# Manti Rifle Elk



## Dckhunter13 (Sep 20, 2007)

I was fortunate enough to draw the Manti Bull tag and can't wait for the hunt to start. Have been scouting quite a bit and am seeing some incredible antler growth this year. Does anyone else have this tag? I would love to hear what everyone else is seeing. Good luck to everyone this fall! I am going to check my cameras this weekend during the archery hunt and will let you all know what I am seeing. Would love to hear what everyone else is seeing!

I should mention this tag came as a pretty big surprise with only 6 points and to sweeten the deal my wife is due with our first child in early November. It's going to be an amazing fall and can't wait to get out on the mountain!


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

Just please be careful to not mess up an archery hunters hunt this weekend by hiking in checking your trail cams.


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## Dckhunter13 (Sep 20, 2007)

Absolutely. I should have mentioned I have a dedicated tag and will be hunting deer all weekend. I would never mess up another hunters opportunity. If any of you limited archery hunters want to compare notes shoot me a PM.


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

I'll be down there trying to stick a bull this weekend. Good luck to you!


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Well this has been a refreshing thread. I fully expected the OP to say something about lack of time to scout or familiarity with the unit and “I’m not looking for a honey hole.” 

Best of luck on the hunts!


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## Dckhunter13 (Sep 20, 2007)

I'm offended that you would put me in that realm! Just Kidding! But I totally agree that same old story is far to common nowadays. 

Just wanted to post and hopefully a follow-up about how the hunt is going/went. As for honey holes I put a camera in a unsuspecting spot near a pond (or so I thought ) on the way out I saw two other cameras a left them with a friendly wave. Hoping my camera will be treated the same. I have been hearing way to many stories about people messing with cams this year.


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## 7mm Reloaded (Aug 25, 2015)

Maybe this is a dumb question but is it archery or early rifle?


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## Dckhunter13 (Sep 20, 2007)

Early Rifle


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## 7mm Reloaded (Aug 25, 2015)

Congrats, my daughter will hate you though she has 14, some of us have to stand inline hence my previous posts. good luck


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## RandomElk16 (Sep 17, 2013)

utahbigbull said:


> I'll be down there trying to stick a bull this weekend. Good luck to you!


Get errrr dun!


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## jason21 (Sep 18, 2018)

Congrats on the tag! Ill be out there this weekend bouncing between the manti and nebo with my spike tag. If i see anything interesting ill be sure to drop you a line! best of luck on the hunt.


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

RandomElk16 said:


> Get errrr dun!


Thanks Random!

Hopes aren't too high. I had three bulls pegged at my stand till the sheep moved in. The sheep moved out last Friday but when I went to check cams Sunday there was a **** rouge Pyrenees that didn't want to leave with the rest of the flock. All I could do was throw a couple rocks at him when he came charging and hope he's gone now. Have another ridge I found the best bull to date on I may hope to sit at the rock lick and hope he comes back this weekend. Ill be checking that cam Friday to make sure that will or will not be my plan this weekend haha.


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## RandomElk16 (Sep 17, 2013)

utahbigbull said:


> Thanks Random!
> 
> Hopes aren't too high. I had three bulls pegged at my stand till the sheep moved in. The sheep moved out last Friday but when I went to check cams Sunday there was a **** rouge Pyrenees that didn't want to leave with the rest of the flock. All I could do was throw a couple rocks at him when he came charging and hope he's gone now. Have another ridge I found the best bull to date on I may hope to sit at the rock lick and hope he comes back this weekend. Ill be checking that cam Friday to make sure that will or will not be my plan this weekend haha.


The best won't come until September. They are rubbing now and going to change habits. Don't stress, you have time. If you aren't having any luck, I can point you to a few area's via PM...


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

RandomElk16 said:


> The best won't come until September. They are rubbing now and going to change habits. Don't stress, you have time. If you aren't having any luck, I can point you to a few area's via PM...


Sounds good buddy. I'm just going the first two weekends without any expectations. If I can get on a hit list bull then all the better. Then I will be down there for the last 2 1/2 weeks straight from August 29th till September 13th. I've had lots of bulls around my stand and three shooters so far but I know in this hole when the rut starts to kick in I always see some unexpected big boys I've never seen move in.

Same with the sheep. Those maggots always seem to be in there early August then within about a week after they move out the elk move back in.

I appreciate the offer!


