Book Cliffs, South Mule Deer Hunting, Utah
Utah hunt unit · 1,291 sq mi
Premium — 10–19 points
The any legal weapon hunt, the only limited-entry hunt here, for a Utah resident, by the bonus points that drew reliably. 1 limited-entry hunt.
What hunting Book Cliffs, South is like
The Book Cliffs, South unit is mixed country with substantial steep ground, running from valley bottoms around 4,100 feet up to 9,500 feet on the summit. Cover shifts hard with elevation: sagebrush dominates the lower reaches, mid elevations split between sagebrush and conifer, and the higher country turns mostly to conifer with some aspen mixed in. Deer hunting here is limited entry only, built around bucks working off the summit as the fall progresses, and most hunters wind up putting the bulk of their effort in on foot even where roads exist.
Access runs off the Hastings Road, which leaves Green River on the east side of the river and follows it roughly 15 miles to a dead end near Rattlesnake Canyon; it's graded but has tight spots along the water worth watching in snow or ice. The Tushar Canyon road branches northeast off Hastings about 9 miles north of town and opens up the right and left forks of Tushar Canyon plus a bench loop reaching Coal, Horse, and Floy Canyons, while Coal Canyon Road cuts off Hastings right in Green River through alfalfa ground before climbing onto the cliffs. Horse and Floy Canyons are also reachable off the I-70 frontage road. About 95 percent of the unit sits on land generally open to public hunting, mostly BLM with a share of state trust land opened through a standing state access agreement covering most of it, plus a small slice of Wildlife Management Area ground — public access on paper, but the terrain and distances still make it a serious undertaking.
Deer here spend the year across a landscape where winter range and crucial winter range each cover 44 percent of the unit, with summer range and its crucial subset at 13 percent and yearlong range at 12 percent — evidence of how much of the unit sees seasonal use rather than where any given deer will be on a given day. Bucks work down off summer country toward winter range through the fall, and the hunt is built around intercepting that movement rather than a single fixed location.
Limited-entry buck deer (2026)
Limited entry is Utah's drawn buck hunt, managed for older bucks, with far fewer permits than the general season. It is drawn with bonus points: half the permits go to the applicants holding the most points, and the other half are drawn at random with one extra entry for every point held — so applicants below the reliable level do draw. A Utah resident may apply for only one limited-entry species a year.
| Season | Dates | Legal deer | Rut phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Any Legal Weapon | October 17 – October 25 | Buck | Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase, Early Pre-Rut / Migration Corridor Staging |
This band describes the Any Legal Weapon limited-entry buck deer hunt, the only one on this unit, for a Utah resident in the 2026 draw: the lowest bonus-point level that drew reliably. Half of Utah's limited-entry permits go to the applicants with the most bonus points and half are drawn at random, with an extra entry for each point, so applicants below this level can draw. Nonresidents can take substantially more points.
Any Legal Weapon · October 17 – October 25
This is the only buck deer season on the unit, an any-legal-weapon hunt running October 17 through October 25, and it lands during a stretch when bucks are growing steadily more nocturnal — the early fall migration and nocturnal buck phase gives way toward the end of the hunt to early pre-rut migration corridor staging, meaning deer that spent the summer up high start drifting toward their rutting ground as the days pass. Early in the season most bucks are still near their summer haunts, so glassing the country between summer range and the draws leading toward winter range pays off, especially as the hunt progresses. The bulk of the harvest comes at the mouths of Nash Wash, Cottonwood Canyon, and Hay Canyon, with Nash Wash seeing the heaviest pressure of the three. Much of the activity centers on public land bordering irrigated crop fields that draw deer down out of the canyons, and the road network in this stretch is good enough to get around, even though most of the actual hunting is done on foot. Any buck is legal on this permit, and hunters need to remember that permit holders cannot hunt on CWMUs anywhere on the unit.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 4,100–9,500 ft, typically around 5,700 ft
- Slope breakdown
- 43% gentle · 23% moderate · 27% steep · 7% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~1,231 sq mi
Habitat & cover
What grows here, by elevation. Each band adds to 100% on its own — these are shares of that band, not of the unit.
