You can kill a big buck on any given general unit in Utah. People do it but it is like winning the lottery.
If you want to do it consistently you have got to play the game of averages. Hunt every year and your odds will go up. This means Archery, or dedicated hunter. Archery is probably the best way IMHO to do it year after year. The deer are easy to spot. The typical archery hunter doesn't hike away form the road. So if you locate a buck away from the road you will usually have it two yourself for the whole hunt. Watch him for a day or so, pattern him, then move in and take him. Also on the bow hunt you will have first crack at any buck out their. If you don't like to shoot a bow or won't shoot a bow then go with a muzzle loader. You will have less competition and have the second crack at a good buck. Rifle hunters get sloppy thirds!
Play the odds
If you only have a 15 buck to 100 doe ratio you have got to assume the average deer is going to be one or two years old. You will have to go through a lot of bucks to find a good one on a unit like this. ?Needle in a haystack? Waste of time IMHO but people prove me wrong every year.
Southern Utah has a 20 plus buck to 100 does. So your chances are going to go up but it isn't going to be easy. You will have to go where no one else wants to go. You will have to hunt edges as I call them, edges of private property, edges of national parks, edges of something that allows these bucks to evade the standard Utah hunter. Best place in Utah on a general unit to get a mature deer with a rifle IMHO
When you get the buck to doe ratio closer to what you see on a Le unit you will see the quality go up and your chance at a better buck go up. The Bookcliffs are at 35 bucks to 100 doe?s I believe. Now you are getting somewhere the average age class might be three years old with a few older. The bow hunt is a slam dunk at a mature deer here if you can shoot out to 40-50 yards. The deer are near the roads, out all day and IMHO are pretty stupid. The rifle hunt is about the same thing easy access at deer on the winter range. The muzzy hunt here is the worst one IMHO. The deer are in the tick stuff.
The Wasatch front is 40 bucks to 100 does. Average age is 3.5-4.5 your odds are pretty good you will see a mature buck. But you will have to work extremely hard here. You will have to outsmart the average hunter because they will also be stalking the same deer you are. The good bucks are nocturnal or only come out at the last few minutes of light or the first few minutes of light. They are hunted hard for 4 months so they won't stick around if they smell, see, or hear you like they will on the Bookcliffs.
The henneries are 58 to 100 does. If you can't kill a mature buck on this unit you must be blind.
To kill a good buck on a general unit you better be proficient with your weapon of choice, practice, practice, and more practice. You will only get one chance. If you miss you might never see the buck again, unless it is in the back of someone?s truck!
Disclaimer:
All of what I have said is from my own personally experiences. They are my own opinions. Their for I am right LOL
Archery is a year round commitment!!