Hunting in southeast Utah

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Tue, 2010-10-05 10:26

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Hunting in southeast Utah

Getting ready for a mule deer hunting trip to Monticello, Utah. Have not hunted in that area in a couple of years. Was wondering if anyone has done any scouting of the area lately. Just cleaned my Bar 300 mag winchester as my primary rifle and will have a backup rifle which is a BDL Remington 30-06. Season for the rifle season starts the 23rd of October and ends the 27th.

Well! Since nobody from this forum has hunted in the Monticello, Utah area, I am leaving tomorrow Oct. 16, for my hunting trip and I will do some scouting before the season starts. I am also taking my golf clubs since they have one of the best golf coarses I have seen. Quite a story behind that golf coarse. Loading my diesel pusher coach up with all my hunting equipment and I will report when I get back of my hunting trip and hopeful that I get a nice big buck. Reports from the Fish and Game department says that there are lots of bucks in the south eastern part of Utah. We will see!

Can't say the same for other area's of Utah and they have cut down the hunting days in some area's from five to three. The purpose behind this is to get a certain amount of bucks to doe ratio. And to see if they can get the heards back up to satisfactory conditions. Luckily the area where I am going to hunt stayed at five hunting days.

Fri, 2010-10-15 18:39

Critter

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Location: Western Colorado

Joined: 03/26/2009

Posts: 4413

Might I presume that you have

Might I presume that you have one of the coveted Elk Ridge tags? If you did you do have a fine tag. I hunted the area back in the late 60's and 70's and always found a quality deer. But from what I have heard if you find one in the 180 class you had better shoot it. There are better ones out there but you have to hunt it hard. I just hit a motel after 22 days in the field in Utah chasing mulies with the smoke pole on the west desert and man did I have fun but just couldn't get into range for the old smoke pole. I then played around with the spike elk hunt for the last week but had to take a shower so I came off the mountain for a couple of days.

Fri, 2010-10-15 20:50

RayChez

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Hunting in Monticello, Utah

No I hunt around the Blue Ridge mountain. Have hunted there for many years, and have gotten some real nice big bucks. I will not shoot at any smaller buck then a 3x3.

I have not returned there in a few years. I had a bypass and had to let the old body recover to 100%. So I just hunted for black tail in California last year, but I had trouble finding places that were not private. So I decided to come back to Utah where I am familiar with the area. Long ways to travel for a deer, but with these coaches now days is like taking the house with you. LOL! I tow a four wheel drive Pilot which will take me into some good hunting area's.

Sat, 2010-10-16 11:49

Critter

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Location: Western Colorado

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Posts: 4413

Don't be too dissapointed if

Don't be too dissapointed if the number of deer that you see are down from what you expected. Utah's deer heards are on a downward slide in most areas while some others are doing ok. A few of the areas have gone to a 3 day hunt to try and help them out but I doubt that is going to help any.

I can relate to the heart surgury. My brother in law had a tripple by pass in May of 02 and was hunting elk in a limited entry area in September of that year. While the elk that he took was not as good as he could of done he was out there and enjoying the hunt. He actually started to scout the area in July but we wouldn't let him do much more than sit in camp or the truck whlie we took the hikes to find the elk.

Good luck on your hunt.

Sun, 2010-10-17 14:16

RayChez

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Posts: 24

Utah hunting

Critter, I still say that the problem in Utah and in many other states with the decline on deer is because of too many mountain lion. You realize that a mountain lion will kill a deer everyday and that will sure thin out the herds.. A few years ago I was hunting by Richfield, Utah and I saw mountain lion actually following a big buck. And talking with the rangers they said there was too many mountain lion in several area's of Utah.

I probably will stop over night in Mesquite or St George tomorrow on my way to Monticello.

Good luck with the black powder hunting. You have to get to at least 100 yards with those things.

Mon, 2010-10-18 09:29

Ca_Vermonster

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Location: San Diego, CA

Joined: 07/27/2007

Posts: 5813

Hey Ray, I can't necessarily

Hey Ray, I can't necessarily give you any scouting reports, as it has been 8-9 years since I hunted it, but I hunted that area near Monticello back then, and had the time of my life. The only thing I didn't do was get a deer. We hunted the Abajo Peak just outside of town for most of the week, then we took a day to hunt some private property just southeast of town for a $50 access fee. Beautiful area, lots of wildlife, etc. Would loveto do it again some day. even did a little trout fishing in that little lake/pond that you pass while heading up the mountain.

Good luck to you. Hope to see a successful report!!

Fri, 2010-10-29 18:22

RayChez

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Posts: 24

Back from hunting trip

Well, I just got back from hunting in south eastern Utah and didn,t have any luck on getting a big buck. All the bucks that I saw were small forked antlers and I would not shoot something that small. It has to be at least a 3x3 or larger before I take a shot at one. I saw four monster mule deer but they were in an area where you needed special permit to hunt private properties. So we will wait until next season. There is a big decline in the buck to doe ratio and in my opinion hunting in these area's need to be managed better by the Fish and Game. I would even be in favor of closing the whole state for three years and let the deer heards build up to where you would have decent hunting with some nice big bucks. Control the mountain lions through out the state, they have killed too many deer.

Mon, 2010-11-01 08:49

Ca_Vermonster

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Location: San Diego, CA

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What is the policy on lions

What is the policy on lions in Utah ray? I know each state is very different. Here in CA, they are protected more than the average citizens. In oregon where I hunted, they kill a decent amount of them with tags. Are you able to shoot them out there, or is it totally taboo????

Sorry you didn't get that big one you were after. Next time!

Mon, 2010-11-01 21:10

RayChez

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Posts: 24

Regulating Mountain Lion in Utah

I believe Critter has pretty well covered on his post as to how mountain lion are hunted down in Utah. But I know for a fact because I have hunted this area for many years and there is a big decline of big bucks in that particular area. I interviewed several local hunters and they told me the same story about having too many mountain lion in the whole state of Utah.

I never saw a mountain lion while hunting. The only thing I run into was a big black bear, hundreds of does and a few small bucks scattered around with the does. Four big bucks, but were in private owned land where you had to pay big bucks to hunt and have special permission from the owner of the property. I had three good days of hunting and two miserable weather hunting days with snow and rain coming down.

All and all had a great time.

Mon, 2010-11-01 09:35

Critter

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Location: Western Colorado

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Posts: 4413

Lions are hunted on a limited

Lions are hunted on a limited entry system in Utah and the season doesn't run with the big game hunts anymore. Years ago you use to be able to buy a lion and a bear license for a dollar each and hunt them year round but not anymore. Also from what I have been hearing the lion population is on the downswing along with the deer herds but that doesn't make sence to me since the elk herds are stable and a lion will take a elk also.

Righ now there are 3 proposals in the works for the Utah deer herds and can be found on the Utah's DOW web site and from reading them a lot of hunters are not going to be happy.

Thu, 2010-11-04 08:39

#10

Ca_Vermonster

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Location: San Diego, CA

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I would think that they would

I would think that they would want to run a lion season concurrently with other big game. That is when most people are in the woods, and when their chances would be best to run into the little critters. If they held both lion and deer tags, or lion and elk tags, they could double up on animals.

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