Pahvant & archery deer opener

Verticalslope · Aug 15, 2005

Who's headed down to the Pahvant for the opener of the archery deer hunt? Just curious if it's going to be as crowded as it has been the last few years. I plan on hitting it with my son. Just wish it was like it was in the late 80's early 90's when you saw only a handfull of archery hunters.

hunter1975 · Aug 15, 2005

I gave it up a couple years ago. I always find a quiet place to go on the opener and where I can camp somewhere besides the side of the road. I swear everyone that wants to hunt the southern region from the central/northern regions of utah heads for the pahvant (closest point to get to I guess). I'm hoping that when people realize that a large number of big bucks were taken on the rifle hunt last year they will let whats left grow a year or two.

c3 · Aug 16, 2005

I'm a northerner and jumped on that bandwagon as well. Needless to say there are much greener pastures elsewhere.

I've decided to stay away. I'd hate to be one who drew the Pahvant archery elk permit after a 20 year wait and had dozens of bounty hunters and deer hunters running around in the middle of the elk for three weeks before the elk opener.

Last year it was the biggest zoo I've seen in Utah in 20 something years the weekend before the archery deer opener. There should be 30 folks and their families scouting and hunting elk down there each year. I saw nearly 500 people crawling all over the north end just in one day before any seasons were even open.

It's a free country, but I'd sure find somewhere else to deer hunt. I've taken my deer camp and 10 elk points elsewhere due to the crowds.

Just my $0.02

Cheers,
Pete

Verticalslope · Aug 16, 2005

Zoo is right. I hunt the Southern end but a good friend of mine hunts the North end near Robins Valley. He has a stand in that area that he put up several years ago. He decided it was time to call it good when two years ago his brother climbed up into the stand early opening morning. When it was light enough to see there were three other people within 50 yards of his stand, in there own stands. Oh well, he's happy this year because he drew a Paunsaugunt archery deer tag.

BlackTimber · Aug 16, 2005

I hunted the north end but not this year. I have a Pronghorn tag to fill first. Then I'll be chasing elk until I get one. Then I'll worry about deer. Maybe just the front this year???

JT · Aug 16, 2005

I went up last Saturday evening and again this morning and there are already 4 or 5 camps set up.

Lots of rain lately -- greenest I've seen that mountain in a long time.

Saw a few decent bucks, but nothing to get too excited about. The deer are pretty scattered.

The older age class of bucks really got hammered last year on the rifle hunt.

I'm sure it's going to be a mad house up there again this year -- good luck to anyone who tries it!

Later,
JT

Verticalslope · Aug 17, 2005

JT, are the camps on the North or South end? In years past during a wet year the deer have always been scattered more. Which in this case will be a good thing for the deer. I hope it will give them a chance to hide out from all the pressure. They definately took a hard hit on the rifle hunt around Holden. After the weather cleared up later in the week on the rifle season even more people showed up. It was the most crowded I have seen in a decade or more. Several quality bucks were taken in the rolling hills burn area. I only saw a handfull left on the winter range.

JT · Aug 17, 2005

VS,

The camps were mostly on the south end, but I'll bet every wide spot in the road is gonna have a camp in it in the next couple of days.

I'm sure you're correct that the deer being spread out will be in their favor. Most of that country is better suited to hunting with a rifle anyway IMHO, so the test will be how soon the snow hits this year.

Good luck on the hunt!

Later,
JT

walleye1121 · Aug 22, 2005

I hunted the opener on the Pahvant. It is going to be a tough year down there. I knew it was going to be though after scouting it this year. But, I did find a few quality bucks. There were fewer hunters than the past two years. Just as many camps as normal but less hunters in the camps. Mostly road hunters anyway.
The deer herd is way down. And even worse there are few fawns.
I hope it bounces back.

Verticalslope · Aug 23, 2005

Hey walleye1121 were you hunting the North end or the South. I was on the South end and there more camps this year in that area but I agree it seemed there were more lazy hunters that didn't get too far off the road. Didn't bother me and my kids because my boy took his first buck with a bow. A nice heavy 3X2" that was 18" wide. Biggest buck we saw out of the two bucks in the area.

walleye1121 · Aug 29, 2005

We hunted the South end. I went back this weekend. It was still tough. We only saw a couple of small bucks. The people are starting to dissapear though. things might pick up.