New Utah Weapon restriction hunts

[wildwilderness]

I just noticed the new Weapon restriction hunts Uath will be testing out.

Seem pretty interesting to me. I can see it as a way to limit harvest and increase opportunities to participate.


Anyone planning to participate? String up the old Longbow or dust off the flintlock? Any classic lever actions or single shot falling block rifles?

 

[MallardSX2]

Paging the “all of the deer are going to be wounded and die of gangrene, the sky is falling” people….in 3….2….1…..

I personally love the idea. I’ll be burning my general points in the cache in 4 years on a flintlock mule deer hunt for sure.

 

[MallardSX2]

Fish on.

 

[dirtytough]

I’m a fan.

 

[MuleyFever]

I was hoping they were going to do this on the Dutton. I burned used my points last year so assuming these hunts will not appeal to the masses I figured I could maybe draw with no points. I don't really care to hunt those areas though.

 

[CorbLand]

Be interesting to see what it does and if Utah sticks with it.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Question...All the methods of take listed above are currently legal in Utah?

 

[MallardSX2]

Be interesting to see what it does and if Utah sticks with it.

It's going to allow access to bigger bucks on a general tag just by shortening the range of weapons and allowing more bucks to survive.

I will hunt one of them the last year they are still general units before they pull the rug out from under me by flipping them to LE units and then give out a generous 2 NR's deer tags to fight over. I truly do foresee them turning them into a LE units once they get a bunch of nice bucks on the landscape.....

 

[CorbLand]

It's going to allow access to bigger bucks on a general tag just by shortening the range of weapons and allowing more bucks to survive.

I will hunt one of them the last year they are still general units before they pull the rug out from under me by flipping them to LE units and then give out a generous 2 NR's deer tags to fight over. I truly do foresee them turning them into a LE units once they get a bunch of nice bucks on the landscape.....

That is one of my concerns as well.

I foresee a bunch of bigger bucks running around that no one can kill and then people will complain and they will roll back restrictions so people can kill them. Basically we will get caught in a cycle of increase regulation to grow big bucks and then relax regulations so people can kill them.

 

[Weldor]

I don't know but a 1895 winchester in 30-06 seems pretty potent for a restricted equipment.

 

[Mish-pop]

I really like the idea. Listening to Robby and Travis talk about it on the Rokcast was interesting. They went into as many details as they could and I like that Utah is at least trying something to increase opportunity. Time will tell.

 

[dylanvb]

Is it a separate season or will it be going on as during other seasons? Like normal archery going on during the restricted weapon? or is it for specific high pressured areas of the state? I find it interesting for sure.

 

[CorbLand]

Is it a separate season or will it be going on as during other seasons? Like normal archery going on during the restricted weapon? or is it for specific high pressured areas of the state? I find it interesting for sure.

Its seperate units. They took four units, three general season and one limited entry and made the rules for those units in specific.

The three general season units, no change to archery, muzzy season is only the restricted muzzies as defined above and the rifle season is only restricted rifles as defined above.

The one limited entry is the restricted archery as defined above. Same for the rifle and muzzy season.

 

[realunlucky]

Is it a separate season or will it be going on as during other seasons? Like normal archery going on during the restricted weapon? or is it for specific high pressured areas of the state? I find it interesting for sure.

They removed the other seasons and replaced them with these more restrictive options.

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[2Stamp]

Is it a separate season or will it be going on as during other seasons? Like normal archery going on during the restricted weapon? or is it for specific high pressured areas of the state? I find it interesting for sure.

Example, Beaver East vs West ( Muzzy, rifle restrictions):

DB1111	Buck	Deer	Muzzleloader	Limited Entry	Oct 29 2025 - Nov 06 2025
Beaver, East	DB1612	Buck	Deer	Muzzleloader	General Season	Sept 24 2025 - Oct 02 2025
Beaver, East	DB1613	Buck	Deer	Any Legal Weapon	General Season	Oct 18 2025 - Oct 26 2025
Beaver, West	DB1615	Buck	Deer	Restricted Muzzleloader	General Season	Sept 24 2025 - Oct 02 2025
Beaver, West	DB1616	Buck	Deer	Restricted Rifle	General Season	Oct 18 2025 - Oct 26 2025

 

[twall13]

It's going to be interesting to see what happens with this long term. I have a lot of family that have been hunting one of those general units for years that are very upset about this. My father in law basically told me he's done hunting that unit now. If most of the public is like him/them, it's going to allow people to draw much easier if they are willing to get rid of their scopes. I've mostly transitioned to archery for deer and hunt other units but for my teenage boys I'm going to have to evaluate what's going to work best for them.

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[bigsky2]

That is one of my concerns as well.

I foresee a bunch of bigger bucks running around that no one can kill and then people will complain and they will roll back restrictions so people can kill them. Basically we will get caught in a cycle of increase regulation to grow big bucks and then relax regulations so people can kill them.

Why will no one be able to kill them?

 

[twall13]

Why will no one be able to kill them?

Not who you were asking but I'd say it's not that "no one" can kill them so much as most won't be killed during the season. There is a small segment of the population that will get it done, but I have no doubt more bucks will make it through the season with these regulations leading to more big bucks in a few years.

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[CorbLand]

Why will no one be able to kill them?

Because the average person can’t consistently kill a deer with the old allowable weapons.

Some people will still get it done but the vast majority won’t and they will complain that they can’t kill them so restrictions will be rolled back.

 

[2Stamp]

I spent a lot of years hunting one of these units with new restrictions (with all 3 weapons). I watched the number of mature deer dwindle dramatically. I still have a couple friends that hunt it and it will be interesting to watch.