Bull Elk 2026Our first hunt — geared, fit, legal, and glassing the timber by first light.

This is a living page — bookmark it. It updates in place as we lock the August scout, confirm the crew, and get the weather forecast. Tap the nav above to move between sections.

Four moves — and the first two race a clock

South Slope of the Uintas, Yellowstone country Region locked

We're hunting the Yellowstone River corridor off Forest Road 119 above Mountain Home — the heart of Utah's best any-bull ground. The catch: everyone with this tag knows it, and by our opener the elk have been pushed by a month of archery and muzzleloader seasons. So the game is escape terrain — get off the roads and hunt where pressured elk hide.

Region locked; the exact A/B/C spots get confirmed on the August scout. Hunt the band between the road hunters and the deep horse camps.

Three habits that fill more tags than any gear

• 1Be glassing by gray light. Leave camp about two hours before first light and be sitting on the knob at dawn. If you're still hiking in during shooting light, you're bumping every elk between the truck and the glass. This one habit matters most.
• 2Play the wind, always. At first light cold air sinks — approach feeding and bedding areas from below or across, never with the wind at your back. Elk live by their nose; one whiff and they're gone before you see them.
• 3Arrive a day early. We're going from valley air to sleeping at 8,000 ft and hunting at 10,000. A day to acclimate keeps day one from flattening someone. Hydrate hard, go easy on the first-night beers.

Shooting: you're cleared to shoot at an elk only if…

A wounded bull that runs into black timber at last light is a worse outcome than an unfilled tag. The rifle is never the limit here — the shooter is. So this is crew law, and it applies to everyone:

• ✓Zeroed rifle. Elk-legal caliber, and within two weeks of the hunt you've fired a confirmed group ~2 MOA or better, centered, with the exact ammo you'll carry (suppressed if you hunt suppressed).
• ✓Field-position proof. From a real position — tripod, pack, kneeling, not a bench — you put 3 of 3 in an 8-inch circle at your max range, on demand.
• ✓Under stress. You can do that after a short hike-in, building the position and firing within ~60–90 seconds with your heart rate up.
• ✓Kimble ranges and confirms the shot, and you commit out loud to passing anything marginal — too far, quartering-to, moving, unsupported, wind you can't call, last light.

If the shot isn't perfect: mark the exact spot the elk stood and where you last saw it on OnX, then back out and get Kimble. Give it time, take up the blood trail slowly, grid-search if it thins. Recovery is part of an ethical shot, not an afterthought.

Train to carry a bull down a mountain

A down elk is 200+ pounds of boned-out meat, in several loads, down steep ground at altitude — often on day five. That pack-out is harder than the shot, and it's a team effort: every pound you can't carry is a pound someone else carries, or an extra trip. The goal isn't to be the fittest one out there — it's to not be the reason we make an extra trip or carry someone out.

Below is the full 12-week program — real dates, real workouts. Follow all of it, or scale it to where you are. Either way the engine is the Saturday ruck; if you do one thing, do that.

The 12-week calendar

The week

Four lifts, one engine day, the Saturday ruck, and a restore day. Weekday sessions run 60–70 min; Saturday's the long one. Deliberate friction: Friday legs into Saturday's ruck trains hiking on tired legs — which is the hunt.

Effort is set by RPE — reps left in reserve. RPE 7 = 3 clean reps left; RPE 8 = 2. Nothing to failure on the main lifts, ever. The three numbers per exercise below are Base → Build → Peak.

