High Uintas Wilderness-Utah
Elk
Hi All,
I will be doing a backpack hunt into this wilderness area this Sep for the general archery season. Just wondering if anyone has hunted in here before. Not looking for any specifics just general elk numbers VS Hunter/hiker numbers. Previously been hunting Colorado and realize elk numbers will be lower in comparison, but i'm ready to see some new country. Looking at hunting around 10'000ft.
Thanks,
Joe
Hunted up there the 2nd week a few years back. Only saw a few elk but saw a lot of fresh sign, not sure if other hunters pushed them out the first week. It is good country to see.
I would take the Highline Trail as it goes the length of the Uinta's.
There are boo-coo basins (North Slope/South Slope) you can glass into from above and no one around to mess up your stalk.
You will have moose, elk, deer Mnt. Goats and Bighorn sheep on any given day as you hunt along the Highline trail.
Deer tags will be sold out in the overlap Unit 8 for deer or I would suggest having one in your pocket.
Good luck, Robb
Like Robb said a deer tag would have been nice. The last time I packed in with a friend he killed a great 180" buck the first day hiking in! which cut our elk hunt short (not prepared to take care of velvet antlers). We did see a few elk, but not enough time to get one.
I archery hunted the Uinta wilderness for years. I moved on to find greener pastures 7-8 years ago. If you are expecting an experience similar to Colorado, you will be very disappointed. I see many more and much bigger bulls in every unit in Colorado I have hunted than I see in the Uinta's. Beautiful country, bring a fly rod, but keep your expectations low.
Thanks for the info! Robb, I will look into the highline trail. I have an area picked out right now just based on Google Earth and topo scouting. Not sure if that is in the highline trail area or not but will check it out. Are most of the lakes snowmelt fed up there? I've been hearing a lot about it being a very bad snow year(low) up there, wonder how that will affect the water levels. Any ideas on snow chances for the 1st week of September?
I hunted the east end of the High Uintas one year. We hiked in to about 10,500' elevation and set up camp. We hunted for a couple of days and found all the sign was about two weeks old. We moved down to about 9,000' and finally found the elk. The elk are where you find them and this year might prove to be tough if our drought continues. The lakes are snow and creek fed. There will be water up high as always but I'm no expert to tell you if the elk will be up that high come the season. I can tell you that it can snow up there anytime. I have been snowed on the 4th of July before. You will love how beautiful it is up there however.
Boly, thanks for the info. Awesome views and a chance at playing with some elk, that's all we need!
The Uintas are big. The views will definitely be good, the elk could be anywhere however and the densities are not that high. This is the top of Rocky Sea pass on the west end of the Highline, mentioned above.
Dead-horse pass looking North. The majority of the Highline is above the tree line and is a long way away from from vehicle access (think 10+ miles).
Great pictures Ben H. 10+ miles would be a heck of a meat haul if successful. The area I'm looking at is in the Atwood Basin area.
Great pix ben h
Got my blood flowing! for a trip...
You can access the Highline from multiple trail heads that intercept it from many 'start' trailheads.
Exciting thinking about it, that is for sure.
Good luck, Robb
Stunning scenery. Really wild how those basins are so wide and "flat".
So how did the hunt go?
My first real experience of the west was the six months I lived just outside of Duchesne as a 14 year old. Stunning country. My aunt had 15 acres at about 6,500 feet and once the snow got deep up high her place was crawling with elk.
Saw my first elk, moose, and mule deer while I lived there.
killed one in the uintas in 2013 and will be back this year.
I've backpacked the Kings Peak area. Great trip.
Moose, mountain goats, a few deer and world class mosquitos. Didn't see elk but did see quite a bit of beetle kill spruce.
Beautiful place
The hunt was a blast! However, no elk were harmed. We hunted the last 9 days of the season. We actually never got into the wilderness area. The area we we planned to hunt was a 8 mile hike through the NF and we ended up finding elk about 3 miles in and the farthest we ever got in was about 6.5 miles. Plans change I guess. We saw a couple bulls but I never felt we really put any good "hunts" on them. We heard bulls bugle one night and that's it. Saw several lone cows and never had any response to calling. One of my buddies had a bull within range but wasn't able to get a shot. We had several great encounters with moose, they seemed to be everywhere! Also saw mountain goats and tons of mule deer, including a couple of giants. I will plan to put a full hunt report on here at some point. I definitely plan to hunt the area again. One of my buddies is going back this year but I'm planning a mule deer hunt in Nebraska.
Thanks for the update! It's beautiful country for sure.
Thanks from me too. I visited the same area in Sept and its a magic spot!
Good for you!!
That is the area I had my Forest Service Use Permit with in for my Llama Adventure Treks.
What a wonderful area---
To bad ya didn't see any BigHorn sheep.
Good luck, Robb
PS for those wondering it is in Unit 8 of the General Deer option in the Utah draw.
PSS--The bow elk tag is OTC come mid-June and the unit is an Any Bull/cow option.
