Southern Utah Hunting?

[Hoback Hunter]

Anyone have info they'd share about hunting opportunities in southern Utah, say around the Escalante country... Elk, Deer, Sage Goat, Turkeys, etc.

I understand that everything is on a draw basis, but wondered how often a person can expect to draw a given species.

I may find myself moving that way in the near future and am trying to brace myself for the shock of how little there is compared to Wyoming...

Thanks.

 

[wmidbrook]

You're looking at a southern deer tag (general) which takes up to 3 years to draw now. Or a Paunsagaunt deer tag which is a 10+year tag on average.


The area around Escalante holds a lot of deer but so do other areas in Southern Utah--quite a few guys here can help you if you drew a southern tag. I've just hunted Central and SE.

The San Juan elk tag is basically a once in a lifetime deal but they do pull 400+ class bulls out of there almost every year in recent history. Odds for that elk tag are that you'll die before you draw. It'd take over 50 years to reach the maximum point pool if you start putting in for it now as a non-resident. The CWMU tags are $20,000+ for the San Juans now. I don't know much about the general elk down that way though.

The huge bulls down that way are plentiful though. I had 4 days before muzzleloader deer season to scout and got to watch a 360-380 class bull kick butt on a 330 class bull. Also called in about a dozen bulls while scouting deer for fun. But, in retrospect, I don't know if I'd call at the elk again to make it easier on the guys who wait forever to draw that tag.

The spike bull hunts down that way are difficult. The cow hunts are pretty easy.

 

[tmoniz]

I hunted Elk south of Antimony. The Mount Dutton area. It was crowded. Lots of elk. But this was way back in the mid eighties. Deer were scare back then due to high winter kill. The draws may have improved it over the years.