# has anyone hunted for cow elk up MILLCREEK CANYON



## motrapper (Dec 16, 2009)

could use some advice if anyone has hunted anterless elk up Millcreek canyon season starts saturday

thanks


----------



## motrapper (Dec 16, 2009)

I have Horse and 4 wheelers and would team up with anyone who has hunted this before


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

you can leave the wheelers at home "illegal". 

If you have horses you can unload them at the end of the road. you cant miss it cause the gate will be closed. It is then about a 7-9 mile hike to where the elk are. O stay out of the ski tracks with the horses. The dreadlock rainbow crowd doesnt like horse tracks on their ski tracks. LOL

When we got to the truck we had all sorts of notes on our window complaining about the horse poop on the trail. They wanted us to pick it up. We had 4 horses in our group! I had to laugh at the notes. what did they want us to do. pick up the poop. Then put the poop in 4 huge orange bags. Then throw the orange bags in the trees like huge Christmas ornaments. LOL. that is what these yuppies do with their dog poop. 

also you better make sure your horses are good around dogs. All the dogs are off leash, in packs and will chase and or try to attack the horses. ours are good and one of ours just about kicked the head off one of the dogs that came at me. LOL

one more thing half the trail is on asphalt with packed snow/ice so it is slick. Dont let the horses run or trot. You will go down! 

We had a good time and saw 50 or so elk. However to get at them you need to climb an additional 1500 feet of vertical terrain the horses cant get too. It all has to be done on foot because its slick, steep and deep. 

Good luck with getting a cow out with a bow!


----------



## motrapper (Dec 16, 2009)

well at least its Rifle season and i figured i would run into afew tree huggers and my horse loves dogs hopefully she does not miss like yours did 

thanks for the info...


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

the elk need a few thinned out up their. The bow hunters cant seem to kill them. On the right day there is probably a hundred head in that canyon. If you are shooting a rifle you should do fine. 

good luck


----------



## bigpapacow (Nov 15, 2007)

motrapper, sent you a pm.

Also, I didn't think rifle was allowed in SL county east of I-15 and south of I-80. Did they make an exception for this late hunt? That would be nice if they did when it comes to filling that tag...


----------



## motrapper (Dec 16, 2009)

the rules are you cannot shoot within so many feet yards of building, homes, people. etc.... how far is that canyon from the closed gate 

thanks
'sid


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

there are a few cabins at the 3 to 4 mile mark after the gate, most of the elk are at the top of the canyon at 7 to 9 mile mark past the gate.

You than have the buildings in lambs you have to worry about and the ski lifts on the other side of the mountain.

If it is legal to hunt with a rifle up there for a cow then I doubt it would be a problem with any buildings. there simply isn't any buildings around where I told you to go. besides you will be all by yourself. Unless you have some other guys with horses in there. guys without horses are gluttons for punishment and will need air rescue if they shoot anything. LOL 

I did see a bow hunter killed a cow or something a few weeks past and drug it out on a sled. He killed it near the top of the mountain close to the tee pee. I thought I was the only stupid person that would do something like this. lol 

If the guy that shot the elk up there is reading this we need to get together sometime cause you are my kind of hunter. "Hardcore"


----------



## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

bigpapacow said:


> Also, I didn't think rifle was allowed in SL county east of I-15 and south of I-80.


That used to be the case, but SL county was recently forced to change their "no shooting" law to make it consistent with state law.


----------



## Elkoholic8 (Jan 15, 2008)

SWB, where is that gate you are talking about? Is it clear down at the bottom of the canyon by the pay booth? I have not been up there for about 4 years but we were able to drive all the way to the top parking lot in mid November, the last time I hunted it. Is there a date when they close it all off? That's a heck of a walk if you have to park at the bottom of the canyon. 
Thanks.


----------



## alpinebowman (Sep 24, 2007)

the gate that is closed is about 4 miles from the top parking lot. quite the trek on a crisp winter morning.


----------



## 10yearquest (Oct 15, 2009)

last year in late nov I went up to millcreek and took the mount aire (that may be spelled wrong ) trail. There is a sharp curve in the road about 2 miles up and the trail goes to the north. Anyway, we went in there, not real far, and cut fresh elk tracks right on the trail. They went about 100 yards and then they went off the trail and back towards the west into the thick pines and up a pretty steep hill. We did not follow them cause there was another hunter who had got on the tracks first. Good luck on your hunt. I have been after cows in henefer and I am having a great time. Have not had a shot yet. I have never worked so hard for an elk! This weekend should be different with all the snow.


----------



## ktowncamo (Aug 27, 2008)

swbuckmaster said:


> I did see a bow hunter killed a cow or something a few weeks past and drug it out on a sled. He killed it near the top of the mountain close to the tee pee. I thought I was the only stupid person that would do something like this. lol
> 
> If the guy that shot the elk up there is reading this we need to get together sometime cause you are my kind of hunter. "Hardcore"


There were actually a couple of bow hunters up there. I was there two weeks before the close of the archery (hiked in from Park City) and we saw the sled marks with the blood. I also saw a faint blood trail with a lone hunter track following it into the pines but I didn't have time to follow it as we had spotted 50-60 head of elk that we stalked.

My buddy took a cow and I had the most unfortunate situation of being in the wrong place at the wrong time not once, but twice, and had 75 and 62 yard shots I just couldn't convince myself were worth taking as the entire herd went on by. There are more details but it's a painful memory. 

Anyway, he and I packed out his cow on our backs back to Park City. What took us 3 hours to hike in took us 5 1/2 to hike out. We were so tired we would stop to rest and fall asleep standing there leaning on our trekking poles.

Yea, it was "hardcore" but seemed logical to do at the time and I'd certainly do it again to see and hunt a herd like that with not a soul around.


----------



## motrapper (Dec 16, 2009)

Talked to Dale today the Wildlife Biologist for the 628 anterless area and it is rifle season up millcreek for the antlerless and once in a lifetime permits i guess goats and sheep must live thier too 
and he said millcreek and parlays only two places in this unit to get them so iam good on horses and rifle 

thanks for the suggestions 

sid


----------



## c3hammer (Nov 1, 2009)

I'd do some serious glassing way down low now that it has snowed like crazy up there. They got 40 - 50" up at the top of the canyon in this last storm. The elk are most likely down by the mouth of the canyon now. I would look up on the steep south facing slopes above the pay station and Rattlesnake gultch about 1/2 mile past that. I'll try to glass up there tomorrow morning and see if they are down this far yet. I'd just wait a bit and you'll be able to shoot one down low and ride him down the mountain into your truck 

Cheers,
Pete


----------



## Kingfisher (Jul 25, 2008)

be careful. had a friend who hunted this unit in snow, found some, put on the stalk by circling around and over a ridge to come down on the group, got caught in an avalanche which led him thru a washing machine experience, left him cold, beat up and wiser, but most important, alive. the area has had significant snow from the last storm.

http://www3.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nwcc/sntl ... 7&state=UT

mill d north snotel station. you have about 2 feet of snow there. more than enough to slide.

the avalanche center has the danger risk at high for the weekend.
http://utahavalanchecenter.org/advisory/slc

so - do be careful and remember that you may not be in an avalanche chute, but it may run far enough to catch you anyway, remember the lasal avalanche forecasters that were in an open meadow way below where they thought a slide could run when a skier triggered a slide way above them, as i recall, 4 were killed.

stay safe.


----------

