FINAL PANGUITCH

[The Ox]

well tag soup for me! not much of a story. elk were nowhere to be found. i had to hike in at least 2-3 miles before i could even start huntign fresh sign. earlier in the week i heard a few sparodic bugles but tapered off to nothjin once i drove off the mtn for the last time! mtn was comletly quiet my last day and night of hunting. anyay i would get back in a few miles hear a bugle and dive in after it,usaually pursuing a couple miles,but the bugles were not frequent enough to chase very wel but i did manage to close the gap on one bull that looked beat up possibly fightin or maybe wounded dunno only got 80 yardds from him. but that was the closest i could get i suppose i could have killed a few spieks also but not worht it. i usually avged 6-8 miles of hikin twice a day for the last week of the hunt. so 12-14 a day. last day i was wore out and may have only got 4- 5 ish twice.
elk were not in there normal areas. i beleive it due to high! spike pressure, i had no idea spike hunters would go so deep for one they were very dedicated!! i have helped pack elk off that mtn and i would never kill a spike in the areas those spike guys went.not worht it for a spike.i heard a few guys were chasin the herd bulls herd around tryin to get a crack at his cows. heard guys trying to push big bulls over to open unit for there buddies. it was a mess up there! i talked to 11 le hunters and only heard of 1 possible kill out of those.havin the exact probs i did. heard of one spike and one cow killed.the way it looked wheni left the mtn rifle guys may struggle abit. good luck to them they will need it.
as long as this spike hunt stays as it is i suggest steering clear of panguitch unit. i hope they change it for the guys next year i hope no one gets the shaft as we did this year. i would have rather hunted open bull tag is cheaper with the same success rate.
i think the highlight of my hunt was when a guy tried to fight me because i got to an area before him that he supposedly had been hunting everyday. well i hadnt seen him and i had been hunting it everynight. after talkin to his brother they had been comin in in the moring and me at night , mornigs i would drop in the asame area but froma diff direction. anyway they didnt let me finish telling them that before they got mad. this guy was prob 50-60 and got so mad he came up got in my face and chest bumped me and told me i didnt know who i was messin with. well after a few words and me teelin him i didnt really care who he was and a pair of broken glasses we parted ways ok jk on the broken glasses i kept my cool and i got a pretty good laugh from it. but i can see the amount of stress all of us had someone gettin a bit short tempered. but none the less not to cool of a thing to do. still curious to know who the guy was, he sure seemed to think he was someone important tho. anyway hope everyone else had a better hutn than me. didnt get much chance to deer hunt this year chasin elk to hard. i did drop off the mtn on the last day to go for a bedded buck my budy new of. once i got there and he jumped from his bed i could only see the top of his head and horns he was a 27 -28 inch 3x4 but never got a shot. anyway thats my exciting le hunt story! tyalked to stinky and he was havin a little struggle opening day not sure how its gone since good luck to him!

[6x6 bull]

Sorry to hear about all the problems on your LE hunt Ox. Your problems seem to a common complaint this year. The only way that things will get changed is if it hurts the DNR financially and you and I know that people will not quit trying to get a tag so 10 years from now when I draw a tag I will be talking about the same problems.

[GATOR]

Man Ox
Wish the hunt would turned out better for you. It such a good unit for Big Bulls, but it does look like the rut is just now kicking in,(about week to late for your hunt) But Stinky will hit it about right I think.

[MuleyMadness]

Sounds like you certainly put in a lot of work! To bad you couldn't bag a bull.

[GUTPYLZ]

That sucks Ox. I worry about the same thing when I do finally draw out.

[The Ox]

well to evertyone worried about havin my same outcome do yourself a favor and as long as the spike hunt during archery le hunt is going on just bypass it and put in for early rifle. trust me! i feel cheated! was no diff than a open bull hunt really! i hunted hard and double hard the last week when spikers left. and i know the guys that had spike tags or didnt have le tag and experience what i did will say i am whining but just to be honest it did not feel like a quality hunt at all! ive hunted that unit 3 years ago with my buddy and his was way more fun than mine. we heard and seen elk often. i also occasionally deer hunt up there from time to time during archery and it has been much better previous years. im not whining just stating the facts of my experiances

[GUTPYLZ]

That's why I love hunting Nevada archery and Muzzleloader. I don't run into anybody. I'm sure you hunted hard and have nothing to show for your efforts. I wish I had the right words to cheer you up, but I don't think anybody does. Unfortunately, that's just hunting sometimes.

[The Ox]

well yes it is hunting i worked hard i have no shame in not gettin one i knew what i went thru and i gave it what i had if i wanted 100 percent success rate id save my money and hunt high fence. im just bitter about having to hunt against guys that had nothin to lose but 35 dollars. there is a place for spike hunting and it doesnt belong during a suposedly limited enrty hunt! sounds like false advertisement by dwr . anyway enough about it before i get accused of whinin

[jarvis243]

Ox i hear ya. There is not any elk anywhere! The only places that we have been able to find any elk and hear a bugle or two (if we are lucky) is in those areas that you have to hike into a few miles. The thing that upsets me is i have found 3 dead elk that have been left for whatever reason. 2 spikes and a cow. The one was in about 2 miles. It is pretty frustrating.
I had to come down tonight for school and work but gonna head back up thursday night. Gonna purchase some inserts tomorrow for my boots cause of all the walkin!

[NotEnufTags]

Tag soup is an interesting dish. On the one hand you have the great memories of time in the field. On the other the tag doesn't have the protein value that elk meat does. Sorry to hear of your LE hunt ending. I was pulling for you and enjoyed your updates as the hunt progessed. I don't know if it will help at all, but I ran into a guy up on Timpanogos last Saturday that had been archery hunting the Pahvant. He too is eating tag. He said he had some good chances but got to picky and let some good bulls go hoping for a monster. Best of luck to you in future draws. Hopefully you'll draw as soon as your waiting period is up.