Utah LE deer units

[MuleyFever]

I was doing my apps and it occurred to me that I should be able to draw a Books Cliffs or Vernon deer tag in a couple years. While I have always put in for the Henrys there is a good chance I will move from Utah in a few years. If we move I think I may want to use my deer points because drawing the Henrys as a NR is not something that is likely to happen while I am still able to hunt. Heck I may never draw that unit as a resident. Anyway I was wondering if anyone has hunted Vernon or the Books and what you thought of the quality/quantity of the deer.

 

[fire arrow]

If you go archery for the BC you will see a good amount of 3x3, 3x4, and dink 4x4. If your looking for that 160+ buck or that buck of a lifetime you will need to put in sometime before the season. Be willing to venture from roads and quad trails and look into areas that are not easy to get to. Basically get the Carrharts on and bust through the brush. I was told that a lot of rifle tags for residents put a hurt'en on the herd 5 years ago.

My buddy pulled the archery tag two years ago and shot a nice symmetrical 4x4 that was a solid 165. He saw one buck that was bigger, but I think he is still running east. Over all my buddy said he had a great time, saw a lot of animals, but would not choose to burn his points again if he was going for a buck if a lifetime.

 

[RUTTIN]

I have a friend that has hinted the Vernon rifle quite a few times (land owner tags) he shot a few good bucks around 150-160, they shot one two point that was almost 30 wide. But he wasn't impressed enough to burn his points there.

 

[PathFinder]

The Vernon is stupidly accessible and gets a lot of traffic from Utah, Toole, and SL counties. There are definitely big deer there but I wouldn't burn points on it. The Book Cliffs is my favorite mountain range in Utah. The deer numbers are amazing. Particularly during the rifle hunt, you'll see unreal numbers of bucks. The muzzleloader is similar. The rifle hunt is migration dependent; good snows push the deer right off into the desert. However the quality is pretty lacking. Finding anything over 180 will be a lot of work.

 

[Broken Compass]

I hunted book cliffs last year (archery). I had a blast and looked at tons of bucks, having said that I don't think I seen a buck that would go 170, but I kinda expected that going in.