# HAMS Hunts Questions



## Isuckathunting (Sep 15, 2019)

With these new LE Elk HAMS hunts, even the deer hunts that are this way, I'm wondering what weapons people usually use? I'm thinking of applying for some of these more primitive weapon hunts and thought I would see what people do.
I cannot imagine killing an elk with a handgun or shotgun, it just puts a weird image in my mind. My immediate thought would be muzzleloader or my bow. An open sights muzzy is probably the preference. But, with new slugs and bullet technology, maybe a shotgun would be the way to go. It's like shooting a muzzleloader that you can pump to reload. Has anyone ever hunted a HAMS hunt? What was your weapon of choice?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Bolt action Shotgun, 1070 yards






-DallanC


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Dallan, no scopes allowed. :smile: I wonder how well an adjustable peep would work?

Isuck, the biggest problem may be finding an elk to shoot on those new HAMS hunts. No reason it would be too difficult to shoot one with a bow or muzzy if you already have one. You can see from Dallan's video that a rifled shotgun would work as well. My guess the biggest challenge would be with a pistol. Maybe Goob will chime in on those.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

middlefork said:


> Dallan, no scopes allowed. :smile: I wonder how well an adjustable peep would work?
> 
> Isuck, the biggest problem may be finding an elk to shoot on those new HAMS hunts. No reason it would be too difficult to shoot one with a bow or muzzy if you already have one. You can see from Dallan's video that a rifled shotgun would work as well. My guess the biggest challenge would be with a pistol. Maybe Goob will chime in on those.


I went through a period of time with some eyesight issues and my best option for firearm hunting was an open-sighted handgun. Ended up shooting a lot of antelope, a cow elk and a bull elk with a handgun....and a big ole wild bison.

44 mag for cow, 460 S&W for bull. It just takes some outdoor skills, being able to get real close to an elk during the firearm season when they're pretty spooky. Best I remember both elk were less than 70 yards away in the dark timber. I'd have to look it up.

Bison 185 yards with 460 S&W open sights of course.

Got a decent 6 x 6 bull elk with 12 ga shotgun at 102 yards. 1.5 x 6 scope. The new shotgun slugs and new rifled slug barrels are amazing....300 yard weapon with some practice. I got an Illinois doe whitetail at 285 yards, on the run, with my 12 ga slug gun.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

DallanC said:


> Bolt action Shotgun, 1070 yards
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hmmm, interesting. I'm not doing shotgun slugs much these days and haven't kept up with any new shotgun sabot slug developments. Last 
I knew from what I read, and first hand accounts, 12 gauge slugs start to wobble around 300 - 350 yards....tumbled after that.


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## Chebato1950 (May 17, 2017)

what are the exact restrictions on the hams hunts


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

https://wildlife.utah.gov/guidebooks/2020_field_regs.pdf

Handgun-archerymuzzleloader-shotgunonly (HAMS) buck deer
hunts (new)
Utah Admin. Rule R657-5-48
For 2020, the Utah Wildlife Board approved
three new handgun-archery-muzzleloadershotgun-only (HAMS) hunts for buck deer.

These hunts will occur from Nov. 6-27, 2020
and are considered limited-entry hunts.
If you obtained a permit for one of these
hunts, you may take one buck deer in the
season and unit identified on your permit.
The 2020 HAMS hunts will take place in the
following units:
•Book Cliffs, Floy Canyon
• Kaiparowits
•Morgan-South Rich
Important: Scopes may not be used on
any weapons during this hunt. An individual
may only use the following weapons on a
handgun-archery-muzzleloader-shotgun-only
hunt:

Handgun
Utah Admin. Rule R657-5-9 & R657-5-48
The handgun you use must be legal for
buck deer, with no attached scope. (See the
Firearms and archery equipment section that
begins on page 42.) The handgun must also:
•Have no more than a single barrel 15
inches or less in length, including the
chamber
•Have a single rear handgrip without
any form of any of the following:
•A fixed, detachable or collapsible
buttstock
•An apparatus or extension behind
the rear grip that's capable of
being used to steady the handgun
against the body while firing
•A vertical foregrip
Finally, the handgun can be no more than
24 inches in overall length.

Archery equipment

Utah Admin. Rule R657-5-11
The archery equipment you use must be legal for buck deer. (See the Firearms and archery
equipment section that begins on page 42.)

Muzzleloader

Utah Admin. Rule R657-5-10
The muzzleloader you use must be legal
for buck deer, with no attached scope. (See the
Firearms and archery equipment section that
begins on page 42.)

Shotgun

Utah Admin. Rule R657-5-8
The shotgun you use must be legal for buck
deer, with no attached scope. (See the Firearms
and archery equipment section that begins on
page 42


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## Isuckathunting (Sep 15, 2019)

middlefork said:


> Isuck, the biggest problem may be finding an elk to shoot on those new HAMS hunts. No reason it would be too difficult to shoot one with a bow or muzzy if you already have one.


The good news on this front is I have spent a ton of time in one of those units. I hiked a little over 300 miles each of the last two summers just taking my binos and spotter looking around. I've seen lots of elk. I would love to get my hands on a HAMS elk tag next year but I don't think my measly 4 points is going to be close to sniffing a tag.

With them eliminating the rifle and muzzy tags where they are making those hunts it'll be interesting to see how many tags they allocate for HAMS. I'm also interested in seeing if people burn a lot of points on those hunts or if they just aren't very popular. If nothing else, putting in for something brand new with no draw history at least makes it feel like there's a glimmer of hope... Until I open that UNSUCCESSFUL email.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

The proposal for those units was originally for unlimited any bull tags partly based on low success rates and few elk. Part of the convoluted thinking by the WB was to instead turn them into HAMS hunts so more people would burn their LE points. The vague promise was to allow many more LE tags than normal on the units. I guess we will have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Good luck and let us know how it works out if you draw.


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