Cache Mule Deer Hunting, Utah
Utah hunt unit · 1,833 sq mi
Easy — often 0 points
The restricted rifle hunt, for an adult Utah resident, by the preference points that drew reliably in the 2026 draw. Each general-season weapon is its own permit with its own draw — the table below rates every one. The muzzleloader and rifle hunts here are restricted-weapons hunts; archery is not restricted.
The unit also has a limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt, a separate draw that uses bonus points. Its dedicated-hunter buck hunt is separate and not covered here.
What hunting Cache is like
The Cache unit runs from valley floor near 4,200 feet up to 10,000 feet, and most of the ground in between is rolling country with some steeper breaks rather than sheer terrain — 55% of the unit is gentle and 29% moderate, with steep and rugged ground making up the remaining 16%. That mix means a lot of the unit is walkable, and hunters willing to work the higher country from Tony Grove through the Sinks and south to Hardware Ranch tend to find more deer concentrated there. Deer can turn up anywhere across the unit, and in dry years they cluster tighter around remaining water while wet years scatter them out, so pre-season scouting matters more than any single spot.
Access comes primarily through Logan Canyon, Blacksmith Fork Canyon, Temple Canyon, Franklin Basin, Sinks, Temple Fork, Left Hand Fork and Right Hand Fork, and ATV riders should check current Forest Service and BLM travel plans before heading out. About 47% of the unit — roughly 862 square miles — is generally open to public hunting across National Forest, BLM, State Trust Land and Wildlife Management Areas, with most state trust parcels open under a standing state access agreement, though individual parcels can still be leased or restricted. Private land covers about half the unit, so written permission is worth lining up ahead of time, and a further 3.3% is unclassified ownership. Camping is allowed on the Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area, with Forest Service and BLM sites available elsewhere in the Logan District and West Desert District.
Through summer and early fall deer hold in the country where they spent the warm months, growing progressively harder to catch moving during daylight as October wears on. By late October some animals begin drifting toward rutting ground, and by the late-season hunt deer are known to push into the Crawford Range as snow builds up to the north in Wyoming.
General-season buck deer — drawn with preference points (2026)
General-season buck deer in Utah is drawn, and each weapon is its own permit with its own draw. It uses preference points: permits go first to the applicants holding the most points, in random order within each point level. Every year an application does not draw earns a point, and drawing a permit uses them all. A fifth of the permits are set aside for youth hunters. Applying here does not affect limited-entry deer bonus points, so a hunter can apply for both in the same year.
| Season | Dates | Legal deer | Draw (adult resident) | Rut phase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | August 15 – September 11 | Buck | Easy — often 0 points | Summer Range / Bachelor Pattern, Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition |
| Restricted Muzzleloader Restricted muzzleloader equipment only: flintlock, wheellock, matchlock, musket-cap or percussion-cap ignition (no 209 primers), open or peep sights, no scope. | September 23 – October 1 | Buck | Easy — often 0 points | Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition, Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase |
| Restricted Rifle Restricted rifle equipment only: open or peep sights, no scope, and not semiautomatic. | October 17 – October 25 | Buck | Easy — often 0 points | Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase, Early Pre-Rut / Migration Corridor Staging |
Draw bands are for an adult Utah resident in the 2026 draw: the lowest preference-point level that drew each hunt reliably. There is no random half in this draw, so hunters well below a band should expect to wait.
Archery · August 15 – September 11
The archery hunt opens in mid-August while bucks are still in velvet and holding in loose bachelor groups, a pattern that carries through the Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition phase into September. Deer can be anywhere on the unit at this time of year, dispersed widely in wet years and drawn tighter around remaining water in dry ones, so scouting ahead of the opener to find a concentration is worth the time. Higher elevations from the Tony Grove area through the Sinks and south toward Hardware Ranch tend to hold more deer, and once a buck is patterned, the routine of glassing him into a morning bed and either stalking midday or watching him again at last light carries through even after velvet sheds. A buck that seems to vanish from a hillside is usually still there, tucked into a nearby crevice or draw rather than gone.
Restricted Muzzleloader · September 23 – October 1
By the time the restricted muzzleloader hunt opens in late September, bucks are finishing the shed of velvet and easing into the Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase, growing harder to catch moving in daylight as the days go on. Most are still holding near the same ground they used through summer, so the glassing patterns built up beforehand keep paying off — first light to find and bed a buck, a midday move on him, and evenings spent watching rather than closing the distance. October brings highs down into the upper 50s and lows near freezing with a touch of snowfall, not enough to change tactics but a signal that the nocturnal shift is underway. Only flintlock, wheellock, matchlock, musket-cap or percussion-cap ignition is legal, with no 209 primers and no scope, so equipment needs to be squared away before heading out.
Restricted Rifle · October 17 – October 25
The restricted rifle hunt runs from mid to late October, spanning the tail of the Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase into the Early Pre-Rut / Migration Corridor Staging phase, and bucks are at their most nocturnal through this stretch. Most are still found near their summer range early in the hunt, but toward the back end deer can start drifting toward rutting ground, so it pays to glass the country between where bucks spent the summer and where they're headed for the rut rather than fixating on a single spot. Conditions stay similar to the muzzleloader hunt, with highs in the upper 50s and lows near freezing. Only open or peep sights are allowed on a non-semiautomatic rifle, with no scope permitted.
