Fishlake muzzleloader deer

Hi guys. This will be my first time hunting deer in Utah. My dad and I drew the September muzzleloader deer hunt, I put in for that because it seems like some amazing looking country from what I am used to in Arizona and a great time of year to be in the high country. Has anyone else had the muzzy tag? We are glassers that like to try to get to areas to see a lot of country. What can I expect on this hunt getting in before the general rifle hunt? Are the Bucks hard antlered and at all elevations this time of year? We are just hoping for a fun hunt with hopefully seeing good deer numbers and would totally be pumped on getting a chance a just some branch antlered bucks. Any information would be amazing from anyone willing and I can do in return for Arizona information. And what would be the best map I can buy for the Fish lake area? Thanks in advance for any info!!

You have a good tag on a good deer unit with a broad diversity of terrian and a decent diversity of age class of bucks. Mostly yearlings, some two year olds and a few mature bucks. It not managed for mature deer but there are a few out there.

It a large unit with peeks above 10,000 and sage flats down to 5,500 feet. Mostly public with a small amount of private and a handfum of hay farms here and there.

Good fishing in three or four lakes. Communities with servjces on three of the four sides of the unit. Loa, Richfield, and Salina.

A resort att Fish Lake, with cabins for rent or camp grounds wirh showers.

And the best part is BigJohnT has a cabin smack in the middle off the all the good stuff.

Plan for a great time on a great unit.

DC

It's a beautiful unit to hunt. The only problem I have and you will to. Is when hunting you run into a Elk herd and start bulging and cow calling the elk . You soon forget about the deer. ? Don't forget the sage county. Most run up to the high country thinking that's where the will be. They end up driving by a lot of deer. Good luck

Thanks for the information guys. Do you think that there is one side of the lake better then the other to hunt?

LAST EDITED ON Jun-21-17 AT 11:54AM (MST)[p]Nope.

One side can be as good as another, depending on how many yearlings got through last years deer hunt. It varies from year to year, depending on the previous year's harvest concentration. Some years hunters clean out an area pretty much top to bottom, so almost all that you'll see, in that part of the unit, the next year, are yearlings. Other areas, for what ever reason, may have got less pressure and a few more yearlings survived to grow another set of antlers. On the Fish Lake you never know which areas of the unit got hit hard the previous year and which got less pressure. It simply varies from year to year.

REMEMBER. It's managed for yearling harvest, so most bucks on the unit are killed as two points or spikes, BY DESIGN. Not trying to be a smart aleck, just sharing the management strategy that is being used on the unit. The management strategy on the unit make it relatively easy to find a yearling buck, so if you keep moving, and cover enough country, you should be able to kill the kind of buck the unit is designed to provide, a yearling.

Get out well before daylight, and make sure you're still hunting until it's pitch black at night.

Should be pretty easy to find a yearling, about anywhere you decide to hunt. If you want something older, hunt longer and get further from the pavement and the two track trails.

Like BigJohn said, don't over look the PJ, however the deer still will be from the top to the bottom, so find the kind of terrain you like to hunt, be it above 10,500 or down at 7,500 feet level. There is a lot of country you can hunt with a good spotting scope. If you're young and have the legs and lungs, locate with your spotter and the rest is just getting to them.

When I hunt Fish Lake, unless I've located an older buck, and patterned it, early in the summer, I make sure I cover a "lot" of country!!!!!! It's a huge, terrain diverse, unit.

Last year 61% of the Fish Lake muzzleloader hunters killed a buck, which includes the folks that only hunt for two days or less. There was only one other unit with a higher % harvest rate in Utah last year.

The muzzleloader season is a spectacular time to be on the unit, hope you enjoy the experience.

DC

LAST EDITED ON Jun-21-17 AT 12:16PM (MST)[p]And....... yes, most of the bucks will be hard horned by the time the muzzleloader hunt starts.

For the best map, contact the U. S. Forest Service office in Richfield, Utah. Do not let them sell you "just" the OHV Travel map. That's an okay map for the trail information but make sure you get a regular Fish Lake U.S. Forest Service Map too.

Their phone number is: (435) 896-9233

This one. It's $10.



DC

Thanks DC for all of your information. I really appreciate the input. I'm looking forward to the hunt!

>Thanks DC for all of your
>information. I really appreciate the
>input. I'm looking forward to
>the hunt!


Don't POUND Lumpy's PISSCUTTERS!

He Likes to See Em Grow Up!









[Font][Font color = "blue"]Ah yes we have insider trading and computer dating but I never goin for that!
Ain't no machine pickin out my Queen cause it may not have all the facts!
I've got my own taste and my own ways I'd rather not talk about
and my private life is my private life and they ain't gonna find out!

Haha I have no intention on shooting lumpys young bucks. I like to see them grow as well. Hopefully we can find a few nice branch antlered bucks. Thanks for all the info so far. I appreciate it! If anyone has some pictures from the unit or any bucks that would be awesome. Thanks guys.

Lumpy, I can't figure you out. We talk about how the deer are way down on that unit and then you talk out of the other side of your face. I guess you must be talking about the ones that frequent the area between Lakeside and Bowery.

Yup. Thats out of the third side. ?

Numbers are way down, so are the number of hunters but the success rates arre higher than they were when the population was three or fiour times higher.

Success ratios have norhing to do with deer numbers.

Also, when we had more deer we had 3 or 4 buck per hundred doe. We now have thousands less deer but at 15 to 18 buck per hundred doe, hunter kill ratios are higher than they used to be.

But then, it's just you and I that know or give a damn, so two sided comments amount to squat. Yes?

DC

I guess it does, until we run out of deer. The hunters chase the elk or deer all fall and winter in some cases into the next year until they are all in the valley then our fools (DWR) recommend shooting does because there is to many in the valley and your backyard.

Yup. Right again.

DC

I've been scouting every week this summer and have seen quite a few decent bucks down low already! Good luck with your hunt.

That's great to hear wizbang7, which hunt do you have?

Family has a general season rifle deer and LE rifle Bull Elk in Sept! I've had lots of success on my cameras and scouting this summer. Seems there are more mature bucks and bulls than I have seen the last 10 years!

>Family has a general season rifle
>deer and LE rifle Bull
>Elk in Sept! I've had
>lots of success on my
>cameras and scouting this summer.
>Seems there are more mature
>bucks and bulls than I
>have seen the last 10
>years!


There are only two point bucks and nothing better then a 300 inch bull on Fish lake. Let's keep this straight. ? If you are up there and see a big white F 250 or a Razor four seater that's orange and black stop and say hi.

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