Lived in unit 18 during the 1990s.
Paul
I drew a archery deer tag and took an OTC cow elk tag into 18 this season. Hunted 14 total days in the archery season. I called in a spike to 14 yards on opening day and didn't have a tag to make it happen. Saw a group of cows (5-7) in a small meadow throughout the week but couldn't make it happen. I did get a chance to stalk a 5x6 stud muley that I missed at 53 yards haha. I have pics of him through the spotting scope that would have scored him upwards of 155. The biggest muley I've seen in the area since I started hunting in there. I've seen lottttts of moose in there and a ton of fresh sign. Hope you had some success during the muzzleloader season. Seems like my season was over as soon as yall started shooting the smoke sticks haha.
Our season was dry, warm (80 degrees) and very windy. We seen a lot of fresh signs. The Elk just seemed to be two steps ahead of us. We seen several bear, moose cows and one extremely massive bull. We seen several big horn sheep. Even seen a big boy, tom cat within 25 yards, he hissed at me showed me his big k9's and ran off. We just could not connect with the Elk. I'll stay with my 3rd rifle season for future hunts. If you can, send your pic of the muley. I do have to brag, there are some monsters in Unit 18. The best part of all this is I ended up on the woods, relaxed and enjoyed every minute of it.