Nine Mile Mule Deer Hunting, Utah
Utah hunt unit · 2,575 sq mi
Moderate — 1–2 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 Nine Mile is like
The Nine Mile unit is mixed country with substantial steep ground, running from around 4,000 feet along the low benches up to 10,200 feet on the high plateau, with most of the unit sitting near 6,300 feet. The core problem hunters face here is that the best summer and fall habitat at the higher elevations is mostly in private hands, so the public ground tends to sit at the fringes — small parcels surrounded by private land in places like Patmos Ridge, or larger blocks like the Cold Springs Wildlife Management Area near Bruin Point. Sagebrush dominates the lower and mid elevations, giving way to conifer cover and some aspen higher up, and finding public access to that higher cover is the main strategic puzzle on this unit.
Access comes from two main roads. The Nine Mile Canyon road runs off SR6 in Wellington and reaches Minnie Maud Canyon, lower Argyle Canyon, Harmon Canyon, and the Cottonwood and Cedar Ridges. The Bruin Point road runs off SR123 in the town of Sunnyside and reaches the Cold Springs WMA and the Patmos Ridge area, but it is impassible in winter. About 69% of the unit — roughly 1,779 square miles — is generally open to public hunting across BLM, State Trust Land, National Forest, and Wildlife Management Areas, with most Trust Land parcels open under a standing state access agreement, though individual parcels can still be leased or restricted. A separate 5.8% is tribal land, which is closed to state-licensed hunting and requires the tribe's own permission. The remaining quarter of the unit is private.
Deer on the Tavaputs Plateau side of the unit tend to migrate east toward the Green River for winter, while deer on the western side drift southwest toward the foothills near Price, including the Price Airport, Coal Creek, and Soldier Creek areas. Through the fall, movement off the high private ground onto public parcels tends to depend heavily on weather and snow.
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 |
| Muzzleloader | September 23 – October 1 | Buck | Easy — often 0 points | Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition, Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase |
| Early Any Legal Weapon Its own permit and draw, separate from the later any-legal-weapon hunt. | October 7 – October 11 | Buck | Moderate — 1–2 points | Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase |
| Any Legal Weapon | October 17 – October 25 | Buck | Moderate — 1–2 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
Through the archery season bucks are still working through summer patterns, feeding on forbs and browse and bedding in shade through the heat of the day, with velvet giving way in the middle of the season. Glass at first light to locate a buck, mark where he beds, then work in on him during the middle of the day or watch him again in the evening and return the next morning. Most deer are still up on top of the mountain during this stretch, with essentially no migration yet, so the summer haunts around the Cold Springs WMA, Patmos Ridge, and the Anthro subunit's Nutter's Ridge and Jeep Trail Ridge are worth the scouting effort. Public land is scarce and scattered here, so plan routes around the access points off Bruin Point and Nine Mile Canyon rather than assuming open ground nearby.
Muzzleloader · September 23 – October 1
By the muzzleloader season bucks have shed velvet and settled into steadier patterns, though as the days shorten into October they start becoming more nocturnal, spending more of the daylight hours bedded. Little migration typically shows up yet, so hunting still centers on the same summer-use country — Cold Springs WMA and Bruin Point, Upper Patmos Ridge and Range Creek, and the transitional sagebrush country of Harmon Canyon, Prickly Pear Canyon, and the Cottonwood and Cedar Ridges. A stretch of poor weather tends to move deer and improve hunting, while a mild spell keeps them tucked high and the hunting slow. On the Anthro side, Nutter's Ridge, Jeep Trail Ridge, Wire Fence Ridge, Wells Draw, and Cottonwood Ridge remain the go-to public pockets, though deer numbers there run low.
Early Any Legal Weapon · October 7 – October 11
The early any legal weapon hunt falls in a window when bucks are still largely nocturnal and holding on their summer range rather than beginning any real transition — this mid-October rifle hunt catches deer before the later migration typically starts. The smart play is to focus on public land above 7,000 feet, since deer at this point are more likely to still be up high rather than moving toward winter ground. On the Range Creek side that means the public slivers on Patmos Ridge along with Cold Springs Ridge and Cottonwood Ridge; Anthro Mountain has public ground too but historically carries lower deer densities, in part because of the conservative harvest on the surrounding private land.
Any Legal Weapon · October 17 – October 25
By the time the any legal weapon hunt opens in mid-to-late October, bucks are still shaking off their nocturnal patterns from earlier in the month, but toward the back half of this hunt some begin drifting toward the country between their summer range and where they'll eventually rut, so it pays to glass the ground in between. Deer also tend to push onto transitional habitat by midweek during this hunt, and a snowstorm can concentrate them noticeably on the low benches along Airport Road, Coal Creek, and Soldier Creek — mild weather, on the other hand, tends to keep the hunting slow. The reliable public pockets carry over from the earlier hunts: Cold Springs WMA and Bruin Point, Upper Patmos Ridge and Range Creek, Harmon and Prickly Pear Canyons, and the Cottonwood and Cedar Ridges, plus the Anthro-side ridges for those willing to work lower densities.
