Fislake Archery Elk

Shedhead03 · May 31, 2022

Hey guys, well i drew a fishlake archery bull tag. Just trying to get the most info i can to set myself up for success. Just hoping some guys are willing to help out. Not very experienced with elk, but am very excited to have drawn. I was contemplating a guide because of my inexperience, but decided against it, feeling that wether i kill or not, the hunt would be more rewarding on my own. If anybody is willing to help out, pm me. Thanks in advance and i will try to keep everybody up to date throughout.

wstrntines · May 31, 2022

If you go guided. Taylor Albrecht would be the go to. Albrecht outfitters he’s done very well on the fish lake.

pounder · May 31, 2022

Congrats on your tag and one advice for the fish unit on archery . Don’t get discouraged with the hunters and hunter everywhere for spike/cows. Just venture a drainage or two over and you will be in the elk.

Shedhead03 · Jun 1, 2022

Ya i am already discouraged. Lol. They should have never put unlimited spike hunters pretty much into LE units. Money is the root of all evils. But it is what it is. I plan to get away from roads the best i can, hopefully that will help

BIGJOHNT · Jun 1, 2022

The weekends can get crowded . Hunt during the week and you will see less people.

2Rocky · Jun 1, 2022

Shedhead where is home? From my experience if you are close enough to go scout is a couple times in the Summer, you can arrive in the unit for your hunt and figure out where the pressure will push the elk. I'll bet you have a buddy who can call in your local archery club.

If you aren't local or can't get boots on the ground scouting then I wouldn't look down on a guy getting a guide. The unit has a good enough rep that there are plenty of guides who would like to have a Fishlake bull to their credit.

2lumpy · Jun 1, 2022

Shedhead03 said:
Ya i am already discouraged. Lol. They should have never put unlimited spike hunters pretty much into LE units.

I couldn’t agree more.

We just can’t have nice things……..

There’s people starving and they are pretty sure they’ll die before they can draw an antlerless tag.

Heartless SOB!

Shedhead03 · Jun 1, 2022

2Rocky said:
Shedhead where is home? From my experience if you are close enough to go scout is a couple times in the Summer, you can arrive in the unit for your hunt and figure out where the pressure will push the elk. I'll bet you have a buddy who can call in your local archery club.

If you aren't local or can't get boots on the ground scouting then I wouldn't look down on a guy getting a guide. The unit has a good enough rep that there are plenty of guides who would like to have a Fishlake bull to their credit.

Shedhead03 · Jun 1, 2022

I plan to hang some cameras next weekend to see what quality i see till i have to pull them down. I plan to at least go down 2 or 3 trips before the hunt, and will be hunting the last 16 days. I am about 4 hours away. I would go down every weekend if i could afford it. Thanks for the reply

Sherlock · Jun 6, 2022

For what it’s worth…my brother’s wife had that tag a couple years ago and said it kinda sucked right up until the spike season ended. Then all of a sudden the elk were seemingly easy to find and rutting confidently. She tagged out on a nice bull not too far into the backcountry. In any case, don’t get too discouraged up to that last week. Rather, have fun and save your resources and energy for that last week. That was his advice.

Shedhead03 · Jun 6, 2022

Sherlock said:
For what it’s worth…my brother’s wife had that tag a couple years ago and said it kinda sucked right up until the spike season ended. Then all of a sudden the elk were seemingly easy to find and rutting confidently. She tagged out on a nice bull not too far into the backcountry. In any case, don’t get too discouraged up to that last week. Rather, have fun and save your resources and energy for that last week. That was his advice.

Thanks. That's great advice

Shedhead03 · Jul 6, 2022

My brother in law went down and checked some of our cameras. Had a few good bulls on some of them. The bulls have great growth so far this year. Can't wait for the hunt to get here

Shedhead03 · Jul 28, 2022

Went and picked up my cameras on the 18th. Got some decent pictures. Can't wait to get down there and chase some of these bulls.

pounder · Jul 28, 2022

Shedhead03 said:
Went and picked up my cameras on the 18th. Got some decent pictures. Can't wait to get down there and chase some of these bulls.

