Utah ground floor 35yo worth considering?

[Fink]

See is the key word there. None is the answer. I arrowed a 328 and shot a 341.....put 4 friends on animals (all rifle) that were 332, 338 and 342.......4th friend missed a very large one with a rifle.....all in a GMU that has leftover tags every year and a bull to cow ratio of 50/100 roughy every year or better. Painful hunting. Little bit of crazy and usually a rodeo or two mixed in with that. PM me if you want to talk more.....we see a lot of those curly horned things in your picture some years also.

That data is from my log books the last 7 years, so 3-4 years straight now of mild winters, good wet springs and high forage production. Same reason the deer herds in some areas are producing big horns out side of the traditional " great genetics" GMU's in my opinion.

All the best

Jeez. Pretty sure I wouldn't leave that unless it was for a chance to kill a 400" bull, and then I'd still come back and chase 330-340 bulls. That's a bunch of nice elk in any unit, let alone a leftover unit.
Utah costs me $175 every 2 years. I look at it as $175 for 10 lottery tix, a couple of which will eventually hit.

 

[Alabama]

It would help tremendously if they would limit non-residents like they do residents. Pick 1 regular species (elk, deer, antelope) and pick 1 OIL species (sheep, moose goat, bison). The change in 2009 has killed the odds because we all apply for all of the species available so we don't get "behind" everyone else. We are just killing each others odds especially for those that really want to hunt a certain species and don't really care about the others. Take me for instance: I would sacrifice my moose, mt. goat, bison points to increase my odds for sheep and would gladly give away my LE deer and antelope points for increased odds for elk. I want to hunt all of those species but Sheep and Elk are PRIORITY.

Thanks SFW for totally screwing us average Joe's to make more money!

Apply if can afford it but don't expect to draw for a long time except for general deer. Some monster deer are killed on general tags every year.

 

[Elkhunter96]

I actually don't care if less people apply in Utah, all the better for me. I do think many people under estimate the middle tier hunts and just think they need the top 3 to kill a big bull. There are plenty of big bulls killed on the middle units. Especially if a person is willing to work hard, scout, etc. I also wouldn't wait that long for one hunt, those are the ones that may never draw.

I would take a middle tier UT elk tag any year over many of the other states I apply in...Just my 0.02

 

[Slugz]

I do think many people under estimate the middle tier hunts and just think they need the top 3 to kill a big bull. There are plenty of big bulls killed on the middle units. Especially if a person is willing to work hard, scout, etc. I also wouldn't wait that long for one hunt, those are the ones that may never draw.

I would take a middle tier UT elk tag any year over many of the other states I apply in...Just my 0.02

What he said....I think sometimes we spend a little too much time looking at stats.....time better served with boots on the ground....In my humble opinion.