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

Pretty blurry. But weekend before last I found this guy at the bottom of the same ridge my son shot his bull on two years ago. If he’s on my cam when I check tomorrow he’s the one I’m hoping to get on. He was about 600 yards below my cam in these. And one trail cam pic I caught him in the background.


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## Hoopermat (Dec 17, 2010)

utahbigbull said:


> RandomElk16 said:
> 
> 
> > Get errrr dun!
> ...


My bad you said put something out for them to lick and all I had was 50lb of dog food. Sorry about that


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## Hoopermat (Dec 17, 2010)

Robert
I’ll see you down there next weekend. Im going to go find a deer this weekend then I’ll be down.


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

Hoopermat said:


> My bad you said put something out for them to lick and all I had was 50lb of dog food. Sorry about that


Pretty sure that's what happened, but I NEVER thought it would have been you Matt! HAHAHAHAHA

Sounds good buddy, good luck to you!!


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

I'll be hunting the Manti with a limited entry archery tag this weekend. I have a general season archery deer tag for the unit as well. I've been seeing some dandy bucks I was thinking of going after opening morning. I had only seen one bull that I considered to be a borderline shooter, but after I got done checking out my bucks this morning I came across a little bachelor herd of bulls. My dumb as$ only brought my binos this morning and not my spotter so I couldn't get a real good look at the bulls, but I could tell they were big mature bulls. I just couldn't tell exactly how big. I'm gonna head back up in the morning and try to get a better look at them. What I find out then will determine what I do opening morning. Opening morning will be pretty much it for me this weekend, then I will have a couple 3 day weekends and 9 straight days off at the end of the hunt to try and get it done. I know it's a big unit, but if any of you guys see a guy in a gray half ton Dodge ram come say hello. Already said hi to goof once this summer.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

my brother pulled it off with only 11 points, pretty lucky, but not nearly as lucky as you. Seems like a lot of folks pulled it off, neighbor got the late hunt with only two, much easier odds, but still beat them by a lot. Best of luck, should be a great year!


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## Schleppy (Jul 16, 2008)

That’s a good bull Utahbigbull, I was down there again last weekend. Saw a few bulls, but none that would beat that one. 

I can’t make it this weekend, but I’ll be there next weekend and the last 2+ weeks like the rest of you with a bull and buck archery tag in my pocket. 

Can’t wait...


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## Dckhunter13 (Sep 20, 2007)

Hunted the last two weekends with little success for deer. I do not think I have ever seen that as many people hunting as we did the last two weeks. 

Snuck up on a buck and was within 40 yards undetected when a fox came running through and bumped the buck. I had a split second to take a shot as the buck stopped while running up hill and missed. Didn't see many deer after opening weekend.

But wow did we see a lot of elk. Had three friends harvest their archers choice tags and a few others had some opportunities. I was able to locate some really nice bulls which is getting me real excited for my upcoming hunt in September. Any of you archery guys having any luck?


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## Schunter (Aug 24, 2019)

I’m up here with an archery elk and archery buck tag, finding lots of deer but can’t seem to locate elk.finally found some last night, as some sheep moved in and bumped them.


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## Ray (May 10, 2018)

Schunter said:


> I'm up here with an archery elk and archery buck tag, finding lots of deer but can't seem to locate elk.finally found some last night, as some sheep moved in and bumped them.


How big of bucks are you seeing?


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## Schunter (Aug 24, 2019)

Ray said:


> Schunter said:
> 
> 
> > I'm up here with an archery elk and archery buck tag, finding lots of deer but can't seem to locate elk.finally found some last night, as some sheep moved in and bumped them.
> ...


A couple 4x4 and one bigger, in a spot where stalking would be tough. Lots of forkies, all up high, 10k . Basins with pines, glassing the shade, and seeing them get up and move midday, also out feeding first light. Still struggling to find cows/elk.


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## Ray (May 10, 2018)

Schunter said:


> Ray said:
> 
> 
> > Schunter said:
> ...


What part of the Manti are you hunting?


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## Schunter (Aug 24, 2019)

The best ones I saw were on candland mountain.


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## Hoopermat (Dec 17, 2010)

Have you checked the west side of scofield.
That’s where I would be right now


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## Dckhunter13 (Sep 20, 2007)

Three more days of work and I am headed up to elk camp! Sounds like you archery hunters are having a lot of success. Are you finding the elk to be vocal early and late or are they getting more active? Is anyone else going to be up on the Manti this weekend? If any of you archery hunters are willing to share I would love some intel about the conditions. I was up there last weekend and saw quite a few bulls roaming around. 