Mon — Lower Strength

• Back squat (belt squat if the knees complain) — 4×5–6 → 5×3–5 (top set + back-offs) → 3×3–5, crisp
• RDL or sumo deadlift (alternate every 3 weeks) — 3×6–8 → 3×5 → 2×6
• DB step-up, 14–18" box — 3×8/leg → 3×8/leg heavier → 2×10/leg with a pack on
• Standing calf raise, 3-sec lower — 4×8–12 → 4×8–10 → 3×10
• Carries — farmer 4×40 m heavy + suitcase 2×30 m/side (every block)
• Lateral raises — 3×15–25

Tue — Upper Push (+ 20–25 min zone 2)

• Barbell bench — 4×6–8 → 4×4–6 → 3×5 @ RPE 7
• Incline DB or Smith press — 3×8–10 (the shoulder-friendly slot; warm the cuff first, swap to DB/Smith any week a shoulder talks)
• Seated DB shoulder or Arnold press — 3×8–10
• Lateral raises 4×12–20 + rear-delt raises 3×15
• Triceps — pushdown + overhead, 2–3×10–15 each
• Neck — flexion/extension 3×15–20

Wed — Mountain Engine

Warm up 5 min, pick one engine, finish with the trunk block every time.

• Engine A — "Stairs": Stairmaster + weighted vest (20 lb Base → 30 Build → 40 Peak): 25–35 min steady (talking possible but unwanted), or 10 × (2 min hard / 1 min easy). The most hunt-specific machine in the building.
• Engine B — "Steps": box step-ups ~16" with vest or pack, 20–30 min of :40 on / :20 off.
• Engine C — "Circuit": 4–5 rounds — 90-sec hard run or 250 m SkiErg · 8 sandbag-to-shoulder · 40 m heavy farmer carry · 10 step-overs. Pack-out simulation.
• Trunk block (every time): Pallof press 3×12/side · back extension or bird-dog 3×10 · heavy shrugs 3×12.
• Peak weeks 9–10: Wednesday becomes an easy 30–40 min pack walk — the weekend holds the real work by then.

Thu — Upper Pull (+ 20–25 min zone 2)

• Weighted pull-ups — 4×6–10 → 4×6–10 → 3×6
• Barbell or chest-supported row — 4×8–12
• Heavy DB shrugs 3×10–15 + face pulls 3×15–20
• Biceps — two movements, 3×10–15 each
• Neck 3×15–20 (+ lateral raises 2×20 if time)
• Grip: go double-overhand where you can — grip is pack-out currency.

Fri — Lower Build & Durability

• Leg press or belt squat — 3–4×8–12 → 3×8–10 → 2×10 light & crisp
• Bulgarian split squat 3×8–10/leg — the single most hunt-transferable lift in the gym
• Hip thrust or back extension 3×8–12
• Seated calf 3×10–15 + tibialis raises 3×15–20 (train the shins — descents live here)
• Side-hill work — lateral step-ups 2×10/side or monster walks + Copenhagen plank 2×8/side
• Lateral raises 3×15–25

Sat — The Ruck (the keystone)

Your hunting pack + the boots you'll wear, from day one — the gear is part of the training. Weigh the loaded pack on a scale; log load, time, and vert. Water is your ballast early (dump it at the turnaround — kind to the knees); switch to plates or a sandbag once loaded descents become the point (~week 6). Check your feet after every ruck: a hot spot in July is a lesson, in October it's the hunt. Raise one variable a week — weight, distance, or vert — never two.

Zone 2 & Restore

Easy aerobic work is the base that decides whether day 3 of the hunt feels like day 1. Add 20–25 min of zone 2 after Tue and Thu, 30–40 min Sunday, and the Saturday ruck is mostly zone 2 by design. The band is nasal-breathing conversational — roughly 130–147 bpm; bike, rower, SkiErg, or a hill walk all count. Sunday Restore: 30–40 min easy + 20 min mobility (couch stretch, 90/90 hips, ankle dorsiflexion, T-spine, hamstring floss, a few minutes of nasal breathing).

