Pine Valley Dedicated Hunter

[ghunter34]

I have 4 points for dedicated hunter and should draw out this year for the Pine Valley Unit.

This will be my first year hunting deer down here in Southern Utah, I've always hunted closer to home in Northern Utah, but being down here at Dixie State for school I figured I might be able to get out more on dedicated if I chose a unit closer to here.

I dont know too much about the area. A few friends from around here have offered help and advice, plus I am dedicated to going out this summer scouting and searching for where to find the deer and what to expect from the unit.

Any advice or direction where to go and start hiking/scouting? Thanks everyone!

 

[deerkiller]

Pro tip: try using the search function. It’s kinda like google. College kids love google!

 

[Str8UpLegitHunting]

Call the local biologist in cedar city good luck.

 

[El Gringo]

Good luck getting anyone in Southern Utah to give up any info, and frankly I’d be skeptical if someone offered up a tidbit. That’s the most passionate community of buck hunters that I know of, and that’s one of their backyard units. It’s great Deer country. If you get out and scout, you’ll probably find some bucks.

Good luck

 

[Houndsman77]

You can find a 2 point in just about any hay field around there are a few good ones but far and few between I heard pine valley wilderness has great opportunities if u put in the effort.

 

[goforbroke]

What I have learned on year 4 of hunting down there. Search the internet and you will find where everyone else goes and not many big bucks. The guys that kill the big bucks put in time and keep tight lips. We have only found one buck over 150” and he happened to be in a random spot we stopped at for a break. Lots of country to explore. Good luck. I hope to find me a spot down there soon.

 

[buckhorn]

Get yourself a paper map of the hunt unit and highlight all the water sources you can find on that map.
Then take a drive and get familiar with the unit boundaries and the main roads that go through and learn the prominent landmarks and get a general lay of the land.
Then start finding the water sources you have highlighted on your maps and see if there’s good deer habitat near them. You might have use an Atv or
walk some
to get to the more isolated water. If you are seeing water, feed, cover and deer sign that is a good thing.
If the country looks good and you think you would like to hunt that kind of terrain then highlight that particular area for future reference. Spend as much time as you can doing this and you’ll narrow down the more likely places you would like to hunt.
If you meet people while you’re out scouting around don’t be afraid to talk to them. You can learn a lot by talking to folks like ranchers and tourist they may tell you if they’ve seen a nice buck in a certain area.
The deer will probably be in different areas at different times of year so when you get a few areas you like narrowed down you’re going to need to do some glassing to actually try to find the deer. Hopefully you have plenty of time to learn the unit and pre-scout to find the deer.

 

[BeDawg]

^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^**^^^^
We should copy and paste this advice on every where to go thread. Good info.

 

[ridgetops]

^^^^^^^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^**^^^^
We should copy and paste this advice on every where to go thread. Good info.

And to be fully effective, it needs to be a 3-5 year plan.

 

[buckhorn]

Yes!
The more time a person spends scouting and hunting a particular unit the more clues will be uncovered and knowledge gained.

 

[elktaker]

I have 4 points for dedicated hunter and should draw out this year for the Pine Valley Unit.

This will be my first year hunting deer down here in Southern Utah, I've always hunted closer to home in Northern Utah, but being down here at Dixie State for school I figured I might be able to get out more on dedicated if I chose a unit closer to here.

I dont know too much about the area. A few friends from around here have offered help and advice, plus I am dedicated to going out this summer scouting and searching for where to find the deer and what to expect from the unit.

Any advice or direction where to go and start hiking/scouting? Thanks everyone!

Personally I would hunt dedicated hunter closer to home. The advantage of dedicated is being able to scout and scout/hunt all the seasons so driving 4 hours down makes that a lot harder.

Also the tag numbers on Pine Valley and Zion are suppose to drop this year and it is possible only one person with the highest point will draw Pine Valley as dedicated (they talked about this on some of the online meetings they did this year).

I live on the Zion Unit next to Pine Valley. PV has a lot of public land and lots of really rugged areas that deer don't see many hunters. Zion on the other hand has little public land open to hunting but I draw a tag every year.

 

[ghunter34]

Personally I would hunt dedicated hunter closer to home. The advantage of dedicated is being able to scout and scout/hunt all the seasons so driving 4 hours down makes that a lot harder.

Also the tag numbers on Pine Valley and Zion are suppose to drop this year and it is possible only one person with the highest point will draw Pine Valley as dedicated (they talked about this on some of the online meetings they did this year).

I live on the Zion Unit next to Pine Valley. PV has a lot of public land and lots of really rugged areas that deer don't see many hunters. Zion on the other hand has little public land open to hunting but I draw a tag every year.

That’s exactly why I chose to put in for Dedicated in Pine Valley, as it is closer to where I live now and I’ll be able to scout and hunt all 4 season, rather than having to drive 4 hours up north to hunt where ‘home’ is.

 

[elktaker]

That’s exactly why I chose to put in for Dedicated in Pine Valley, as it is closer to where I live now and I’ll be able to scout and hunt all 4 season, rather than having to drive 4 hours up north to hunt where ‘home’ is.

I misread thought you were up north. I would never drive north to hunt general mule deer. You will be happy if you put in the time on pine valley.