Cedar/Stansbury Mule Deer Hunting, Utah
Utah hunt unit · 2,222 sq mi
Hard — 3–5 points
The any legal weapon 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 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 Cedar/Stansbury is like
The Cedar/Stansbury unit is gentle and rolling country by any measure that matters for hunting it — the area breakdown runs 80% gentle, 12% moderate and 8% steep, with a mean slope that lands in the gentle band. Elevation ranges from a low around 4,200 feet up to 11,000 feet at the top, so there's real high country to climb into, but most of the ground a hunter will actually cover is open, rolling terrain rather than cliff and canyon. Sagebrush dominates the cover at every elevation band, with grass and meadow filling in more as elevation increases and a bit of riparian cover down low; timber only shows up in the higher elevation band.
A bit over half the unit, about 53%, is generally open to public hunting through a mix of BLM, National Forest and State Trust Land, with most of that trust land accessible thanks to a standing state access agreement (individual parcels can still be leased or restricted). That leaves a meaningful share of the unit off the table — roughly 31% is public ground closed to state-licensed hunting, split between military land, which is closed outright, and tribal land, which requires the tribe's own permission and license. The remaining 16% is private. Permit holders should also note that CWMU ground is off-limits regardless of tag type.
Two recent fires are worth knowing about before heading out. The Hastings fire burned about 26,000 acres on the unit's north side, and the Stookey fire burned about 13,000 acres on the southeast side — both are within their first year after burning this fall, meaning deer displaced by the fires are likely working the edges between burned and unburned ground rather than avoiding the area outright, and bare soil means flash flooding and slick, ashy footing are real risks after any heavy rain. The older Cedar Mountain One fire, on the northwest side, is five to eight years out and has grown back thick with brush and saplings tall enough to hide animals easily, with deadfall piling up as burned timber continues to fall. Check for current fire closures and restrictions before heading in. None of this unit's seasons — archery, muzzleloader, any legal weapon, or the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt — falls during the November rut.
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 | Moderate — 1–2 points | Summer Range / Bachelor Pattern, Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition |
| Muzzleloader | September 23 – October 1 | Buck | Moderate — 1–2 points | Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition, Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase |
| Any Legal Weapon | October 17 – October 25 | Buck | Hard — 3–5 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
Archery season opens in mid-August while bucks are still in velvet and running in small bachelor groups, a pattern that holds through much of the Summer Range / Bachelor Pattern phase before shifting into the Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition phase by early September. Summer scouting pays off more than any other single thing here — glass at first light to locate a buck, watch where he beds for the day, and either stalk him at midday or return to the same spot in the evening and next morning. Bucks feed heavily on forbs and browse and need very little water, so a small seep or a recent rainstorm can be enough to hold a buck nearby; look for bedded deer in shady pockets and on north-facing slopes. Once velvet sheds, habits stay similar but bucks may bed earlier and hold tight until after dark, so a buck that seems to vanish is usually still there in a nearby crevice or draw.
Muzzleloader · September 23 – October 1
By the muzzleloader hunt in late September, most bucks have shed velvet but are still keeping to the same shady bedding pattern from the archery season, tucked into shaded pockets and north-facing slopes through the heat of the day. Glassing at first light to find a buck and mark his bed, then closing the distance at midday while he's down, still works, and evening glassing sessions are often more useful for locating a buck to return to the next morning than for an evening stalk. This hunt also spans the start of the Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase, and by the tail end of the season bucks are noticeably harder to catch moving in daylight — most are still holding near the same ground they used through summer, so staying on that country rather than searching for new deer is the better bet.
Any Legal Weapon · October 17 – October 25
The any legal weapon hunt in late October falls squarely in the period when bucks are at their most nocturnal, deep into the Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase and pushing into the Early Pre-Rut / Migration Corridor Staging phase by the close of the season. Most bucks are still near their summer haunts early in the hunt, so continuing to work the same areas that produced sightings earlier in the fall is worthwhile. As the season winds down toward the end of October, some deer begin drifting toward rutting ground, so it's worth glassing the country that connects summer range to where deer will concentrate for the rut rather than assuming bucks will stay put.
