Utah Elk Mule Deer

Unit Coldwater Ranch

Utah Hunting Guide — Elk, Mule Deer

Unit Coldwater Ranch is a hunt unit. UDWR's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 28%. Most of the unit is private, so access comes before tactics. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

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Elk guide Mule Deer guide

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Elk Hunting in Unit Coldwater Ranch

Where to Find Elk in Unit Coldwater Ranch

UDWR publishes no per-unit account of elk in unit Coldwater Ranch, so what follows is a read of the ground inside the unit line. It runs to about 53 square miles.

Coldwater Ranch is private land, not public ground

Coldwater Ranch is a Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit — private land enrolled with UDWR under rule R657-37, not public country you can walk onto. UDWR requires a CWMU to hold at least 10,000 contiguous acres to manage elk or moose, so the unit is one block of ground under one operator rather than a patchwork. This one covers about 53 square miles by UDWR's own polygon. Your permit is valid on this CWMU and nowhere else — UDWR states you may hunt only on the CWMU printed on the permit. So the question is not which drainage to start in. It is whether you can get a permit at all, and then what the operator lets you hunt.

Holding ground: Ant Valley, Hyrum Canyon and Bear Flat

Below them sit Ant Valley at 5,810 feet, Hyrum Canyon at 5,245 feet, Bear Flat at 7,024 feet, Bear Hollow at 6,133 feet and Miles Canyon at 5,868 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Water: Whiskey Spring

Named sources include Whiskey Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Before you apply: who owns this unit

A UDWR permit does not authorise hunting on Native American trust lands, on a CWMU without that CWMU's own permit, or on National Park land, and written permission is required to hunt private land.

Unit Coldwater Ranch terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

Named features inside the unit

Holding ground: Bear Flat (7,024 ft), Miles Canyon (5,868 ft), Whiskey Spring

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to Hunt Elk in Unit Coldwater Ranch

UDWR's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit Coldwater Ranch at rifle 28%. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. The plan: find the feed, find the timber it backs onto, then watch the seam between them at the edges of the day.

Getting on the ground here

There are two ways onto a CWMU and they are not the same door. A Utah resident can apply in UDWR's public drawing or take a voucher from the landowner or operator; a nonresident cannot enter the drawing at all and can only get a voucher directly from the operator. UDWR requires the unit to give public hunters opportunity comparable to private hunters, and to make the same acreage available to both — but the operator still sets the rules you hunt under, and UDWR notes a CWMU may limit how many companions you bring. That makes the first call of the season a phone call, not a scouting trip. Ask what the unit's rules are, where you may hunt inside it, what access is provided and what it costs, before you commit to a season. Harvest reporting is not optional and does not depend on success: UDWR requires a report within 30 days of the hunt ending, whether or not you took an animal. Everything below is the ground inside that line. On a CWMU it is background to the conversation with the operator rather than a plan you can execute on your own.

Finding a view in unit Coldwater Ranch

No named high ground falls inside this unit, which changes the method rather than ruling it out. On flat country ten feet of relief is a glassing position: a tank bank, a terrace above a creek, the shoulder of a county road. Elk on low, open country live on distance and visibility, so they see you first. Cover ground slowly and stop more often than feels sensible.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Bear Flat, Miles Canyon and Whiskey Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Walk between two of them rather than driving between four, and you will learn more in a day.

What we can't tell you

A UDWR permit does not authorise hunting on Native American trust lands, on a CWMU without that CWMU's own permit, or on National Park land, and written permission is required to hunt private land. Settle access before the season rather than during it. Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Utah rules that decide your day

Summarised from UDWR regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before official sunrise to half an hour after official sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Utah requires travel on existing roads and trails; there is no general off-road retrieval allowance. Plan a pack-out from anything you can't reach from an open route.

Tagging

Notch and attach the tag to the carcass before leaving the kill site.

Leaving meat

Wasting protected wildlife is a crime.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No discharging a firearm within 600 feet of a house, dwelling or other building without permission, and no shooting from a vehicle or across a road.

Elk: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body. That is lungs, and on a quartering-away angle it picks up the far shoulder.

Shots to refuse

No straight-on and no straight-away shots. An elk's chest is deep and the margin is small.
Nothing standing behind or overlapping the animal you picked. A pass-through kills the elk behind it too.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have put three shots in a paper plate off the sticks you are actually carrying. Not the farthest you have ever hit anything.
Scope on 3–4x. A herd fills a 12x field of view and you lose the animal you picked.

Identification:On an antlerless tag, legal means no antler of any kind through the skin. A spike looks exactly like a cow until it turns its head. If you can't see the head, don't shoot.

Plan the carry: roughly 150– 220 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two to four large coolers, plus bagged ice from town. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Elk Success Rates

Rifle28%

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates carry no elk row for unit Coldwater Ranch that we can read back to this unit on its own. Where the agency reports a unit inside a grouping, or prints a table our parser cannot resolve to a single column, we leave the number out rather than publish a statewide average as though it had been measured here. UDWR's current harvest estimates are the place to check before you apply.

