Beaver, East Elk Hunting, Utah
Utah hunt unit · 799 sq mi
Elite — 20+ points
The easiest of the main limited-entry hunts here (Archery) for a Utah resident, by the bonus points that drew reliably. The other main hunts take more. The late archery hunt, a specialty hunt with few applicants, draws far easier: Very hard — 6–9 points. 6 limited-entry hunts, plus a multiseason permit; 3 of them during the September rut.
What hunting Beaver, East is like
The Beaver, East unit is big ridge-and-canyon country, with steep drainages cutting between long ridgelines. By area the ground runs 32% gentle, 43% moderate, 24% steep and 1% rugged, and the unit's mean slope lands in the steep band overall — so while much of it is walkable, the canyon country in between the ridges demands real effort on foot. Roads and ATV trails reach a lot of the ridges and canyons, but there are also plenty of pockets where a hunter can get away from vehicle traffic and into foot-only ground. Pressure is heaviest around the opening of each hunt and eases noticeably after the first weekend.
Access runs largely off Highway 153 out of Beaver, with established campgrounds along it and numerous pull-off camping spots scattered across the range. Big Johns Flat and Big Flat offer plenty of road access and camping; Kents Lake is a popular camping area but requires hiking off the road to find solitude. Several other access points — Rainbow Mine, Cottonwood Creek, City Creek Peak, Lebaron Reservoir, Mumford Reservoir, Bakers Canyon, Briggs Ridge, Shingle Creek Meadows, North Creek and Manderfield — range from limited road access to gravel-road country, with Manderfield's flatter ground bordering private property. Roads and ATV trails are managed under Forest Service travel plans, so trail legality should be checked before riding. About 87% of the unit 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; the remaining ground is private, concentrated in the Manderfield area.
Fire has reshaped part of the unit recently. The Cottonwood fire burned roughly 97,000 acres through the middle of the unit and is in its first fall since burning, while the Silver King fire on the northeast side, and the Thompson Ridge and Little Twist fires on the south side, are two to four seasons old and now regrowing. Elk are drawn to the older burns' new grass and brush, especially early and late in the day, and will also move through the newer Cottonwood burn between patches of standing timber. Fire closures and restrictions should be checked before heading out.
Limited-entry bull elk (2026)
Limited entry is Utah's drawn bull hunt, managed for older bulls, 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 elk | Rut phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | August 15 – September 15 | Bull | Late Summer / Velvet, Pre-Rut Transition, Rut Onset, Primary Rut |
| Early Rifle (any legal weapon) | September 16 – September 20 | Bull | Primary Rut |
| Muzzleloader | September 21 – October 2 | Bull | Primary Rut, Late Rut / Early Post-Rut |
| Mid-season Rifle (any legal weapon) | October 3 – October 15 | Bull | Late Rut / Early Post-Rut |
| Late Rifle (any legal weapon) | November 7 – November 15 | Bull | Migration Transition |
| Late Archery | November 28 – December 13 | Bull | Migration Transition, Winter |
| Multiseason Usable in this unit's limited-entry archery, early rifle, muzzleloader, mid-season rifle and late rifle hunts; the dates span all of them. Not valid in the late archery hunt. | August 15 – November 15 | Bull | — |
This band describes the easiest of the unit's main limited-entry bull hunts (Archery) for a Utah resident in the 2026 draw: the lowest bonus-point level that drew reliably. The late archery hunt, a specialty hunt with few applicants, draws far easier (Very hard — 6–9 points). 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. Other weapons and seasons, and nonresidents, can take substantially more points. The band says nothing about the general-season over-the-counter hunt, which needs no points.
Archery · August 15 – September 15
Archery opens in mid-August while bulls are still finishing out the Late Summer and Velvet phase and easing through the Pre-Rut Transition, then carries through the Rut Onset and into the Primary Rut by mid-September. Early on, bulls are shedding velvet and holding close to summer ground, so sitting unmarked springs or glassing for a stalk works well. Most hunters work the higher elevations around Big Johns Flat and Big Flat, where elk numbers are good and water is plentiful on the mountain, and hiking the surrounding canyons puts distance between a hunter and the crowd. The recently burned northern part of the unit is worth a look too, since regrowing vegetation there is pulling in elk.
Early Rifle (any legal weapon) · September 16 – September 20
This short rifle window falls squarely in the Primary Rut, so bulls are actively tending cows at the higher elevations. Big Johns Flat and Big Flat remain the go-to areas, holding large numbers of elk, and the canyons around them offer a way to hike away from other hunters. Water is not a limiting factor on the mountain, though the springs found while hiking are often unmarked and easy to miss. The burned northern country continues to draw elk into its new growth and is worth checking alongside the traditional high-elevation spots.
