Utah Hunt Boundaries

So one thing that has always bugged me about Utah was the general season elk hunt boundaries. The size of the boundaries and all that is fine, I just dont like hunting in a spike only area and seeing all the big bulls that will just die of old age. Then you hunt in an any bull area and your lucky to even see any branch antler bulls. To me it would make more sense to rotate the areas from spike only to any bull 5pt+. Run an area as spike only for 3-5 years or so and then have one year where it is open to any bull 5 point or bigger, then go back to 3-5 years of spike only again and so on. People could still hunt their favorite areas, they would jsut be restricted to shooting a spike for a couple of years. Also it would give you 3-5 years to scout out the branch antler bulls in the area.

I'm not saying Utah is doing a bad job at managing the elk hunting. I just think everyone, elk and hunters, would benefit from a rotating type plan. What do you guys think?
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That's the best idea I've heard yet. It makes sense to me because if there were a 6 point or better rule the herd would continue right along, especially if the limited area were only open for one year every 5 years. Then the DWR could rotate through the limited areas and open up several more opportunities for sweet tags. One thing about the current management plan that I like is the size and quantity of the elk, and in my opinion a strategy like this one wouldn't change that much because one in five years would still allow for some hogs who would keep together the strong herds we've seen now for several years. Good plan 79Ford. 10sign:
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The Ox
whats the purpose of limited entry management than? there are several units with managemetn hunts like sw desert, it has a 5pt or smaller hunt to get rid of some of the rag horns. spike hunts are also to help control the number of bulls in a limited unit,so thaere are not a alot of old bulls dying of old age. most of the open bull units ,at least down here in so utah. have few elk or are mainly private lands. i agree it sucks to hunt elk here if you dont have a limited tag but your never gonna convince the right people to change any part of the le management when bulls in the mid 400's are being taken every year,this year,they will way more than likely kill spiderbull...last year a 442" and a 434",year before a 428" they just get bigger and bigger.. i guess it gives ya something to look forward too,drawing a le tag. i guess your best bet to hunt elk every year is hunt otc elk in colorado. no quality there just quantity
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That's a good point, the elk are huge here. But honestly does the consumer, in this case the average elk hunter care whether or not he is able to kill a freak of nature opposed to a real good sized 330-380 class bull but also be able to hunt them every 5-7 years instead of 10-15? It almost feels like once or twice a lifetime because lets face it, elk are tough to hunt and require quiet a bit of hiking. Eventually we will all be too old to truck all over those mountains. I'm 30 now and have 8 bonus points for elk. I expect that in the next 5 or so years I will draw out. Then I will be 35. The next tag will be limited deer, then once I'm back to putting in for elk again I'll be what... 50ish? With the expectation of another tag by the time I am in my 60's??? It's not once in a lifetime, but probably not much more than twice! And to me that sucks. :>/
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79Ford
"Bowtech43" wrote:But honestly does the consumer, in this case the average elk hunter care whether or not he is able to kill a freak of nature opposed to a real good sized 330-380 class bull but also be able to hunt them every 5-7 years instead of 10-15? It almost feels like once or twice a lifetime
Exactly my point. I'd rather shoot a respectable bull every 5-7 years and hunt spikes all the years in between. Yeah, we could hunt Colorado's general season, but honestly I dont want to have to go to another state to hunt.
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