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident)	2	150	1.3%	10
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (resident)	3	171	1.8%	27
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	27
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU antlerless (resident)	20	229	8.7%	—
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU antlerless (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—

Data from 2024 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

UDWR's 2025 draw recap for elk in unit Coldwater Ranch, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Antlerless, resident: 229 applicants for 20 licences, 8.7% drawn, no bonus points needed
Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 171 applicants for 3 licences, 1.8% drawn, 27 bonus points needed

Utah draws on bonus points in a weighted random draw, not in point order, so the figure above is what it happened to take that year rather than a threshold you can plan to reach. More points buy more chances, never a turn. These are the figures as published in UDWR's own draw recap; we have not yet checked them back against the agency row by row, so confirm the hunt you mean to apply for before you count on a number.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit Coldwater Ranch

Unit Coldwater Ranch is a hunt unit. UDWR's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 25%. Most of the unit is private, so access comes before tactics. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit Coldwater Ranch

UDWR publishes no per-unit account of mule deer in unit Coldwater Ranch, so what follows is a read of the ground inside the unit line. It runs to about 53 square miles.

Coldwater Ranch is private land, not public ground

Holding ground: Fox Hollow, Curtis Hollow and Ant Valley

Below them sit Fox Hollow at 5,832 feet, Curtis Hollow at 5,824 feet, Ant Valley at 5,810 feet, Hyrum Canyon at 5,245 feet and Bear Flat at 7,024 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Water: Whiskey Spring

Named sources include Whiskey Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Before you apply: who owns this unit

A UDWR permit does not authorise hunting on Native American trust lands, on a CWMU without that CWMU's own permit, or on National Park land, and written permission is required to hunt private land.

Unit Coldwater Ranch terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

Named features inside the unit

Holding ground: Bear Flat (7,024 ft), Miles Canyon (5,868 ft), Whiskey Spring

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to Hunt Mule Deer in Unit Coldwater Ranch

UDWR's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit Coldwater Ranch at rifle 25%. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. The plan: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

Getting on the ground here

Finding a view in unit Coldwater Ranch

No named high ground falls inside this unit, which changes the method rather than ruling it out. Use the edges instead of the elevation — a field margin, a shelterbelt, the lip of a draw. Mule deer on open country use every fold and draw there is, and almost none of the flat. Cover ground slowly and stop more often than feels sensible.

A first plan from the pins on this page

What we can't tell you

Utah rules that decide your day

Summarised from UDWR regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before official sunrise to half an hour after official sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Utah requires travel on existing roads and trails; there is no general off-road retrieval allowance. Plan a pack-out from anything you can't reach from an open route.

Tagging

Notch and attach the tag to the carcass before leaving the kill site.

Leaving meat

Wasting protected wildlife is a crime.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No discharging a firearm within 600 feet of a house, dwelling or other building without permission, and no shooting from a vehicle or across a road.

Mule Deer: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Mule Deer Success Rates

Rifle25%

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates carry no mule deer row for unit Coldwater Ranch that we can read back to this unit on its own. Where the agency reports a unit inside a grouping, or prints a table our parser cannot resolve to a single column, we leave the number out rather than publish a statewide average as though it had been measured here. UDWR's current harvest estimates are the place to check before you apply.

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident)	2	62	3.2%	6
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (resident)	2	77	2.6%	19
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	19

Data from 2024 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

UDWR's 2025 draw recap for mule deer in unit Coldwater Ranch, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 77 applicants for 2 licences, 2.6% drawn, 19 bonus points needed

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Camp Sites

Confirm with the ranch. Many CWMUs have designated parking or lodging; dispersed camping is typically not allowed.

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Water

Pack your own. Ranch water sources serve livestock.

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Road Conditions

Ranch-maintained gravel. 4WD useful after storms.

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Terrain Difficulty

Moderate. Typical Utah elk range — rolling timber, meadows, and ridgelines.

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Hunting Pressure

Minimal. CWMU rules cap hunter density tightly.

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Weather

September mornings can be warm then pivot to snow overnight during late-season rifle hunts.

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Cell Service

Spotty. Plan for no coverage on the interior.

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Nearest Town

Confirm at check-in. Most Utah CWMU bull hunts stage out of regional hubs like Richfield, Manti, or Logan depending on the ranch.

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Permit Notes

Tag is tied to the CWMU boundary — hunting off the ranch with a CWMU permit is illegal.

Note: Contact the ranch office the week you draw to lock in dates and confirm staging logistics.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the elk success rate in unit Coldwater Ranch?

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit Coldwater Ranch at rifle 28% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

Can you hunt unit Coldwater Ranch on public land?

What is the mule deer success rate in unit Coldwater Ranch?

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit Coldwater Ranch at rifle 25% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

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Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-24.

Cooperative Wildlife Management Units — programme rules (administrative rule R657-37) — Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · supports: CWMUs are private land enrolled with UDWR under rule R657-37, Minimum 5,000 contiguous acres for deer, pronghorn or turkey; 10,000 for elk or moose, Residents may apply in the public drawing or take an operator voucher; nonresidents may only take a voucher, A CWMU permit is valid only on the CWMU printed on it, Public hunters must get opportunity and acreage comparable to private hunters, Harvest must be reported within 30 days of the hunt, whether or not an animal was taken · accessed 2026-10-24
UDWR Hunt Boundaries — boundary descriptions from the Hunt Planner boundary layer — Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · supports: Mapped extent of the CWMU, UDWR's private-land and trust-land note, UDWR's private-land note for the unit · accessed 2026-10-24
UDWR DWR_Hunt_Boundaries_combined feature service — all 687 published hunt boundaries, including the CWMUs — Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · supports: Mapped extent of the unit, Which named ground falls inside the unit line · accessed 2026-10-24