What would you do? Elk vs velvet muley.
General Topic
Utah application season is winding down. Here's my situation, circumstances and random thoughts:
1. I am a resident and can apply for LE deer OR elk
2. I'm off the elk waiting list finally. I can and will only apply for archery hunts. The two units I want take about 3-6 years to draw but decent odds before that. I like hunting elk more than deer typically. Gambled big time on WY and lost.
3. I have 9 deer points. The unit I want takes 10. With 9 points, my odds are the SAME as an elk tag with ZERO points. I really want a velvet buck. They have kicked my ass for 7+ years.
4. If I go for deer and don't get it, I would be a lock for it next year. That means I'd be 2 years away from starting to apply for LE elk tag again.
5. My out of state go-to elk hunt sold out before the WY results came out. That's where I get my "fix" every year. It sucks. I know the area so well and it's close.
6. If I apply for and stay after elk, I can still hunt velvet bucks....with a 800 hundred of my friends on general units. It's a tough hunt.
7. Deer point creep. Every 2 years point creep goes up by one. IMO, deer points aren't worth much in Utah.
8. I over complicate things.
Sooooo LE deer or elk?
Velvet Muley is hard to beat...Especially a big Utah Buck! ;-)
Mulies!!! I hunted three states last year for mulies and had the time of my life!! Not once did I regret not chasing elk till November.
It's pretty tough to beat the quality of elk in Utah the past dozen years. There are relatively few monster muley options in Utah and it sounds like you know more about that than any of us. If I had the choice between a Henry's mtn muley tag and a San Juan elk tag it would be a super tough choice! It's a little confusing why you couldn't apply for both your muley plus elk units this year? If you know you won't draw deer this year why not apply for both and have a chance to draw elk?
Mule deer velvet?? No contest
Thanks for the feedback so far guys. I appreciate it.
Jims, Good question. In Utah residents may NOT apply for BOTH Limited Entry deer and elk. We have to choose one or the other.
Or you can just come and call and pack an elk for me in Wyoming, Jason :^)
In all seriousness, go for deer Jason! Get the monkey off your back. Good luck in your choice.
And, you still have elk in Colorado OTC. Mule deer close to the Utah line in 0 point units that you can combo with otc elk... maybe better deer than Utah in those units...
For me it would be easy. Elk. I'm not much of a mule deer guy.
Gotta love velvet mule deer!
But you love hunting them dang Elk!!!
Whatever you decide, I hope ya draw
Good luck, Robb
You have lots of years invested in Deer. Get that done and then move to elk.
I wish nonresidents could only apply for one tag too! If they did allow you to apply for both, then the years it would take to get drawn for one of them would DOUBLE.
What they need to do is allow everyone to apply for POINTS, but only one tag. Then you build for both species, but your odds go way up. And they make money on point applications.
I swing for home runs not base hits Go for the muley
Red coated, pencil neck, velvet rack muley!
"3. ..........I really want a velvet buck. .............."
Well thanks for the feedback. I ended up putting in for deer. Sure felt weird typing a big red "NO" in the elk column on my points/application tracking spreadsheet! I'll move on and figure out some OTC elk hunting in either UT, ID or CO.
Ut General tag
Ut General tag
Good luck on the draw. I know how a quest for a good Mule deer goes. Over the last few years I focused on deer draws and used up a lot of points. I had multiple hunts in Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, gambled big on some legit 200" deer and lost, and did kill some ok bucks, but I struck gold on a general Utah archery tag in a place I had history with (and 800 others)
Since you asked the question...
I’ll take hard horn deer over velvet anytime. And I’ll take WT deer over MD all day long.
And I’ll take elk over any deer each and every time :)
Awesome buck WW! I do see some bombers on the general hunts no doubt. That's what makes those early morning hikes worth it!
cnelk, My office is full of whitetails from right up until I moved out here. Had'em figured out. Thought I'd have another office full of mule deer by now. WRONG! Getting addicted to elk hunting hasn't helped.
I made the mistake of a lifetime waiting for a big whitetail to shed his velvet while he was patterned. I just don't really like velvet racks. Call me weird :(
Still need a velvet whitetail...
'Gotta love velvet mule deer!' No I don't, not a fan of velvet antlers. Agree with Apauls - not weird, and cnelk. Just like polished hard antler with color from various rub trees, esp. alder in the PacNW. Prefer elk over deer, and would always choose elk hunts first. Prefer WT over Mulies, except the biggest thickest mulies with good brow tines. Big mulie bucks are very smart. Call me picky.
I prefer elk meat over deer so to me it’s a no brainer.
Velvet Mulies are just awesome. Both are fun to hunt
It seems like I'm one of the few who has no desire to shoot a deer that is still in velvet. To me that is like picking a green peach. It's not good until its ripe.
Totally agree Olink. I shot two 'bou in AK in mid August. Me being a greenhorn at the time, if I'd known they were still in velvet I would have gone a couple weeks later, but I was locked in and could not re-book. We were flown in for 8 days, got both animals the second day, weather was in 50s and 60s, velvet started to stink before I got it peeled off, and the antlers were kinda pithy on the ends after I peeled it. Bummed, and won't ever do it again.
