Central Utah Deer

Bev42 · Nov 2, 2004

I was curious as to who had any success in Central Utah. I shot a 24 inch wide 4x5 up Provo Canyon on opening morning in about four feet of snow. I saw about 15 bucks and tons of does. There were a lot of hunters, but all were too lazy to hike. I was the only guy that hiked up the mountain and I guess I was rewarded. The road hunters did slaughter the 2-points though.

MulieCrazy · Nov 2, 2004

I got a 20" 4 point in the strawberry area. my first 4 point. saw ALOT of 4 points taken in the area, hope they left me one for next year!

I heard of a 27" and a 29 1/2 taken off of Maple Mtn. a 33" taken out of starvation and a 33" taken on the top of Timp. any other huge ones shot this year?

Jake_Sorensen · Nov 2, 2004

I know someone that shot a 34" 4 point out side of Heber it was in group of 6 bucks, he shot the biggest one and the smallest one got shot by one of his friends and it was a 26" 4 point. and then I know their group got a couple 3 points.

190MuleyHunter · Nov 3, 2004

I deemed Central Utah to be buckless! I repeat, there are only does and fawns in central Utah. And plenty of them at that. All those stories you've heard are just resurfacing from years past. I spent 5 days hunting bucks in central Utah from north to south borders to find nothing but does and fawns. Oh and 6 dinks but those don't count.

I was on top of Maple, I was on top of Loafer, I on top of Chicken Creek, I was down low on Apple tree springs. I was high, I was low, I plowed through the snow, I scowered the desert, and I dug through the mud. I was in the truck and I was hiking for hours and hours with blisters. And still made it back in time for my wife to have a baby last Thursday in the early morning hours of 1am. After that I still went out looking for stupid bucks that aren't there.

This Utah hunting is for the birds, I mean the filthy rich!

Bev42 · Nov 3, 2004

Wow 190MuleyHunter, perhaps I should pack you on my back and show you where the bucks are. As a side note, my uncle shot a heavy, tall 3x4 about 23 inches wide on Timp. and a friend shot a 20 inch wide 4x4 just above springville. I think if you combined all of our incomes we still couldn't afford a guided hunt.

Foreman4x4 · Nov 3, 2004

I saw nine bucks in the central region in less than 6 hours of actual hunting time. All of the bucks were seen over the second weekend. Granted, seven were two points, but we did see a decent 3x3 and maybe a 20" 4x4.

I filled my Bookcliff's ML tag, so I was trying to get my sixteen year old daughter a buck on the rifle hunt. She had plenty of opportunities, just couldn't get a buck to cooperate and stand still long enough. Gonna have to do a little more work with her in the off-season to help her learn to find them in the scope.

Well worth the price of admission and a good time was had by all despite coming home empty handed.

rost495 · Nov 3, 2004

Foreman4x4

I suspect you know this, but the best way to teach a scope is to tell them to stare with both eyes as hard as they can at teh deer never taking eyes off deer and bringing scope into view. AS long as you never un focus from the deer IE staring hard at it, once the view comes into the scope you'll be (should be) looking at the deer. Its one of the hardest things for the new shooters to learn as youth, in my opinion.

Jeff

borntohunt · Nov 3, 2004

Bev42 you from Springville? Check your private mail box!

borntohunt

Bev42 · Nov 3, 2004

Hey borntohunt, I sent you an email, let me know if you got it.

2_Point · Nov 3, 2004

I passed on bucks everyday. The biggest was a 27-29" three point and quiet a few 3 year old four points. I would guess that I saw between 40-50 different bucks during the hunt. I did see one great 170-180 buck, but I couldn't get close enough. It was a banner year for most people. I wonder how many good deer will be left for next year?? It was a true slaughter.

190MuleyHunter · Nov 4, 2004

I know hunting has an element of luck involved but man, I must really have bad luck. I can find deer, just not bucks. Neither me or my huntin buddy are new at this hunt thing. We've been at if for a long time. And that includes several seasons in Utah. 5+. There must be some "seceret" about Utah we haven't figured out.

Smokepole · Nov 4, 2004

My daughter was able to connect on a 2.5 year old 4x4. She got it early in the morning mid week when no one else was around on the mountain. The buck was feeding and didn't even know we were there. We seen a number of bucks opening day, but they were either too far away, running or over by other hunters.

Smokepole

DallanC · Nov 4, 2004

The one my wife got, it was Sunday evening opening weekend. The raid stopped late in the afternoon and it warmed up a tad and come evening, deer were litterally coming out of the woodwork. Seems every ridge and valley I glassed I saw deer of some sort. Spotted her buck about 1.5 miles away and we drove over to the hillside it was near and it walked out right in front of us, 200 yards away.

Other days / mornings, the rain kept most stuff bedded. We found the most deer in low elevations in thick oak brush. The rut was most definitely going on during the opening weekend.

-DallanC

DallanC · Nov 6, 2004

>I saw nine bucks in the
>central region in less than
>6 hours of actual hunting
>time. All of the bucks
>were seen over the second
>weekend. Granted, seven were two
>points, but we did see
>a decent 3x3 and maybe
>a 20" 4x4.

You hunt where I think you hunted? There where ALOT of deer around in that area. Its very close to where my wife got her nice 4pt.

-DallanC

ADDICT · Nov 6, 2004

We saw tons of bucks all year. The deep snow up high mixed things up a bit but we missed some great deer during archery and muzzleloader, The best thing is that I know no one killed any of the good bucks we saw early in our canyon. There's some hogs up there and they'll only get bigger.