Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Supastipa
sounds like fun. Its funny, those of us who live here take that scenery for granted...its good to hear a visitor's comments to remind us of its worth. Sounds like a bow hunt, curious what unit? Paunsagunt?
|
Supastipa, Good eye on the area. Yes, it is Paunsaugunt, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it for elk. I was there in OCT 1999, and there were elk bugling all around us at night. I spoke with others who hunted the area in 2000 and 2001, and they told me that there were elk everywhere. Now, I find out that they did the controlled burns to the North, and the elk stay up there because of the feed. We saw very low numbers of elk (especially considering that it was a limited entry area), yet the DWR increased the number of tags this year. The bow hunt was early Sept, the rifle hunt was mid Sept, and the Muzzleloader hunt was late Sept into Oct.
My tag was for muzzleloader, and I was expecting to hear bulls bugling everywhere...and we never heard one. I was disappointed about that. I filled out a hunt survey online, and chose "Very Unsatisfied" when asked about the hunt....and that was only because they didn't list "Pathetic" as a choice.
I still enjoyed the hunt, but I choose to only hunt the limited entry areas in order to have a quality hunt. I had a muzzleloader deer tag there in 1991 (great hunt), and again in 2001 (great hunt, and I didn't even fire a shot), so it's not about the kill, but I expected to see a lot more elk than we did. At least there wasn't a hunter behind every bush
Unless things change for some reason, I wouldn't recommend Paunsaugunt for any elk hunt, and even the deer herd is not what it used to be. There are quite a few 3 1/2 yr old deer, but very few 4 1/2 or older deer as in years past. But, some people would be happy with those, because they have never seen a deer bigger than a 150.
I love the area, but it had more charm when you had to rip your mirrors off to get to the scenic areas...now there are roads and trails to all of them...so they aren't as personal as they used to be. I prefer the path less travelled.
Happy Hunting,
Imadogman