# somewhere close to Salt Lake to look for elk after work?



## dbswoot (May 24, 2011)

Hey everyone. I am hoping someone can help me out. I am looking for somewhere close to salt lake that I can get to within 45mins to an hour to look for Elk. I am not going to have as much time to hunt this year because my wife ended up getting a job and so now I am in charge of taking the kids/picking them up from school everyday and watching them until my wife gets off. So I have from about 9-2 each day and 5pm - dark nightly. I was thinking I could hunt the stansbury/oquirrh unit but I'm not sure how many elk are actually there?


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

I don't know how to respond...


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## dbswoot (May 24, 2011)

I still plan on hunting the weekends further away. I already have spots for that. I was just hoping on some ideas for closer to give me something to do during the week


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## dbswoot (May 24, 2011)

Not looking for someones spot just looking for some confirmation that there are elk close to salt lake this time of year or if I need to stick to my weekend only plan


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

You would need to take some hikes to get into them and deal with the other sightseers but American Fork Canyon hold elk.

I think that I would just bag the afternoon hunts and just hunt the weekends. You have to ask yourself the question of what are your plans if you shoot one near dark, and you have to spend the next day packing.


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## dbswoot (May 24, 2011)

Critter said:


> You would need to take some hikes to get into them and deal with the other sightseers but American Fork Canyon hold elk.
> 
> I think that I would just bag the afternoon hunts and just hunt the weekends. You have to ask yourself the question of what are your plans if you shoot one near dark, and you have to spend the next day packing.


Good point. Thanks.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Critter said:


> You would need to take some hikes to get into them and deal with the other sightseers but American Fork Canyon hold elk.
> 
> I think that I would just bag the afternoon hunts and just hunt the weekends. You have to ask yourself the question of what are your plans if you shoot one near dark, and you have to spend the next day packing.


To get into elk in AF canyon is going to take a lot more than 45m-1hr from Salt Lake even if you started at the south end of the valley.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Oh Boy. Channel 604 if you have Direct TV.


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## rtockstein (Mar 17, 2019)

I suggest looking at the huntplanner with the elk habitat selected. All the areas I have explored that are on that map do have elk.


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## MooseMeat (Dec 27, 2017)

Oh holy balls 🤦🏼‍♂️

why would you ever think the oquirrh stansbury is a good choice when the Vernon unit just down the road is crawling with elk!


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## dbswoot (May 24, 2011)

I just thought that since it is a limited entry that maybe there was elk there

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

dbswoot said:


> I just thought that since it is a limited entry that maybe there was elk there
> 
> Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk


 It's limited entry because the elk are also limited. Most the locals have a hard time keeping track of the elk. I would never even think about hunting the week days if I had your schedule.


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## prumpf (Apr 8, 2016)

Go out and scout. I shot 2 elk in the last 4 years with my bow and only parked 25 min away from SLC.

If you are a good hiker, willing to scout different spots I think it’s well worth doing. 

I shot a spike 2 years ago after leaving work at 4:30 and being on the mountain ridge at 6. He was in a pocket that consistently holds elk and was with another spike and small bull.

Don’t have high expectations, but if you want to learn and enjoy the experience go out, have fun and then spent weekends further away.


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## jewbacca (Jan 27, 2020)

Yeah, I was going to say there are certainly elk on public land within an hour of SLC. If you're dead set on it, take the elk habitat layer suggested above and add the land ownership layer. I'd make a list of potential areas, check them out on Google Earth, and start driving and walking my favorites.

If I had the schedule you do, I'd be tempted to do that. You could spend a lot of time getting to know the local mountains.


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## BigT (Mar 11, 2011)

The O/S elk herd has grown from what I have personally observed, however when the hunting starts the pressure goes sky high and they disappear! 

I thought I had them pegged last year. Then by the time we went on the any weapon hunt, they were gone! Archery is probably the best bet on that unit. Still he tough to hunt the evenings on that unit.


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