The 2022 season was one of the best we’ve had for quality Wyoming elk hunting in the past 10 years.  The stars seemed to align with lots of elk and some great bulls.  Horn growth in 2022 was really impressive and it showed.   Elk numbers were good in all of our camps and it was a fun and exciting fall with non-stop action.  Archery season was full bore with bulls going crazy.  We took a few nice 5 and 6 points and had some missed opportunities on a couple stompers, but everyone saw lots of elk and had lots of action.  Rifle season on Sept. 26 was over the top.  Weather was perfect and bulls were bugling.  Second week of the season kept up and we had a great hunt.  Our opening week from our drive in camp, Oct. 15, was probably the slowest hunt of the season, but everyone in camp had opportunities on bulls and we were in elk everyday.  The last week of October was again one of our best hunts and with some snow and cold weather the big bulls showed up and came out of hiding.  It was a blast!  But, as good as the elk hunting was for 2022 our luck on taking bulls was not there.  We had more bulls missed or wounded this past fall than we’ve had in the last several years combined.  For one reason or another quite a few hunters weren’t able to make shots count when an opportunity presented itself.  We missed bulls from 80, 120, 250, and 300 yards.  The majority of missed shots and wounded bulls were not difficult shots.  Hunting is hunting and this will always happen to some degree.  But, I contribute this to hunters not being comfortable with their rifle and scope.  Today’s scopes and rifles have the ability to shoot long distances and are unreal how they can preform if the shooter knows and is familiar with the gun, especially in a backcountry hunting situation.  With turrets, dials, hash lines and multiple crosshairs hunters have too many things going on in the heat of the moment and shots go all over the mountain.   Unless a hunter is very familiar and comfortable with this type of rifle and scope, knowing it inside and out and able to operate it in an intense hunting situation, I recommend bringing a simple scope with a single crosshair and a gun that you are comfortable with.  This said, 2022 was still an awesome season with some great bulls taken and some amazing memories made.   I want to thank everyone that hunted with us this past year and a huge thanks to the best group of guides you will find on a mountain.  We can’t wait for 2023 – start making your plans!

The 2019 elk season was solid all fall. We were able to take a big bull on our early season archery hunt and kick the season off right. Everyone on archery had chances and shot opportunities on bulls. Rifle season, Sept 26th, started a little slow with some bad weather setting in the second day of the hunt. After 3 days of fog, rain, and snow we were starting to wonder how things would shake out. When the weather cleared up stuff turned our way and we were able to get some bulls on the ground. Over all it was a good hunt considering the nasty weather. Opening week from our drive to camp, October 15th, was awesome! We had lots of bulls around and the area was loaded with elk. We were able to connect on some nice bulls and everyone saw lots of elk. The second week from the drive to camp was stellar and with only 2 bull hunters in camp we took two nice bulls first morning of the hunt, wrapping the season up early. Every year is different from the last, with weather and game movement we never know which camp or hunt is going to be the best, but all of our camps offer some great elk hunting. We’d like to thank all our elk hunters for coming with us and thanks to all our guides, packers and cooks for the great job they do. Without you all this wouldn’t be possible. We look forward to another great elk season in 2020. Let ’em bugle.

The 2017 elk season was definitely thumbs up and went as good as we could have had with the conditions we faced. With a freak early snow in mid Sept. of over 2 feet in the high elevations many of the elk changed their usual patterns and the opening week of elk was not as we had hoped. In our scouting before the big storm, we had located several nice 340 plus class bulls and we were licking our chops waiting to go after them on opening day. But, the deep snow moved them out of the high basins we had been watching them in and down to the thick timber. Thanks to the effort of the guides putting out 110% we were able to go 75% harvest on bulls the first week. From there things continued to go our way and the opening week from our drive-in camp on October 15th was as good as we have seen going 100% and knocking down some nice bulls. The second week was also stellar and all but 1 hunter tagged out on a bull that week. Thanks to everyone that made 2017 a success.

2015 produced some of the best horn growth and quality bulls we have seen in a long time. This season was like many of the past elk seasons with peaks and valleys throughout the fall. Archery season saw some great action and we took several nice bulls with a couple of real trophies being wounded or missed. Rifle season started off great bagging some nice bulls and harvesting near 100% out of a couple of our camps, but having some tougher luck in other places. (We did have 3 big, 300 plus inch bulls wounded and lost this fall. All 3 were shot with 7mm’s. FYI, in my opinion, if you are hunting elk with a 7mm make sure to have a heavy grain bullet and shoot them through the front shoulder. A 30 cal. is still a guide’s favorite caliber. ) With warm weather and lots of feed and vegetation from a wet summer and spring, the elk were able to spend more time than usual in the timber making hunting tougher than usual. Predators continue to play a roll in western Wyoming and this fall we were affected by some factors that were out of our control. Overall though, it was a great fall and many clients went home with some awesome memories and great bulls.

After having a banner fall for elk in 2012, most of the 2013 elk season was at the mercy of mother nature and the elements she can deal out. At daylight on opening day of rifle season it looked more like mid December in the wilderness high country, not late Sept. The 2 Clients I was guiding and myself were at 9,000ft in a blizzard with snow up to our waists at first daylight. Where in years past we had been in herds of elk with rutting bulls echoing up the canyon now we found ourselves in a winter wonderland with blowing snow and low visibility. This was the setup to the rest of our elk season; snow, rain, wet, and dispersed herds of elk made for tough hunting conditions but overall it was a very good season with some awesome bulls taken and some great memories made. The cold wet weather may have also put lady luck on the side of some nice big bulls, fogged up scopes, frozen firing pins or a cold rattled hunter gave several bulls the opportunity to make another season and kept them off the Trophy Mountain website. So far this winter we have seen some quality big bulls and high numbers of mature bulls on the winter grounds giving us the expectation of an awesome fall of elk hunting in 2014.