When life gets heavy — bend, don't break

• Two short-sleep nights: keep the lift, cap everything at RPE 7, drop the extra zone 2. Sleep is the real limiter — bed by 9–9:30 is part of the program.
• Compressed week — protect in this order: Saturday ruck → Monday lower → Wednesday engine → Tue/Thu upper → the extra zone 2. The mirror forgives a missed arm day; the mountain won't forgive missed rucks.
• Sick: fever or below-the-neck = full rest; head cold = easy walk only.
• Joint niggle: swap the movement (belt squat is the escape hatch); never push through pain that changes how you walk. Boot hot spots get fixed the same day.
• Traveling: a 40-min incline treadmill walk + a band day covers it.

Fueling

• Protein every day — your muscle-retention insurance through all the volume.
• Carbs around training and the Saturday ruck — the performance lever, not the enemy.
• Hydrate hard, especially on rucks over 90 min (add electrolytes — a 6 a.m. summer ruck still collects its tax).
• Don't diet into the hunt. Eat to fuel and recover — show up strong, not depleted.

• Break your boots in now, and wear them beyond rucks — fresh boots on the mountain end hunts. Fix hot spots same-day.
• Get the loaded downhills in during August so the worst soreness happens at home, not over a dead elk. Trekking poles save your knees — train with them.
• Altitude: get to the August scout at ~8,000 ft if you can, and arrive at camp a day early. Hydrate, go easy on the first-night beers, know the AMS signs.

A legit base camp for four, seven days

We sleep and eat out of a truck base camp on FR 119 at ~8,000 ft — Tim's Kodiak canvas tent, coolers, generator. There are no services up the road (nearest town is Duchesne, ~45 min out), so what we don't bring, we don't have. A cold, hungry, dehydrated crew fails on day five — so this stuff is not an afterthought.

The shared kit — claim your part

This is how we avoid three stoves and zero game bags. OPEN rows need an owner — claim them in the group thread, and let's have every row named by the August scout.

Your personal packing list

Checkmarks save to this device — tick as you pack. A starting template; adjust for your kit and the forecast we'll get closer in.

If a bull goes down, the real work begins

A boned-out bull is ~200 lb of meat — realistically 3–4 heavy pack loads and most of a day of crew labor. In Zone A there's no road spur, so it comes out on your back to the road before the Pioneer ever touches it. And in a warm early-October afternoon the clock to get it cold is hours. Plan for the work, not just the shot.

• Cool it fast. Gutless method (we'll walk it through before the hunt — watch a video now), meat off the bone and into game bags in shade and moving air.
• Cooler reality: our two Yetis hold about one bull with enough ice. Pre-frozen jugs are your block ice for the first days; re-ice and drain daily; keep bags off the cooler floor.
• Line up a processor NOW — confirm a specific shop's rifle-season hours, whether they take evening/weekend drop-offs, and turnaround. Have a backup. Decide the self-process fallback (space, clean surface, sharp knives, practiced) before, not over the carcass.

How we all come home

We engineered away the dead-battery-deep-on-119 problem. This is the same rigor applied to the thing that actually matters: a hurt person, 2–3 miles from the truck, with no cell signal. Off these benches, help is 6–24 hours out — you are the first responder. Plan like it.

Communications & when to call for help

• One satellite communicator per pair — Tim's inReach plus a second inReach or a PLB for the other pair. One device for a split party is a single point of failure. Add GMRS/FRS radios for everyone for pair-to-pair and camp comms.
• Everyone practices triggering an SOS and sending a preset message before we leave — a first-timer fumbling an unfamiliar device mid-emergency is a real failure mode.
• SOS path: inReach SOS → Garmin's response center → Duchesne County Sheriff Search & Rescue. Ground response is a half-day-plus; a helicopter needs daylight, weather, and a place to land. Our MapShare link is shared with the families at home.

Daily check-in & hard turnaround

• Hard turnaround time every day — start walking out at a set clock time, on elk or not. First-timers always blow "just over the next ridge" and get benighted; that's how a twisted ankle becomes a hypothermic night out.
• Two check-ins a day (midday + by dark). If a pair misses it, camp tries radio/sat; if no contact by a set time, camp prepares to hit SOS — nobody goes stumbling into the dark after them.
• Trip plan left at home: our dates, the MapShare link, and vehicle descriptions, with the instruction: "If you don't hear from us by [date/time], call Duchesne County Sheriff."