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Looks like same genetics of daughters bull almost of the same beam bend and devil tines lol. Good luck! It will be a fun hunt for you!

GLEDEASY · Jul 28, 2022

Good looking crop!

Best of luck! It's just around the corner now!

Shedhead03 · Jul 28, 2022

Ya i am excited. We got lots of pictures on every camera. Lots of bulls down there. Tons and tons of little rags, i even got some lions to.

BIGJOHNT · Jul 28, 2022

We have had a lot of summer rain this year unlike last year. A lot of nice feed on the mountain . Horn growth looks great and some fat elk ! What are you driving on the mountain and where have you been camping ?

Shedhead03 · Jul 28, 2022

2011 duramax long bed

BIGJOHNT said:
We have had a lot of summer rain this year unlike last year. A lot of nice feed on the mountain . Horn growth looks great and some fat elk ! What are you driving on the mountain and where have you been camping ?

2011 white duramax long bed with a black diamond plate tonneau cover. We have been camping by lost creek off of sevenmile. But we may end up camping in UM. Just depends on what's available

Shedhead03 · Jul 28, 2022

Shedhead03 said:
2011 duramax long bed

2011 white duramax long bed with a black diamond plate tonneau cover. We have been camping by lost creek off of sevenmile. But we may end up camping in UM. Just depends on what's available

I won't be there until sept 1st but my brother in law will be there from the opener

Shedhead03 · Jul 28, 2022

I will also be in a white with red fully enclosed polaris ranger

GLEDEASY · Jul 28, 2022

@BIGJOHNT is a good one to run into and keep in touch with ?

Shedhead03 · Jul 28, 2022

I will definitely kero that in mind. Big john be on the lookout for me

BIGJOHNT · Jul 28, 2022

My bed is on Seven mile road mile maker 3.2.

Usually on channel 2 on most of my vehicles up there. White Ford F 350 dually or a tan General.

Shedhead03 · Aug 19, 2022

Does anybody know if there is any place i can fill my rv water tank around fishlake? Also the closest rv dump station?

DBLung · Aug 19, 2022

Shedhead03 said:
Does anybody know if there is any place i can fill my rv water tank around fishlake? Also the closest rv dump station?

There's a dump station at the doctor creek campground right by the highway. There is potable water there also. Used it 2 weeks ago.

Shedhead03 · Aug 19, 2022

DBLung said:
There's a dump station at the doctor creek campground right by the highway. There is potable water there also. Used it 2 weeks ago.

Thank you, i will check it out when i get down there

pounder · Aug 19, 2022

It’s the closest for you and it’s just a 10$ fee courtesy pay. The doctor creek just south of fish lake

GLEDEASY · Aug 19, 2022

pounder said:
It’s the closest for you and it’s just a 10$ fee courtesy pay. The doctor creek just south of fish lake

For those who do use this, please be smart and courteous with its use. I have witnessed people washing their cars with it. Cabin owners pay for the use of this water. At times on busy weekends the well has dipped low enough that we've been left without water.

Shedhead03 · Aug 20, 2022

I greatly appreciate it. I am happy to pay for use. Just saves a long trip somewhere else if i need it

