So elk season in Utah and camping questions

[Brandonj92]

I’ve been giving the green light by my wife on this hunt and plan on taking a friend who’s hunting elk in the Oregon area.

1. It seem you can camp anywhere on public land unless it posted somewhere upon entry. true?
2. is making a camp fire okay? I know states out west and everything I see it looks to be okay to do unless posted.
3. What is the early muzzleloader season like for anyone that hunts here ?
It doesn’t seem like it’s all that bad the first week of October either. But it could be like Ohio and nothing is really consistent- (I ve hunted deer in Basket ball shorts the first week of December some year)

any tips for this trip are welcomed and if there any extra info you guys can give me to go ahead. I think we have the spot we want to go picked out.

 

[sdporter]

Gonna type this on the computer

 

[sdporter]

Utah has five types of elk units:
general season spike
general season any bull
limited entry any bull
CWMU (cooperative wildlife management unit) private property hunts but if you draw the permit the landowner guarantees you access, although he decides the terms.
antlerless units
Most of the (I believe all) spike units are trophy units if you obtain the correct permit in the lottery drawing, and you would be able to shoot any antlered bull. The hunt seasons for the limited entry (LE) permits DO NOT overlap with the general season dates, so if you're lucky enough to draw one, the number of hunters in the field with you is generally less which is a good thing.
You can expect to draw a LE permit for muzzleloader or archery in about 6 years, rifle hunt takes about 20 years to draw.
Early muzzleloader is end of September and the elk usually are in the rut, unfortunately, this is a lottery permit only and as I stated above, takes about 6 years on average to draw. It also runs concurrent with the Muzzleloader deer hunter so there are a lot of hunters afield. It is a lottery though and sometimes people draw the first year applying.
There is a limit on the number of general season muzzleloader (last week in October and goes into November) and rifle permits (early October) that are sold and they sell out FAST! They go on sale in July usually.
There is no limit on the number of general season archery permits (third Saturday in August and runs about a month) that are sold and you may shoot any elk in a general season any bull unit, or a spike or cow on a general season spike bull unit.
Elk country can (will) be cold during the rifle and muzzleloader seasons. Expect temps around 0 deg at night depending on where you are hunting and the current weather pattern, the days are usually beautiful though, unless the wind is blowing. Archery hunt, different story, it's in August and hotter than hell. You'd better have help if you get one down. They can spoil in a pretty short time.
Camping is allowed pretty much anywhere on public lands unless it's specified otherwise, or you are in a designated campground. You can pretty much pull off the road wherever your rig can fit and set up camp. The only stipulation to camping is a 14 day limit if the government (BLM or Forest Service) official decides to enforce it.
Fire restrictions can and usually are in effect during the archery seasons but as a general rule are lifted later in the fall, but this varies and changes and you'll want to contact the government agency in charge of the area you are hunting. We have a few different National Forests; Dixie, Ashley, LaSal, Fishlake to name a few, and each has its own field office that makes the fire rules.
Feel free to PM me with any specific questions I've hunted here my whole life.

 

[LanceS4803]

Great answer!
I did my first bull elk there is past fall. MZ in a LE area up near Bear Lake (I used to live in Ogden), and the temps were stupid warm! Bulls weren't coming out until shooting light had passed, or darn near close to it.

 

[sdporter]

I have drawn Southwest Desert Muzzleloader twice. Last time was 2010. After the 6 year waiting period, I now have 4 bonus points on that tag and hopefully will draw again in the next couple of years. I made a bad shot as I was in an awkward position but we still somehow managed to recover the bull. I had slid down the hill into a tree to have a solid rest and it was steep enough and slick enough that it was all I could do to keep from sliding down. I should have stayed where I was and shot off of my knee. I would have been more stable. Jesse is a great friend of mine and guides for Mossback. He filmed it and it showed up on their website. I had a couple of other friends tell me they saw it on the hunting channels on TV Here is the shot:

 

[sdporter]

Same unit, same year. This guy was with us when I got mine:

 

[brownisdown]

Here from Indiana.My brother and I are going to try and do a Utah elk hunt ourselves this coming fall.We are just starting to put things together.

 

[sdporter]

Here from Indiana.My brother and I are going to try and do a Utah elk hunt ourselves this coming fall.We are just starting to put things together.

Let me know if I can help

 

[brownisdown]

Thanks,may take you up on that.

 

[sdporter]

One thing I forgot to add: a couple of years ago Utah added a “multi season elk permit” which allows you to hunt all three general seasons. Archery, rifle, and muzzleloader. I’ve purchased it three times now. This year I didn’t even get a chance to go out one day. Last year I hunted the archery and muzzleloader pretty hard and never saw an elk. The unit I hunt, allows you to purchase a cow permit if you have a deer permit fir the area, a cow permit if you have a general season any bull permit, and you can obtain a cow permit in the antlerless drawing. This would allow you to shoot 4 elk. One bull and three cows.
I hunt the Pine Valley unit in Southwest Utah right near the Nevada border. There are very few elk and your odds of harvest are probably about 1%. I was lucky enough to take a cow three years ago with my muzzleloader. That’s the only elk I’ve taken on that unit in about 10-11 years hunting it. I used to hunt the South Slope Wasatch unit in northern Utah and was quite successful there. It just became too much of a challenge to travel that far to hunt. It seems like I would just get up there and something would happen that I’d have to turn around and come back home.
I haven’t hunted elk during the general season rifle hunt in about 20 years. It was/is a zoo out there and you pretty much need to bring your own rock to sit on.