Muzzleloader · September 21 – October 2
Muzzleloader spans the tail of the Primary Rut into the Late Rut and Early Post-Rut phase, so some breeding activity carries into the first days before tapering off. Hunters tend to shift into the canyons and draws surrounding the high country rather than the open flats themselves, still centered on the Big Johns Flat and Big Flat areas where elk concentrate. The unmarked springs scattered through the hills are especially useful if conditions turn hot and dry. The northern burn scars remain a draw for elk feeding on new growth and are worth working into a route.
Mid-season Rifle (any legal weapon) · October 3 – October 15
By the mid-season rifle hunt the rut has moved into its Late Rut and Early Post-Rut phase, and breeding activity has largely wound down — mature bulls tend to go solitary and harder to locate, while any remaining rutting behavior usually involves smaller bulls with small groups of cows. This hunt overlaps the general-season spike hunt, so expect company in the field. The northern half of the unit holds remote, difficult country that has burned in recent years, and elk work those burn scars for the new aspen and other growth; Pine Creek, the South Fork of North Creek, Bullion Canyon and Iant Creek are reasonable places to start looking.
Late Rifle (any legal weapon) · November 7 – November 15
Late rifle falls in the Migration Transition phase, and November cold with meaningful snowfall starts to shape where bulls sit. In years with early snow, big bulls push onto high-elevation, south-facing, windswept ridges where wind keeps snow off the feed — this pattern shows up all around the unit, not in one specific spot. Covering ground with binoculars during prime early and late hours to pick apart those south-facing slopes is a more efficient approach than trying to move bulls out of cover on foot.
Late Archery · November 28 – December 13
Late archery runs through the Migration Transition phase into Winter, and by this point in November and December bulls are solitary or in small groups, spread thin and difficult to find. Cold temperatures and accumulating snowfall often leave crusty, noisy snow underfoot, which works against a quiet stalk. Bulls tend to hold on south-facing slopes roughly between 6,500 and 9,000 feet depending on how deep the snow has gotten, and patches of shrub cover on those slopes provide both feed and protection worth checking closely. Bulls can turn up anywhere around the unit, including Pine Creek, Wildcat and Indian Creek on the Beaver side or Sargent Mountain and Ten Mile on the east side, so this is a hunt built around covering country and being willing to work hard for one animal.
General-season spike elk — over the counter (2026)
This is a general-season spike-only unit. General-season bull elk permits in Utah are sold over the counter — no application, no draw and no points. There is no general-season elk point bank at all. Spike permits go on sale July 16; a rifle or muzzleloader hunter may take only a bull whose antlers do not branch. The general archery permit goes on sale July 7 and is not capped. It is hunter's choice: on this spike-only unit an archer may take a spike bull or an antlerless elk. A branch-antlered bull here needs a separate limited-entry permit.
| Season | Dates | Legal elk |
|---|---|---|
| Archery On a spike-only unit the general archery permit allows a spike bull or an antlerless elk — not a branch-antlered bull. | August 15 – September 4 | Spike bull or an antlerless elk |
| Any Legal Weapon | October 3 – October 15 | Spike bull only |
| Muzzleloader | October 28 – November 5 | Spike bull only |
Archery · August 15 – September 4
General archery opens in mid-August and runs through the Late Summer and Velvet phase, the Pre-Rut Transition, and into the Rut Onset by early September. Bulls are still shedding velvet and staying near summer range in the early going, making water sources and glassing for a stalk productive tactics. On this spike-only unit, an archery permit is hunter's choice between a spike bull and an antlerless elk — a branch-antlered bull is off limits without a limited-entry tag.
Any Legal Weapon · October 3 – October 15
The general any-legal-weapon hunt runs in October during the Late Rut and Early Post-Rut phase, restricted to spike bulls only. Big Johns Flat and Big Flat continue to hold good numbers of elk, but by this point those areas have already seen hunting pressure dating back to the August archery opener, so elk may be warier and more scattered than earlier in the fall.
Muzzleloader · October 28 – November 5
General muzzleloader runs into early November, spanning the Post-Rut Recovery and Migration Transition phases, with cooling temperatures and the season's first real snowfall arriving by then. Only spike bulls are legal. Big Johns Flat and Big Flat remain the primary areas to focus on, though the accumulated pressure from the archery season onward means elk in those areas have already been pushed around some.
