Stacey Clyde's Utah limited entry bull elk hunt

My husband, Zach, always told me that it would be years before I ever drew a Utah limited entry bull elk tag.  Two charges to our credit card later, we were very surprised to find out that both of us would be hunting elk this year. Zach had drawn a limited entry southern Utah elk tag, with 14 points, and I had drawn a northern Utah late elk tag with 1 point.

The decision was made to turn his tag in, get his points back and focus on my hunt.Because time was limited, and the fact that we had just moved out of state, our time spent on the mountain pre scouting was going to be limited. Zach spent most of his free time scouting,hiking, and studying Google Earth, while I was working and at home with the kids. Numerous bulls were found, but this was an area that had few roads and vast areas of wilderness. Most of the summer scouting trips included mapping, finding access areas and trail heads, and talking with anyone who had firsthand experience or knowledge of the unit.

Summer went by quickly and before we knew it the archery elk hunt had started. Rumors were going around that there had been a couple of great bulls killed on the unit between the archery and early rifle seasons.  We were hopeful that there would still be a couple of great bulls running around and that we had some weather to push the bulls out of the high country. Towards the middle of October Zach had located and patterned a very nice 320-330 class six point bull that we agreed would be a good bull for the late hunt. As November approached my anticipation for my first elk hunt ever was consuming my thoughts.

Opening morning found us up before the sun chasing bugling bulls. We hunted hard the next few days for the bull we had found during the preseason.  It seemed like the bull was always one step ahead of us. We had some close calls but he was always just out of rifle range. After returning to camp on the third afternoon for some much needed R&R we had decided to head to the nearest town KOA for a nice hot shower. The decision was made to leave our hunting clothes and gear at camp and take a couple hours off of the hunt to relax. After returning from town, we decided to take a different road back to camp that lead into some areas that may hold some elk. Right about dusk we looked up on top of an open ridge and noticed one really good bull feeding on an open hill side. Of course, being in our street clothes with no gear or gun we were forced to come back the following morning and locate the bull. That night's anticipation caused a loss of sleep for both me and Zach.

The next morning we got up early and by using land marks we went into the same area the bull had been located the night before. We set up on an open rocky ridge that had a great view of the thick canyons and juniper country below us. It was then that Zach told me that these bulls had moved in here to recover from the rut and to replenish some of their fat reserves for the up and coming winter. We sat there on the ridge for about an hour in the chilling wind waiting for the sun to come up. Just as the decision was made to move on, Zach caught a glimpse of an elk in a small opening of pines about 350 yards away from us. My heart started to race as I realized I may have an opportunity to harvest a bull after all of my hard work. He quickly got my gun set up for me, but by the time I got down into position the bull had moved out of the opening. We then had to reposition on the ridge so that I could make a shot. We both knew the bull wouldn't be in the opening for very long and my husband was getting nervous that I had not taken a shot yet. After I got settled into position, I asked him where I should aim with my cross hairs, and he replied, "Aim at the bottom three quarters right behind the shoulder."Surprisingly I felt very confident with the gun after all of my summer practice of shooting at the range. After the first shot, my husband had heard the very distinct sound of a bullet hitting its mark. Just then my bull ran out of the opening and another bull followed close behind him. My first thought was that I may have not hit my bull. My husband being confident in my shooting ability and having heard the impact of the bullet assured me that the bull had been hit hard. We stayed on the ridge to give the bull some time to expire. As we hiked down to the last known location of the bull, I started second guessing myself again.  Zach kept reassuring me that the shot was true. After walking into the opening, he spotted some tan about 30-40 feet away from us in some thick trees. He began to shake as he called for my attention pointing toward the elk. My eyes followed the direction he was pointing, at first not seeing what he was looking at. When we walked up on the bull we were both so thrilled and I was grateful that the shot had been true and the bull did not go far. It turned out that I had hit the bull in the vitals with one shot using Zach's 30-378 Weatherby. Some other hunters had heard the shot and came down to see what all the excitement was about. Fortunately for us, they let us use their cell phone to call in friends and family to come up and help us pack my elk out.

I want to put special thanks out to all my friends and family who helped with this hunt and to my husband for all the time and effort he put into making this hunt a success.

About the author: 

Stacey, age 27 lives in Big Piney, Wyoming and is currently in the nursing program at Western Wyoming Community College. As a mother of two she loves the outdoors and takes advantage of all the opportunities Wyoming has to offer.