Hunting elk in Utah was the last thing on my mind when my phone rang on a hot day in early July. Like most years, my wife, Sydney, and I had seen unsuccessful on all of our Utah applications, so it was quite a shock when the Division of Wildlife called to say she was the first alternate for an archery tag that someone had turned back in. As Sydney doesn’t archery hunt, I figured I had made a mistake on her application but asked them to confirm. After about a five- minute wait, they came back on the line to say that it wasn’t an archery tag but a late season elk hunt for the Beaver unit. I asked the dates and was very concerned to learn that it would conflict with a Wyoming mule deer tag I had burned max points to get. They gave us 24 hours to decide if she wanted to accept the tag.
The rest of my workday was shot. I immediately called our oldest son, Mathew, an avid elk hunter and part-time guide, and asked him to find out what he could about the unit and if we could go self-guided. An online check of the February Huntin’ Fool told me that Beaver was considered one of the best units and only one non-resident tag was given for this hunt. Calling them only confirmed what I was seeing, this was an excellent tag with 350" potential.
Knowing that we wouldn’t be able to put the effort we wanted into both of our hunts, I asked for a list of recommended outfitters. Jake Bess Hunting was at the top of their list. After about five minutes on the phone with Jake, I felt he would be a great fit for Sydney, but before booking, I wanted to get Mathew’s thoughts. To my shock, he agreed, saying the unit was so big we had better hire an outfitter as our time was limited. He planned to take the whole nine-day season off to go with his mother. Two calls later, the tag was confirmed and the hunt with Jake was booked.
Between getting the tag late in the year and some other hunts, we were in Utah before we knew it. Jake picked us up at our hotel opening morning and confirmed what he had told us earlier in the week. They had Sydney’s bull patterned, what he called a dinosaur of a bull, not the prettiest but unique and big. He felt it was 380"+. Although it was steep, thick country, this should be a short hunt.
Daylight came and went with us not finding anything more than an average 6-point in the thick brush of the draw. We pulled back to lower country to glass for the remainder of the day, hoping to find the big bull, so we would know where to be in the morning. While we saw 8-10 bulls right at dark, none of them were the big one.
The second morning, the temperature dropped and a light snow fell. Hopefully, the bulls would be on the move. We set up in three different locations. Mathew, Jake’s friend, Ritchie, Jake, Sydney, and I were all trying to glass up the big bull. It didn’t take long for Ritchie to find two big bulls, neither of which they had seen before. One was a beautiful, wide 6-point, and the other was narrower but an equally as big 7-point. Both were 350"+. The bulls were headed in a good direction, and this looked to be a slam dunk.
Sydney and Jake set out to close the distance as Ritchie and I took up a vantage point on an opposing ridge. Without knowing it, Jake and Sydney jumped a small mule deer out of the trees they were sneaking through. It ran right through the middle of the two bulls and blew them out. They ran onto a ridge 400 yards from Ritchie and me where they stood broadside, totally blocked from Sydney’s view. Mathew was videoing with his Phone Skope from a mile away just knowing any moment he would capture the kill shot. He perhaps was more let down than anyone as the bulls walked over the ridge and into a thick cedar draw.
With the bulls gone, we went to look at new country that afternoon. We saw smaller bulls but nothing like the two bulls we had seen that morning. It was agreed upon that for the remainder of the nine-day season the morning would be spent in the area where Jake had seen three bulls over 350", and in the evenings, we would look over new country. There just wouldn’t have been enough time to get to a bull in the evenings before it got dark where the big bulls had been seen.
For the next four days, the routine was repeated – look for one of the three big bulls we knew the area held in the mornings and then go look at new country in the afternoons. Each day, 20-30 bulls were spotted, but none would top the 350" mark. The cold weather was done for the week, and as the temperature would reach 60 degrees or higher each day, the elk movement was limited to first and last light. Unfortunately, I left for Wyoming on the third day of this routine to continue my mule deer hunt.
With only three days left in the season, everyone was getting a little nervous. Five days since the two big bulls had been seen, and the original bull Jake had scouted had still never appeared. However, things changed quickly at first light as the wide 6-point was spotted with a smaller bull. After watching him bed, Sydney and Jake began the long hike up the hill. Unfortunately, a near vertical cliff prevented them from getting closer than 400 yards. While they quickly found the smaller bull, it was only after an hour and by chance that they caught a glimpse of an antler of the big bull shining in the sun through the thick cedars. It was 11:00, and they didn’t have a shot. They would have to wait for him to stand, and when he did, if he turned uphill, they had him. If he turned downhill, he would be gone. After six long hours of working on their suntans and bladder control, the bull stood without presenting a shot and walked away. Everyone was heartbroken as darkness fell.
Things were no better the next morning when the bull was nowhere to be found. It was getting late, and everyone was headed back to the trucks, except for Mathew who decided to give the hill one more look with the spotting scope. Like yesterday, an antler shining in the sun gave the wide 6-point away. It took an hour and the bull getting up to change positions for Mathew to convince everyone else that it was really him. A plan was quickly formed, and Sydney and Jake began the long walk up the mountain.
As we all know, things look so different when you get to an area compared to what they look like from over a mile away in your spotting scope. With no landmarks in the thick cedar draw, Jake and Sydney had trouble locating the bull despite all the signals from the crew down the hill. After what seemed like an eternity and tensions rising, they finally peered over the ridge to find the wide 6-point at 240 yards, and unlike the day before, he was in full view. The first shot from her 7mm Fierce probably would have done the job, but a quick follow-up shot sealed the deal. The congratulatory hugs and high fives followed as well as a phone call to Wyoming, which allowed our younger son and me to join the celebration a state away. In the time it took Jake and Sydney to make it across the draw, Mathew was able to run the mile up the hill and arrive at the bull just as his mother did to join the celebration. After eight long days, she had her bull that would break 350".
Congratulations to my beautiful wife for having the patience to hold out for the bull she had dreamed of. A huge thank you to Jake and Ritchie of Jake Bess Hunting for an awesome hunt and to our son, Mathew, for taking the time to go on this hunt with his mother. I only wish I could have been there to see it end.
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