't mind bow hunting. I have an older compound I shot growing up, though it's at my old man's place back in KS. The pull is a bit long for me, but I can make it work. One of these days I gotta buy a bow case and have him send that bow out to me.

Ah well...

I'm supposed to be heading out this Sunday with a feller I met on PM but I may have to work from 9pm Saturday to 6am Sunday, so we'll see if that pans out. Course the wife is having some surgery tomorrow too, so that may be off altogether.

[Wasatch Rebel]

May I recommend a couple of great deer hunting books to you? Hunting America's Mule Deer by Jim Zumbo is a classic, and includes chapters on field dressing your game and recipes. Another great book is How To Find Giant Bucks by Kirt Darner. Darner has more Boone and Crockett heads than anybody--or at least he did at the time the book was written. That book was ghost written by Rich LaRocco, former associate editor of Outdoor Life.

Anyway, I heard a guy this past week talk about how he's found some huge bucks along the Wasatch front and just stalks them, waiting for the perfect shot. He said he hasn't shot at one in four years. Of course, this is archery as you can't rifle shoot along the front. When the radio host tried to pin him down as to where he hunted exactly, he said, "in the Wasatch Mountains between Provo and Ogden". If you're into archer, there's another great book by Dwight Schuh called Bowhunting for Muledeer.

[rooster32]

Kirt Darner is a disgrace to hunting....you might want to "g@@gle" his name and see what that is all about......

[Wasatch Rebel]

Kirt Darner is a disgrace to hunting....you might want to "g@@gle" his name and see what that is all about......

Thanks for that rooster. I had heard rumors several years ago, but doing a Google search at the time netted me nothing. Now, I see what you mean. I just wanted to let you know that Rich LaRocco who wrote Darner's books has distanced himself from Darner. Here's one quote: "Rich LaRocco, the Outdoor Writer who penned both of Kirt Darners books, has distanced his self from Darner. Can't say that I blame him. According to this article about Kirt Darner on LaRocco's website, Mr. LaRocco actually had a hand in bringing some of the discrepancies in Darner's stories to light. This led to closer scrutiny of Darner's claims which finally led to the truth about his B&C entries and their delisting from the Record Book."

Also, these two links are quite helpful in bringing to light Darner's numerous discretions. First, a rather lengthy one by LaRocco (the article mentioned above on LaRocco's website) on the history of his dealings with Darner: http://www.hunts.net/darner.html


and here is an actual press release on another one of Darner's crimes, and as far as I know, the only one he's done time for: http://www.outdoorpressroom.com/outd...fe-crimes.html

Yup, he's definitely scum.