Limited-entry late muzzleloader 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late Muzzleloader A separate limited-entry permit, drawn with bonus points. Not a restricted-weapons hunt. | October 28 – November 5 | Buck | Early Pre-Rut / Migration Corridor Staging |
This band describes the Late Muzzleloader 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.
Late Muzzleloader · October 28 – November 5
The late muzzleloader hunt falls entirely within the Early Pre-Rut / Migration Corridor Staging phase in late October and early November, when deer are on the move toward rutting ground rather than settled on summer range. Bucks can be anywhere across the unit at this stage, dispersed or concentrated around water depending on how wet the year has been, but as snow builds up to the north in Wyoming, deer push into the Crawford Range, and glassing the ground between summer range and that staging country is the way to connect. November brings a real cooldown, with highs dropping into the low 40s, lows near 19°F, and around 5 inches of snowfall for the month, enough to speed up movement and to mean a harvested animal needs to be handled and gotten to town promptly. This is a separate limited-entry permit drawn with bonus points rather than a restricted-weapons hunt, so equipment isn't limited the way it is on the general muzzleloader season.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 4,200–10,000 ft, typically around 6,500 ft
- Slope breakdown
- 55% gentle · 29% moderate · 15% steep · 2% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~862 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
- Other cover76%
- Sagebrush16%
- Riparian6%
- Grass and meadow2%
Mid elevations
- Sagebrush57%
- Other cover20%
- Aspen8%
- Conifer8%
- Riparian3%
- Grass and meadow3%
Higher elevations
- Sagebrush45%
- Conifer29%
- Aspen23%
- Grass and meadow3%
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 47% of Cache is public land a hunter can generally count on — National Forest, BLM, State Trust Land and Wildlife Management Areas.
- National Forest29%
- BLM12%
- State Trust Land4%
- Wildlife Management Areas2%
- Unclassified ownership3%
- Private50%
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.
“Unclassified ownership” means the source records no owner. It is not known to be public or private.
Where deer live in the unit
Utah's statewide deer habitat mapping, by layer: how much of Cache 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.
- Summer Range42%used in summer
- Crucial Summer Range42%the part of Summer Range considered essential to the herd — inside Summer Range, not added to it
- Winter Range27%used in winter
- Crucial Winter Range25%the part of Winter Range considered essential to the herd — inside Winter Range, not added to it
- Yearlong Range9%the only layer that means year-round use
Fall weather
- September — highs around 71°F, lows around 38°F
- October — highs around 58°F, lows around 28°F, about 0.5 in of snowfall
- November — highs around 42°F, lows around 19°F, about 5 in of snowfall
Cache deer hunting FAQ
Do I need preference points to hunt deer on the Cache unit?
No points are required to apply for any of the Cache unit's general-season buck hunts. Archery, restricted muzzleloader and restricted rifle all draw easily, often with zero points, though building points still improves standing in years with more applicants than permits. Points earn priority within the draw rather than serving as a requirement to apply.
How many points does it take to draw the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt on the Cache unit?
The Late Muzzleloader hunt sits in the Premium band, with 10–19 bonus points being the level that has drawn reliably for residents. Half of the permits are set aside for the applicants with the most bonus points, and the other half are drawn at random with one extra entry per point, so an applicant below that band can still draw a tag, just not reliably. This is a separate draw from the general-season hunts and uses bonus points rather than preference points.
What's the difference between the general-season hunts and the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt here?
The general-season archery, restricted muzzleloader and restricted rifle hunts are each their own preference-point draw with an easy draw difficulty, and any buck is legal on all three. The Late Muzzleloader hunt is a separate limited-entry draw using bonus points instead, with far fewer permits and a much steeper Premium draw band, though it still allows taking any buck rather than restricting antler points. Applying for the general-season hunts has no effect on limited-entry bonus points, so both can be applied for in the same year.
Which Cache unit hunts fall during the November rut?
None of the Cache unit's deer hunts reach into the November rut. Archery, restricted muzzleloader, restricted rifle and the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt all close before the Primary Rut phase begins on November 11, with the muzzleloader hunt ending closest to it on November 5.
How much of the Cache unit is public land I can count on hunting?
About 47% of the unit, roughly 862 square miles, is generally open to public hunting across National Forest, BLM, State Trust Land and Wildlife Management Areas. Most state trust parcels are open under a standing access agreement, though individual parcels can still be leased or restricted, so having open ground on paper doesn't make every acre a sure thing to walk onto. Private land covers about half the unit, and a further 3.3% is unclassified ownership that isn't confirmed as public or private.
Are the muzzleloader and rifle seasons on the Cache unit restricted-weapon hunts?
Yes. The general-season muzzleloader hunt allows only flintlock, wheellock, matchlock, musket-cap or percussion-cap ignition with open or peep sights and no scope, while the general-season rifle hunt requires open or peep sights, no scope, and a non-semiautomatic action. The general-season archery hunt and the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt are not part of this equipment restriction. Hunters should check the current year's field regulations before heading out, since equipment that doesn't meet these rules isn't legal for that season.
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
Draw difficulty is a qualitative band, not published odds — the notes under each season table state exactly which hunts the bands describe. 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.