Utah General Deer Archery 6 points advice.

[aggieland]

San juan abajo..... i wouldnt even think about the others

Why would you pick this area over the others pm if you would like.

 

[mooretitan]

I would stay far away from PV.

 

[aggieland]

Basically boils down to Pine Valley Unit or Panguitch Lake unit. Both seem to be about the same on the draw odds. I did just learn that my 2 sons can draw an archery tag in these units as well by being Youth archery applications.

 

[Westhunt]

Trophy quality is there in almost all those units you’ve listed and the ones you haven’t, of course that depends on your trophy evaluation but every general unit in the state will at least have 170-180 bucks in it if you know how to hunt it and find them in which takes a lot of time. I don’t know why everyone is so down about Utah unless they are saying that to keep people out of here, yes things are not as good as back in the day but I’m usually finding top end bucks in the general units I’ve hunted and scouted after a couple years invested in them. As far as what you like to see from your description I’d focus on the units that are applicable to your trad bow hunting. Something easy to make a stalk in, starting from the unit Wasatch west go north from there and all those units will offer you plenty of opportunity for archery equipment. If you have any questions hit me with a pm and I might be able to help out a little more.

Like he said, I've seen great bucks come off these units that everyone says sucks. Unless it's reverse psychology, then yes, Utah sucks go somewhere else lol. But for real, all those units have good quality, but the good bucks aren't tied to a tree next to the trail head. Pick a unit, find a spot with some rough country and away from a road. Head out a few days early and scout it out. You'd be good with any of the units you mentioned.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[WBrim]

There’s definitely going to be a lot of deer not making thru all this snow. But still, if you get out after it, you’ll find deer.
I have heard PV is struggling significantly tho. Just take a look at tag numbers and success rates from the last couple years. They don’t like to cut that many tags just on a whim.

 

[SDHNTR]

I have hunted that unit twice in the past, Was hoping to see some new country. My friends hunted the unit last year, they did not find many deer. 1 out of 5 guys got a 140-150 size buck. the rest ate tag soup.

20% success on Pope and Young quality bucks with stick bows sounds like a damn good hunt to me! I wouldn’t be searching for better.

 

[CorbLand]

Can you recommend by peak or OnX location? I'm also looking for advice on that area

Start here.
30.0980° N, 98.4214° W

 

[Blancotx]

Thank y

Start here.
30.0980° N, 98.4214° W

Thank you

 

[pulligWa]

Of the ones you mention, I would hunt the *unit. We hunted there for probably 7 or 8 years straight and saw some giant deer, absolute giants. Get up in the alpine and glass, glass, glass, they're there still. Not in the numbers they were, but definitely still there.

I should draw that archery tag this year, and have been doing lots of research. I was wondering if i could bounce ideas off you?

 

[mavinwa2]

Pine Valley unit get, hike up to the high-country basins with water sources. Good quality bucks but I haven't been in a few years. Hardly go backcountry alpine anymore due to my age and hunting mostly solo now.
Be careful down lower elevations, especially around the reservoir-creek areas. Hiking thru that country you will encounter a lot of rattlesnakes in archery season.

I've hunted a few different Southern Utah general arch deer units.
Zion was ok but too much private land, and guess where the big bucks are.
Panguitch ok too but high hunter pressure and OHV use. Saw more elk than mule deer in Panguitch.
Mt Dutton very rugged country and same as Pang, lots of elk.

2025 will be my last Utah general archery season.
2026 tag price will be $599 and Fish/Hunting combo license $190!

I'll just keep hunting WA-resident, AZ, CO and NM (if drawn).