Lower elevations
- Sagebrush91%
- Other cover6%
- Grass and meadow3%
Mid elevations
- Sagebrush58%
- Conifer40%
- Other cover1%
Higher elevations
- Conifer66%
- Sagebrush29%
- Aspen4%
- Other cover1%
Cover classes from the USGS National Land Cover Database. “Other cover” is the remainder — bare ground, water, agriculture and developed land — left unnamed rather than guessed at.
Land & access
About 95% of Book Cliffs, South is public land a hunter can generally count on — BLM, State Trust Land and Wildlife Management Areas.
- BLM84%
- State Trust Land11%
- Wildlife Management Areas<1%
- military land<1%
- Unclassified ownership<1%
- Private4%
Most Utah State Trust Land is open to hunting under a standing state access agreement. Individual parcels can be leased or restricted, so check the parcel before planning around it.
Where deer live in the unit
Utah's statewide deer habitat mapping, by layer: how much of Book Cliffs, South each one covers. The layers overlap, so they do not add to 100%, and a layer that is small or missing here says nothing on its own about where deer are.
- Winter Range44%used in winter
- Crucial Winter Range44%the part of Winter Range considered essential to the herd — inside Winter Range, not added to it
- Summer Range13%used in summer
- Crucial Summer Range13%the part of Summer Range considered essential to the herd — inside Summer Range, not added to it
- Yearlong Range12%the only layer that means year-round use
Fall weather
- September — highs around 79°F, lows around 50°F
- October — highs around 64°F, lows around 38°F, about 0.3 in of snowfall
- November — highs around 50°F, lows around 27°F, about 1 in of snowfall
Book Cliffs, South deer hunting FAQ
Do I need bonus points to hunt deer on the Book Cliffs, South unit?
Points are not required to apply, but they matter for the odds. This unit's limited-entry any-legal-weapon hunt falls in the Premium band, where the most points reliably draw in half the permits — the other half are drawn at random with one extra entry per bonus point, so an applicant at any point level can draw, just not on a predictable schedule.
Is there a general-season buck hunt on this unit?
No. The Book Cliffs, South unit carries no general-season buck deer hunt; its buck hunting is limited entry only, drawn with bonus points rather than purchased over the counter.
Does any season here fall during the November rut?
No. The only buck season on the unit, the October 17-25 any-legal-weapon hunt, falls entirely outside the November rut.
How much of the unit is public land I can actually hunt?
About 95 percent of the unit, roughly 1,231 square miles, is generally open to public hunting — BLM ground, most state trust land under a standing access agreement, and a small share of Wildlife Management Area land. That's a large share on paper, but the steep, roadless stretches and long distances still make access something to plan around rather than take for granted.
Where should I focus if I only have a few access points to work with?
The heaviest deer concentrations and harvest happen at the mouths of Nash Wash, Cottonwood Canyon, Hay Canyon, and Bitter Creek, all reachable off I-70 exits, along with additional access at Floy Wash, Crescent Junction, Thompson, and Yellowcat. Nash Wash draws the most hunting pressure of the group.
What's the terrain like — is this a hike-in unit?
The unit is mixed, with substantial steep ground — gentle, moderate, steep, and rugged slopes are all present, and the mean slope falls in the steep band. Even with a decent network of access roads reaching into major canyons, most time in the field is spent on foot.
Data sources & methodology
- Utah Division of Wildlife Resources — Big game hunting — limited-entry, general-season and antlerless deer permits
- Utah DWR — What hunters should know for the 2026 deer and elk hunts — 2026 buck deer hunt dates and changes
- Utah DWR — Big Game Application Guidebook — how bonus points and the limited-entry draw work
- Utah DWR — Hunt Planner — unit boundaries, and the DWR's unit and biologist notes the written guide draws on
- Utah DWR — Supporting Utah's mule deer — mule deer habitat and seasonal range
- Utah Trust Lands Administration — Trust Lands & You — the hunter access agreement that opens most state trust land
- USGS / MRLC — National Land Cover Database — habitat and cover classes by elevation band
- USGS PAD-US — Protected Areas Database of the United States — land ownership and access
- Daymet daily climate, 1991–2020 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) — fall weather
- National Interagency Fire Center — wildfire perimeters — recent fires, their size and where they burned
Limited-entry draw difficulty is a qualitative band, not published odds — the note under the limited-entry seasons states exactly which hunt it describes. Land shares are separate, non-overlapping categories. Confirm current dates and rules in the Utah Big Game Field Regulations guidebook before you hunt. Unit data last updated September 28, 2026.