Zion Unit

Deer1975

Active Member
Messages
376
Just wanted to see if anyone on here would share a little info on the LE late muzzy hunt. I don't have a tag yet, but I have 12 points going into next year and thinking about burning them next year on the unit. I have planned a trip down there next week and would just like some general info. Is the lowest country better or should I spend my time up higher? I realize there is a lot of private ground in the area and have the hunt maps to help. PM's are welcome also. Thanks .
 
It can be good. Depends on how well you know the unit.
On the East side of the unit, look along highway 9 and south of there to the Az. border.
On the west side, within a mile or two of I-15 north the Browse exit, all the way to Cedar city.







Proud member of the Wolfpack!
 
Thanks for the replies and the PM's. We ended up spending two days on the Zion near the sand dunes. We seen a lot of deer and there were tracks everywhere in the sand. The rut was non existent from what we seen. We did see some decent bucks but nothing I would burn my points on at the moment. Seen a very nice desert big horn roaming around on the rocks as well.
The next two days we spent over on the Paunsy. We ended up getting there later in the afternoon and after talking to a couple ranchers I was even wondering if we were going to see a deer. We couldn't see as many tracks in the sand like the Zion. And the water holes didn't have much either. Finally we found the deer and not as many as I would expect. Even spotted a pretty nice bull all alone wandering around by himself. Seen quite a few management bucks, but still nothing that I seen would I burn my points on. I might hit up the Zion again around turkey day and see if the rut action is on over there by then. We did see some rut action on the Paunsy. A lot of swollen neck bucks some were pushing does while others were not.
 
Where were you at on the paunsy we just got back from there and seen a lot of deer and hundreds of tracks around water holes
 
We were up by bald knoll area. I really wasn't sure where to look. I haven't been on the unit since I was a kid cutting Christmas trees with my dad.
 
Most likely then you were to high up,the deer we hunted were way down lower in bigger numbers
 
Zion late could be a great hunt (weather dependent)

The Zion unit has a higher buck to doe ratio than the Henerys. If the snow forces the bucks to the winter range it could produce huge bucks during the late mz. There is a reason mossy oaks often guides the governor or sportsmans tag on the winter range of the Zion unit (but this is typically late December into January if they found a buck to target).

The reason, private ground and Zion NP and very little huntable public land. You want to hope for snow and look low in the rut/winter range. There is very little up high for public land to hunt and gets overrun in the general deer and elk hunts. I hunt the general bull on the Zion unit and only have seen a handful of 160 to 180" class deer and they got pushed onto private after the hunts begin.

But come rut if it snows and pushes them down, you can expect to find some 200" bucks low if you hunt hard.

They need to push these tags back another week or two. I am not sure I would drop 12 pts to hope it snows, but I only have 4.
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos
Back
Top Bottom