“When the smoke cleared, I could see him lying right in his tracks. I couldn’t believe what had just happened in a matter of a few short moments.”

When I opened the email, I couldn’t believe it! I had beat the odds and drew a Utah limited entry elk muzzleloader tag with only three points on a good unit right in my backyard. The scouting and preparations started immediately. 

My family and I spent many days throughout the summer and early fall glassing, checking trail cameras and shooting my muzzleloader. We located several shooter bulls during the summer months all over the unit and kept tabs on them as best we could, but knew that once the hunting pressure started from other hunts that were before mine, it would be a challenge keeping track of all of them. 

Once the hunts began, I decided to focus on a particular area that historically seemed to be less popular for other hunters and see what I could turn up. From hunting there the previous years on other hunts, I had remembered seeing a good bull that exceeded my expectations for this tag; long beams, good mass and long tines. It took a few long days, but in late August I finally found him, right where I had seen him in years prior. Read more…