6AYoteHunter

Yeah that area is the easiest to spot them. Those canyons always have pigs in them. Other spot that's good is horseshoe lake.

https://www.salmonriversolutions.com/ Has a ton of good options. Look through all the various models to see which ones might work best for the style of rifle. For older style rifles I use a Hog Saddle. They can survive just about anything and very stable.

Need to check the tune on your bow. Shoot a barshaft and see if the arrow is hitting at an angle. Had a few friends with this issue. Once we got the bows tuned this stopped happening. Also make sure the arrow spine is not too weak. A stiffer arrow will apply less side leverage on impacts and has a thicker wall. Easton and gold tip are very durable arrows. Carbon express is less durable in recent years, while easton improved durability. All are durable enough for pigs and deer. Heavy boned critters gold tip and recent easton are awesome. Victory and black eagle arrows are slightly less durable than gold tip and easton but better than carbon express. Inserts and quality of glue can also matter. Longer inserts will spread out the shock of impact. Glue/epoxy needs to be a variety that's not brittle.

Make sure to order a stock now. I have had to wait much longer on those than actions.

Not uncommon in 21 nowadays. Antelope population is even worse off in the unit and they stopped the hunts there. 10 years ago both species were easy in 21. Coyotes kill most of the fawns. Saw 4 coyotes in Jan bite up a calf elk. Lucky it kicked the alpha hard enough to fling it 20+ feet and the mature cow chased two of the others about a half mile. When they started going after her 8 other cows kicked the tar out of the 4th coyote. The other 30 elk just watched like a bunch of loosers. All I had was a bow or the coyotes would have lost at least a couple that day.

The hunt ended the 8th based on my regs....

Always find a few deer in strange spots in unit 9. Biggest ever was along side Cataract Canyon. Solid 200" 6x6 typical. Guess no one except sheep hunters ever bothered it lol.

Figure on late hunts only having 1 or 2 chances at good bulls in 7 days so you have to be able to shoot a bow or rifle extremely well. If it rains most units roads trash out. Had one late bull only 500 yards from road. So muddy we had to take horses in 3.5 miles. Also rusted the inside of barrel so bad it was replaced with stainless. This year I had to cut brush for 3 hours to get to bull. Hands thrashed still. Early hunts you can have 1 or 2 chances per day if you scout well enough. Normally easy pack outs. Plus minimal breakage during early hunts. Most years at least a third of bulls are really busted up by Nov. Saw a 330 class bull this year busted above sword on left and only eye guards on right. Early hunts are just long days, late hunts are brutal all around.

Saw a few guys get lucky right off 260. I was just driving by to drop off my bull. Was kind of crazy to see how easy they had it in a high pressure unit. My only thought was pressure in deeper pushed them towards the highway. My late bull was not easy with less experienced hunters busting a lot of bulls.

Statewide numbers have to be way down. With the drought impacting small game numbers so bad all the predators are surviving off big almost exclusively. Have seen mtn lions hunting in pairs more than ever. Coyotes coming in as an actual pack setup for big critters not rabbit hunting pairs. Even premium units finding elk takes a lot of work. Saw my local deer herd drop from 29 to 3 in the last few years. Crazy times.

They are heavier so will drop more. Total percentage of arrow weight changed will affect how much more drop. Also changes tune on bow. Will give you more momentum at the rear of the arrow vs the front. If front of arrow is not heavy enough you can have issues. Check FOC and make sure it doesn't get too low. Try to find a brand that doesn't bump on in quiver. Have seen people fighting this. They make spotting hits way easier though. Also can find arrows super fast. I really like them for javelina and elk. Not so much for coues or mule deer. They spook so easy and worry about them seeing the light and moving more during the shot.

The 300 win should have less wind drift but shoulder hits destroy too much meat so be careful. Some guys around here run smaller caliber rifles on low wind days and big stuff on windy days.

I have an Eberlestock Dragonfly, G4 Operator, mainframe, and mainframe tall. I have Kifaru tactical frames and run 2 Fulcrums and a Straight jacket. The Fulcrum is the most capable setup i have ever used. I have personally tested Mystery Ranch (good packs also just not the layout I wanted), Exo, Stone Glacier, Badlands, and Kelty. I haven't test the revised Kuiu. A lot of packs nowadays cut on weight in the wrong areas and just end up with failures. The 3 most overall durable packs I have seen are Kifaru, Mystery Ranch, and Eberlestock in that order.

The 6 mm creedmoor with a 22" barrel and a +2 gas tube is probably the most versatile round you could pick.

You need to determine if you ever plan to get a btx. That is when you will want the 115. It is kind of bulky for a stx. The 115 for sure requires a much stronger tripod and head than most are used to running. At the minimum you need a gitzo gt2542 or a rrs tfc-24l with like an outdoorsman fluid head for a 115 or it will vibrate and negate the benefits of the larger lense.