Book Cliffs Muzzy deer hunt

[mickeyelk]

Hi. First post on this forum and decided to register. Seems like a friendly group after reading some of the post responses on here it is very positive. I drew this tag this year and I'm from Las Vegas Nv. Normally I hunt the Pine unit in southern Utah for deer (when I can get a tag) and after accumulating some bonus points put in for this hunt. ( basically only on what I"ve heard about the unit.) My wife and I will be traveling there for a scouting trip this summer and looking for any info I can get on the unit. We have a toyhauler that we will be towing and wondered how the roads would be this time of the year. Also is a quad useful for this hunt? What is the entry points to get to the Divided Road from I 70? What map do I need? As you can see, any info is muchly appreciated. Thankyou

 

[Challis_Willson]

Hi. First post on this forum and decided to register. Seems like a friendly group after reading some of the post responses on here it is very positive. I drew this tag this year and I'm from Las Vegas Nv. Normally I hunt the Pine unit in southern Utah for deer (when I can get a tag) and after accumulating some bonus points put in for this hunt. ( basically only on what I"ve heard about the unit.) My wife and I will be traveling there for a scouting trip this summer and looking for any info I can get on the unit. We have a toyhauler that we will be towing and wondered how the roads would be this time of the year. Also is a quad useful for this hunt? What is the entry points to get to the Divided Road from I 70? What map do I need? As you can see, any info is muchly appreciated. Thankyou

Hey man i ended up drawing that same tag this year, just wanted to ask how your hunt went and see if you had any pointers. Like yourself i've never been to the unit before, i have a few scouting trips planned out and was going to see if you had any advice.

 

[mickeyelk]

Hey man i ended up drawing that same tag this year, just wanted to ask how your hunt went and see if you had any pointers. Like yourself i've never been to the unit before, i have a few scouting trips planned out and was going to see if you had any advice.

What hunt did you draw?

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[mickeyelk]

What hunt did you draw?

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Muzzy, yes I can tell you all I know about the area and what I saw.

 

[Huntnnw]

I drew this hunt in 2015 and hunted exclusively in the road-less section. Saw a ton of bucks and no deer hunters.Pm me if you want any info on where I spent my time

 

[Challis_Willson]

I drew this hunt in 2015 and hunted exclusively in the road-less section. Saw a ton of bucks and no deer hunters.Pm me if you want any info on where I spent my time

Okay I will thank you, I have to post 10 times until I can PM haha, I’m totally new to the whole unit, we’re there a lot more people hunting the road areas?

 

[Challis_Willson]

Muzzy, yes I can tell you all I know about the area and what I saw.

How did your hunt go?? Did you end up seeing a lot of bucks?

 

[mickeyelk]

I did take a buck but nothing like I saw during my preseason scouting. I went there during the archery season to get the lay of the land. I had people from this forum assist me in getting info that helped me out. Not sure which direction you are coming from to get into the area. I came in from Ouray. I was towing a small toy hauler and it was very easy to get to the Divide road. Divide road is the main road that you'll be traveling while there. During my archery trip to check out the unit I saw allot of nice bucks and found places to park my toy hauler, which was a worry for me. Almost everywhere I went I saw 150+ class bucks and 3 real nice bucks. Got me very excited about hunting the unit. I went up the the area on Sunday before the season started to see if I could find those nice bucks I saw during the archery trip. Looked all day Mon and Tues, saw hardly nothing , except bull elk. During the hunting season the Divide road gets super busy with trucks and atvs. All the water holes I located on my scouting trip were packed in with hunters sitting on them. Saw zillions of cattle and they were also on the water holes. I had an RZR and traveled the dirt roads with the herd of hunters. Talked with allot after my morning and evening hunts asking, are you seeing anything? They also said, where are the deer? I hunted the first 3 days and then moved to another area. The weather was Ok except for a few days. On my last day there and end of hunt I decided to take whatever showed its horns. This was the first day I saw a buck that looked decent(150 type). Never got close to him and took a little 3X3. This wasn't what I expected to take while there. I didn't hunt the roadless at all but did go to the start of it and looked around. But from the roadless to McCook, I was there spotting from off the road or as deep in as I could get. I would do the hunt again in a heartbeat. Good luck

 

[Huntnnw]

Buck I took after 6 days .. I saw 3 right before opener that were 170-190 . One was a 4x4 27” wide with a big in-line and a sticker of a fork. His buddy was a clean big 4x4 I put around 180 and another buck I found was the heaviest 3 I’ve ever seen. No fronts but massive forks and super tall with tons of mass. Figure that buck was 170’s I spent 5 days scouring that are to turn 1 of them up. Never saw them again.

 

[Jmvjazzfan]

That's a nice buck! I had the archery tag 2 years ago and had a blast. Lots of bucks. Seems like the muzzy hunt can be a little tricky because they are in their transition stage of moving down. A lot of people hunt them high still but weather and pressure can move them down a bit.

 

[ADnCO]

I just drew the only NR any weapons/any season Muley Tag in the Book Cliffs for 2023. Wondering how the muzzleloading season went for you a few years back. Since I can hunt archery/muzzy/rifle I would love any feedback on the Book Cliffs in general for a good muley hunt.