Firearms — our biggest injury risk, because we're new

• 1Treat every gun as loaded. Muzzle never covers anything you won't destroy.
• 2Finger off the trigger until your sights are on the animal and you've decided to shoot.
• 3Know your target and what's beyond it — the #1 cause of hunting shootings is failing to identify the target and backstop. Never point a muzzle toward another pair's zone.
• 4Chamber a round only when actively setting up on an animal. Unload — empty chamber, mag out — before mounting the Pioneer or truck, or crossing any obstacle.

Orange is crew policy, not just law: one blaze-orange outer article minimum — hat and vest is better — on everyone in the field, camp crew included. Kimble is the named safety officer; the two-first-timer pair gets the tightest leash and the most open terrain.

Trauma kit — matched to the real bad day

A "blister kit" doesn't stop a gunshot, a deep boning-knife laceration, or a bad fall. A femoral bleed kills in minutes; help is hours away.

• Bleeding control per pair: a real tourniquet (CAT/SOF-T), hemostatic gauze (QuikClot/Celox), a pressure/Israeli bandage, and chest seals — owned by a named person.
• Group kit: SAM splint, trauma shears, wound closure, meds (ibuprofen, antihistamine, an epi option if anyone's at risk).
• Gear without training is theater — everyone does Stop the Bleed (free, ~90 min) before October; ideally Kimble + Tim do a Wilderness First Aid course.

Cold, weather & carbon monoxide

• Wet + wind + cold + benighted = hypothermia, and the hypothermic person is the last to notice (watch for stumbles, mumbles, fumbles, grumbles — buddy-check each other). Find or replace the missing rain shell before the trip.
• Every day pack, even day hunts: emergency bivy/space blanket, fire kit, extra insulation, headlamp + spare batteries, water + backup purification, your personal bleed control.
• Stand-down authority: Kimble or Tim can call a low-country or rest day when a front moves in. Standing down is permitted in advance — first-timers push into weather because they drove all this way.
• Carbon monoxide: a CO alarm goes inside the sleeping tent. Never run the generator, stove, heater, or lantern inside or near the tent. Never cook in a sealed tent.

The short version

Verify every specific against the current 2026 Utah DWR Big Game Field Regulations before the hunt. Regs change yearly — this page is not the authority, and a couple of these changed for 2026.

• Tag: any-bull, general season 1, rifle, Oct 3–9. Capped & first-come — buy early. License + hunter-ed or Trial authorization current and on you.
• Blaze orange (2026 change): at least one orange article (hat/shirt/jacket/vest/sweater) on your outermost layer during the rifle hunt. The old 400-square-inch rule is gone.
• Shooting hours: generally 30 min before sunrise to 30 min after sunset — confirm the exact table in the guidebook.
• Rifles ride unloaded on the side-by-side — empty chamber, mag out (Utah §76-11-204, a Class B misdemeanor otherwise). No shooting from or across a road, or from a vehicle.
• Validate your tag immediately at the kill site, before moving the animal — notch the date + attach the tag, or e-tag in the Utah Hunting & Fishing app (GPS + photos). A zip tie only attaches the tag; it isn't validation.
• Harvest report is mandatory within 30 days (by ~Nov 8, 2026), even if you didn't fill your tag — $50 late fee otherwise. E-tagging files it automatically.
• Wanton waste: pack out all edible meat — wasting it is wanton destruction (§23A-5-311), a serious crime for elk.
• Fire restrictions: check the current stage before we leave — it's a dry year, and it governs campfires and the generator.
• OHV: Pioneer only on designated ≤50" routes; current registration on machine and trailer. No off-route driving to a downed elk.