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. | 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 is a limited-entry draw with its own bonus-point system, run entirely within the Early Pre-Rut / Migration Corridor Staging phase, when deer are beginning to shift toward their rutting grounds rather than sitting on summer patterns. The smart approach is to glass the transition ground between where bucks spent the summer and where they're headed for the rut rather than fixating on one spot. By late October and early November the weather has turned, with highs near 49°F and lows around 28°F and the first measurable snowfall of the fall — around half an inch for the month — which can help push deer movement and make tracking easier but also means dressing for real cold. This permit carries any-buck legal status, not a restriction to older-class animals, even though the hunt itself is managed with far fewer tags for maturity.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 4,200–11,000 ft, typically around 4,600 ft
- Slope breakdown
- 80% gentle · 12% moderate · 8% steep · 0% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~1,171 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
- Sagebrush62%
- Other cover26%
- Grass and meadow9%
- Riparian3%
Mid elevations
- Sagebrush53%
- Grass and meadow42%
- Other cover4%
Higher elevations
- Sagebrush56%
- Grass and meadow29%
- Conifer13%
- Other cover2%
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.
Recent fires
Wildfires in the last several seasons that burned a meaningful share of Cedar/Stansbury. Fire perimeters show where a fire burned, not how hot — and closures change through the year, so check current fire closures and restrictions before you go.
- Hastings fire, 2026 — about 26,000 acres in the unit (2%), mostly on its north side.
- Cedar Mountain One fire, 2018 — about 14,000 acres in the unit (1%), mostly on its northwest side.
- Stookey fire, 2026 — about 13,000 acres in the unit, mostly on its southeast side.
Fire perimeters from the National Interagency Fire Center.
Land & access
About 53% of Cedar/Stansbury is public land a hunter can generally count on — BLM, National Forest and State Trust Land. Another 31% is public land closed to state-licensed hunting — military land and tribal land.
- BLM44%
- National Forest5%
- State Trust Land4%
- military land30%
- tribal land1%
- Unclassified ownership<1%
- Private16%
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.
Tribal land requires the tribe's own permission and licence — a state deer permit is not valid there.
Where deer live in the unit
Utah's statewide deer habitat mapping, by layer: how much of Cedar/Stansbury 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 Range12%used in winter
- Crucial Winter Range10%the part of Winter Range considered essential to the herd — inside Winter Range, not added to it
- Transition Range6%used moving between summer and winter range
- Yearlong Range6%the only layer that means year-round use
- Summer Range1%used in summer
- Crucial Summer Range<1%the part of Summer Range considered essential to the herd — inside Summer Range, not added to it
Fall weather
- September — highs around 79°F, lows around 51°F
- October — highs around 64°F, lows around 39°F
- November — highs around 49°F, lows around 28°F, about 0.5 in of snowfall
Cedar/Stansbury deer hunting FAQ
Do I need preference points to draw a general-season buck tag on the Cedar/Stansbury unit?
No points are required to apply for any of the general-season hunts on this unit. Points simply improve standing in the draw — permits go first to the highest point holders, with random order inside each point level — so an applicant with zero points can still be drawn, just less reliably than someone with more points built up.
How many preference points does it take to draw the general-season rifle (any legal weapon) hunt here?
The any legal weapon hunt is the hardest of the three general-season options on this unit, with a Hard draw difficulty in the 3–5 preference point range for an adult Utah resident. The archery and muzzleloader hunts are easier to draw, both sitting in the Moderate range at 1–2 points.
What's the difference between the general-season hunts and the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt here?
General-season archery, muzzleloader, and any legal weapon hunts are drawn separately using preference points, with permits assigned mostly by points and random placement within a point level. The limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt is a completely separate draw using bonus points instead, where half the permits go to the highest point holders and half are drawn at random with extra entries per point — meaning an applicant at any point level can draw, though not reliably below the Premium 10–19 point band.
Which hunts on this unit fall during the November rut?
None of them. Archery, muzzleloader, any legal weapon, and the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt all fall before the Primary Rut phase begins in mid-November, so none of the seasons overlap the peak rutting period on this unit.
How much of the Cedar/Stansbury unit is public land I can actually hunt?
About 53% of the unit, roughly 1,171 square miles, is generally open to public hunting through BLM, National Forest, and State Trust Land, with most trust land accessible under a standing state access agreement. Another 31% is public ground that's closed to state-licensed hunting because it's military or tribal land, and the remaining 16% is private.
Are there other buck hunts on this unit besides the ones covered here?
Yes, the unit also has dedicated-hunter buck hunts in addition to the general-season and limited-entry options detailed on this page. Those hunts carry their own separate rules and seasons that aren't covered here.
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 29, 2026.