Very sorry to hear about the circus you went through. When we hunt the Blue we have gone in with mules and horses or full back packs 5 to 6 miles from a dirt road and set up camp. It cuts way down on the people you see. Game and Fish gets a big greedy IMO, giving out 425 tags for that hunt. It’s a big unit but that’s a lot of tags.
As for stolen back straps our party, myself and two 1st cousins, caught two guys, with a guide!, stealing my cousins 6x6 three years ago. It took over an hour to get to the bulls on the opposite ridge (we both killed out of the same batchler herd, and caught t hem red handed. I guess they took his cuz it was a 6x6 even though mine was a bigger body. They were only 20yds apart. It was already quartered and bagged for transport. You should have seen the look on the other guide’s face when we showed up. Looked like he wanted to throw up. Was a young kid or so it seemed to and older guy like me.
The only reason things did not get REALLY ugly was it was only the 2nd day of the hunt, we had a guide and had seen a lot of bulls already. All three of us tagged out on that hunt but man the balls on those guys. Our guide knew the one with them and reported them to Game and Fish. He had a few choice stories on other things that guide company had done. No idea if anything came of it.
Hope it not put you off on Elk hunts. May you have a better hunt next year!