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 runs into cooling November weather, with highs near 48°F, lows near 25°F, and modest snowfall, and it falls in the window when bucks are staging ahead of the rut rather than in it, so glassing the ground between summer range and the rutting areas is still the right call. This is also when deer meaningfully start dropping in elevation, with much of that winter ground unfortunately sitting on tribal and private land — but the payoff of this later date is that some bucks pushed off high private ground on the Range Creek side filter onto public parcels like Harmon Canyon, Cottonwood Ridge, Cold Springs Ridge, Cedar Ridge, and lower Range Creek. The benches north and east of Price along Airport Road and near the mouths of Coal and Soldier Creeks can also hold deer at this time, but only in real numbers if snow has already pushed them down from the 5,500 to 6,500 foot elevations there. This is a limited-entry permit drawn separately from the general season, using bonus points rather than preference points, and it is managed for older bucks even though any buck is legal to take.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 4,000–10,200 ft, typically around 6,300 ft
- Slope breakdown
- 49% gentle · 25% moderate · 20% steep · 6% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~1,779 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
- Sagebrush56%
- Other cover20%
- Grass and meadow17%
- Conifer3%
- Riparian2%
Mid elevations
- Sagebrush67%
- Conifer27%
- Grass and meadow3%
- Other cover3%
Higher elevations
- Conifer55%
- Sagebrush34%
- Aspen9%
- 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.
Land & access
About 69% of Nine Mile is public land a hunter can generally count on — BLM, State Trust Land, National Forest and Wildlife Management Areas. Another 6% is public land closed to state-licensed hunting — tribal land.
- BLM55%
- State Trust Land7%
- National Forest6%
- Wildlife Management Areas<1%
- tribal land6%
- Unclassified ownership<1%
- Private25%
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 Nine Mile 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 Range48%used in winter
- Summer Range15%used in summer
- Crucial Summer Range15%the part of Summer Range considered essential to the herd — inside Summer Range, not added to it
- Crucial Winter Range15%the part of Winter Range considered essential to the herd — inside Winter Range, not added to it
- Yearlong Range15%the only layer that means year-round use
- Transition Range<1%used moving between summer and winter range
Fall weather
- September — highs around 76°F, lows around 48°F
- October — highs around 62°F, lows around 37°F, about 0.1 in of snowfall
- November — highs around 48°F, lows around 25°F, about 1.1 in of snowfall
Nine Mile deer hunting FAQ
Do I need preference points to draw a general-season buck tag on the Nine Mile unit?
No points are required to apply. The archery and muzzleloader hunts draw easily, often at zero points, while the two any-legal-weapon hunts run a bit tighter and typically need one to two points to draw reliably, though the draw order is random within any given point level, so an applicant with fewer points can still fill one of those slots.
How does the general season draw work compared to the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt?
The general-season archery, muzzleloader, and any-legal-weapon hunts are drawn using preference points, with permits going first to the highest point holders and a random order within each point level — there is no random half set aside. The limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt is a completely separate draw using bonus points, where half the permits go to the highest point holders and the other half are drawn at random with extra entries for bonus points held, meaning an applicant at any point level can draw that half.
Which hunts on the Nine Mile unit fall during the November rut?
None of them. The archery, muzzleloader, early any legal weapon, and any legal weapon general seasons all fall before the rut, and the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt ends in early November, before the primary rut phase begins in mid-November.
How much of the Nine Mile unit is public land I can actually hunt?
About 69% of the unit, or roughly 1,779 square miles, is generally open to public hunting across BLM, State Trust Land, National Forest, and Wildlife Management Area ground. An additional 5.8% is tribal land that is closed to state-licensed hunters, and about a quarter of the unit is private.
What kind of draw odds does the limited-entry late muzzleloader hunt on Nine Mile carry?
That hunt draws in the Premium band, meaning 10 to 19 bonus points has drawn reliably for a Utah resident in recent years. Because half the permits are set aside for a random drawing with extra entries per bonus point, applicants with fewer points can still draw, just not with the same reliability as those in the banded range.
Is access on the Nine Mile unit easy once I find public land?
Not necessarily. Much of the public ground sits in scattered parcels at the fringes of the better summer and fall habitat, often surrounded by private land, and roads like the Bruin Point route are impassible in winter. Public ownership on this unit is a starting point for planning a hunt, not a guarantee of straightforward access to deer.
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.