Shedhead03 · Sep 15, 2022

Well wanted to give an update. I missed a pretty big bull the second day there at 55 yards. I was sick about it (picture of bull below). Through the 12 days that i hunted i had a few encounters but nothing seemed to work out. They would be just out of range, just barely on private, not really what i was looking for and so on. On the 12th day. I got radioed from my wife and brother in law that there were some bulls in a meadow above me. So i scampered up there to find 2 bulls and a rag at 80 yards. The 6x6 and 5x6 were sparring, while the little 3x4 was feeding. I snuck behind some trees to get closer for a shot. I got to 50ish yards before the little 3x4 busted me. I stood there for what seemed like 15 minutes dead still though it was probably like 1 minute. The 3x4 took off spooking the 2 other bulls. Then all of a sudden the 5x6 came through the trees at 20 yards. I figured this was a good opportunity and took the shot. I was sick because the bigger 6x6 came through right after i let the arrow fly. Oh well. I have been on one other elk hunt when i was younger on an open unit. I was happy with the outcome of the hunt. I killed a bull with my bow. I had a bear come to 15 yards of me, i bugle back and forth with some bulls and had an amazing experience while meeting some great people. BIGJOHNT took us out fishing with his amazing set up and showed us an amazing time. I could never say enough good words about that guy. Thank you all so much for reaching out and making this an amazing experience. My bull was not the biggest that i had an opportunity at but it gave me the opportunity to fill my tag and finish out the trip with a freezer full of elk meat and an amazing end to a great trip. We went 3 for 3. My brother in law killed a 6x6, and my 13 year old nephew got his 1st spike.

FixedBlade · Sep 15, 2022

Sounds like a great hunt! Nice bull!

2lumpy · Sep 15, 2022

Congrats on a fun hunt and a hard earned Fish Lake bull.

If you don’t mind, which part of the Unit did you see that bear. They are sure becoming more prevalent up there.

Shedhead03 · Sep 15, 2022

We saw them in petes hole and boobie hole.

2lumpy · Sep 15, 2022

Thank you. They are wide spread it seems.

Zeke · Sep 15, 2022

Excellent hunt! You did well!
Yes, BIGJOHNT is a stand-up guy, Talked several times and one of these days I'll run into him down there,
Zeke

GLEDEASY · Sep 15, 2022

Congrats! That's a great archery bull. Plus you got the full experience.
Fishing with BIGJOHNT.. what a bonus!

2lumpy said:
Thank you. They are wide spread it seems.

I had a bear on every camera I ran last year. There has got to be quite a few running those hills.

2lumpy · Sep 15, 2022

GLEDEASY said:
Congrats! That's a great archery bull. Plus you got the full experience.
Fishing with BIGJOHNT.. what a bonus!

I had a bear on every camera I ran last year. There has got to be quite a few running those hills.

I believe there are, and the same seems true on all of these Central Utah Mountains right now. Hardly a trail camera that gets set out isn’t seeing them now days.

Wolves………. or Sasquatch, not so much.

BIGJOHNT · Sep 15, 2022

I think 2lumpy likes the bears in that country! Nice to meet you Chad and the family on the mountain. I don’t think you could find a more beautiful place. I want to see a picture of Sequoi’s bull ! A 13 year olds first Archery kill pretty awesome!

Shedhead03 · Sep 15, 2022

Here you go. I don't have any other pictures of it yet

BIGJOHNT · Sep 15, 2022

Shedhead03 said:
Here you go. I don't have any other pictures of it yet

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Hopefully you did a full photo shoot for him to remember his first archery elk ! We didn’t take many pictures back in the day. I don’t think I have found one with my first branch antlered bull at fifteen. I can’t even remember my first deer. It’s hell to get old. How many remember dropping off your film to the photo both in the middle of the grocery store parking lot ? ??

Tikka · Sep 15, 2022

What a great time! Congrats to you…

HNTNFSH · Sep 16, 2022

Nice work any bull with a bull is a trophy congrats

Stubaby · Sep 16, 2022

Congrats. BigJohnT and his sidekick Duke are definitely the ambassadors of the FL!!!

elkassassin · Sep 16, 2022

There's Stu-Baby!

BIGJOHNT · Sep 16, 2022

Stubaby said:
Congrats. BigJohnT and his sidekick Duke are definitely the ambassadors of the FL!!!

They didn’t get to meet Duke. He is up hanging out in Bessies next of the woods. He will be home next Sunday. But he did score a perfect score on his VGP hunt test. That includes a blood track and a few scent tracks. For the record! There are no elk or bucks in Fish lake.