Is it Friday yet! I am ready to go hunting!


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## 7mm Reloaded (Aug 25, 2015)

Schunter said:


> The best ones I saw were on candland mountain.


Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, and now you have a new friend. Glad that's not my mountain.


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## Brookie (Oct 26, 2008)

I'm planning on grouse hunting this weekend. Don't go messing up the grouse hunting


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## Dckhunter13 (Sep 20, 2007)

Brookie take out a few grouse for me will you? I know we can all relate when we have been stocking an animal and been busted by grouse. My heart always skips a beat.


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## Dckhunter13 (Sep 20, 2007)

Well after four days I was able to fill my tag. What an awesome hunt with some great friends. Here is a quick day to day recap.

Saturday Morning: 
We started on opening morning glassing a ridge that seems to be a crossing route for elk and sure enough right at first light a nice 6x6 stepped out and gave us a great look at him. Only problem was he was about 780 yards up hill with a cross wind. I grabbed my rifle and tried to steady myself for a shot. As soon as I got him in the scope he stepped out of sight and we didn't see him the rest of the morning.









Saturday Evening:
We were able to relocate the bull but this time he was in a very difficult canyon to get close enough to him for a shot. That was the only elk we saw that evening.

Sunday Morning:
We were determined to relocate the big bull and sure enough at first light he showed himself again this time with about 15 cows. We raced to the top of the ridge to get in position he was moving right towards us when all of a sudden he ran above the cows let out a bugle and pushed them down into the trees. We were able to locate the cows but never found the bull again.

Sunday Evening:
Tried one more time to locate the bull and was unsuccessful. Pretty slow evening heard one bugle way off in the distance.

Monday Morning:
The temperature finally came down a few degrees and we were hoping the bulls would start to be a little more vocal. We had only heard one bugle in two days. Calling seemed to be completely ineffective. We decided to relocate to a new canyon that we had seen elk in during the archery hunt. As soon as we sat down to class we could hear two bulls yelling back and forth. As soon as there was enough light we could see two bulls fighting on the ridge across the canyon. I knew I had to act quickly. We got across the ridge as fast as we could and I was able to cut some distance down to about 420 yards. I laid down to take a shot and again the bulls dropped off the edge down into some deep timber. I thought I may have lost my best opportunity.

Monday Evening:

We returned to the canyon that we had seen the bulls fighting and were welcomed with a canyon full of sheep and sheep headers, and let's not forget the sheep dogs that love to chase you around. I was very discouraged at this point the canyon was blown out and I was thinking the bulls were gone. We decided to spend the evening checking canyons to see if we could find any elk without much luck. The weather took a turn and it was a cold rainy evening.

Tuesday Morning:
Late Monday night I was frustrated and was starting to lose hope my friends could only stay one more day so I knew I needed to get it done. We decided to go to the bottom of the canyon and see if we could find the elk from the previous morning hoping the sheep pushed them to the bottom. It was a quite morning with no bugles as soon as there was enough light I started to glass and had a hunch I should check the hillside behind us. Sure enough there they were. I grabbed my rifle and got in position. My buddy whispered to me that there was a bull and a raghorn with about 50 cows. It took me a while to get the bull in my scope. I ranged the bull at 560 yards and dialed my scope. As soon as I felt comfortable I pulled the trigger. Dropped the bull where he stood and he didn't take another step. We had to hike straight uphill to get the bull. He ended up being a 5x6 with an extra point above his front. His left side looks like his last antler may have broken off at some point. The packout was heavy but we were able to manage it in one trip.









What an amazing experience shooting my first bull elk! Something I will never forget.


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## HuntandFly (Jul 23, 2018)

Thats a great looking bull! 10/10


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## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

Looks like a really heavy bull. Congrats!


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## RandomElk16 (Sep 17, 2013)

Beautiful bull. Congrats!


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## Ray (May 10, 2018)

Congratulations brother, beautiful bull.


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

Nice and congrats! Everytime I read about Manti elk threads, I lean more and more toward making an honest run at it.


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## hunting777 (May 3, 2009)

great bull! Congrats


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## BradN (Sep 25, 2007)

Fantastic bull! I like the coloring of those antlers. Thanks for sharing!


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## Hoopermat (Dec 17, 2010)

Great job on your first bull.


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## Dukejr (Aug 14, 2019)

Very nice bull! Congrats! Thanks for sharing...


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