Cow elk hunts are also offered on this unit (any legal weapon November 21 – December 11; any legal weapon December 12 – December 26). They are drawn separately, in Utah's antlerless draw, using preference points — a different point bank from limited-entry bonus points.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 5,500–12,200 ft, typically around 7,600 ft
- Slope breakdown
- 32% gentle · 43% moderate · 24% steep · 1% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~696 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
- Sagebrush47%
- Conifer42%
- Other cover9%
- Grass and meadow1%
Mid elevations
- Conifer60%
- Sagebrush32%
- Aspen6%
- Grass and meadow1%
- Other cover1%
Higher elevations
- Conifer64%
- Sagebrush22%
- Aspen6%
- Other cover5%
- 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.
Recent fires
Wildfires in the last several seasons that burned a meaningful share of Beaver, East. 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.
- Cottonwood fire, 2026 — about 97,000 acres in the unit (19%), toward the middle of the unit.
- Silver King fire, 2024 — about 18,000 acres in the unit (4%), mostly on its northeast side.
- Thompson Ridge fire, 2023 — about 7,300 acres in the unit (1%), mostly on its south side.
- Little Twist fire, 2024 — about 5,400 acres in the unit (1%), mostly on its south side.
2026 permit relief: after the Cottonwood fire, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources offered relief options to holders of this unit's archery and multiseason limited-entry bull elk permits, and emailed affected hunters. See its wildfire update (as of Aug. 25, 2026) for what applies to your permit.
Fire perimeters from the National Interagency Fire Center.
Land & access
About 87% of Beaver, East is public land a hunter can generally count on — National Forest, BLM, State Trust Land and Wildlife Management Areas.
- National Forest57%
- BLM27%
- State Trust Land3%
- Wildlife Management Areas<1%
- Unclassified ownership<1%
- Private13%
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 elk live in the unit
Utah's statewide elk habitat mapping, by layer: how much of Beaver, East 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 elk are.
- Summer Range46%used in summer
- Winter Range38%used in winter
Fall weather
- September — highs around 71°F, lows around 42°F
- October — highs around 59°F, lows around 31°F, about 0.8 in of snowfall
- November — highs around 47°F, lows around 22°F, about 5.7 in of snowfall
Beaver, East elk hunting FAQ
Do I need bonus points to hunt elk on the Beaver, East unit?
Points are never required just to apply — anyone can put in for the limited-entry bull hunt with zero points. Half of the limited-entry permits go to the applicants with the most bonus points, but the other half are drawn at random with one extra entry per point, so an applicant at any point level can draw, just not reliably. General-season spike and archery elk permits need no points or application at all; they are simply bought over the counter on their sale dates.
What is the difference between the general season and the limited-entry hunt here?
The general season is an over-the-counter hunt bought without any draw, and on this unit rifle and muzzleloader hunters may only take a spike bull while archers get hunter's choice of a spike bull or an antlerless elk. Limited entry is a separate drawn hunt using bonus points, offering far fewer permits but allowing any bull, including branch-antlered bulls, and it runs on its own season dates on the same ground.
Can a general-season archery hunter take a branch-antlered bull on the Beaver, East unit?
No. This is a spike-only unit, so the general archery permit is hunter's choice between a spike bull and an antlerless elk only. Taking a branch-antlered bull here requires drawing the separate limited-entry bull permit.
Which elk seasons on this unit fall during the September rut?
General-season Archery, Limited-entry Archery, Limited-entry Early Rifle, and Limited-entry Muzzleloader all overlap the September rut period. General-season Any Legal Weapon, General-season Muzzleloader, Limited-entry Mid-season Rifle, Limited-entry Late Rifle, and Limited-entry Late Archery all fall outside that window.
How much of the Beaver, East unit is public land a hunter can count on?
About 87 percent of the unit, roughly 696 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 to hunting under a standing state access agreement, though individual parcels can still be leased or restricted. The remaining land is private, most notably around Manderfield.
How hard is it to draw the limited-entry bull elk hunt on this unit?
The easiest of the main limited-entry bull hunts, the archery season, has drawn reliably around 20 or more bonus points for Utah residents, placing it in the Elite difficulty band. The other main limited-entry rifle and muzzleloader hunts take substantially more points than that. The Late Archery hunt is a separate specialty hunt that draws far easier, typically in the 6 to 9 point range.
Data sources & methodology
- Utah Division of Wildlife Resources — Big game hunting — general-season, limited-entry and antlerless elk permits
- Utah DWR — What hunters should know for the 2026 deer and elk hunts — 2026 general-season elk dates, including the split any-bull rifle hunt
- 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 — Elk (elk habitat mapping) — elk 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 25, 2026.