Utah Mule Deer Moose Elk

Unit Ensign Ranches

Utah Hunting Guide — Mule Deer, Moose, Elk

Unit Ensign Ranches 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.

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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit Ensign Ranches

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit Ensign Ranches

UDWR publishes no per-unit account of mule deer in unit Ensign Ranches, so what follows is a read of the ground inside the unit line. It runs to about 150 square miles.

Ensign Ranches is private land, not public ground

Ensign Ranches 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 150 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.

High ground inside the line: Red Rock

Named high points inside the unit include Red Rock at 6,785 feet. None carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle the ownership question before you plan to stand on one. Mule deer on open country use every fold and draw there is, and almost none of the flat.

Holding ground: Stag Canyon, Hollow of the Holes and Shed Hollow

Below them sit Stag Canyon at 6,249 feet, Hollow of the Holes at 6,577 feet, Shed Hollow at 6,551 feet, Tunnel Hollow at 6,454 feet and Ellis Canyon at 6,421 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

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 Ensign Ranches terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Red Rock (6,785 ft)

Holding ground: Hollow of the Holes (6,577 ft), Tunnel Hollow (6,454 ft)

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 Ensign Ranches

UDWR's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit Ensign Ranches 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

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.

Glassing from Red Rock

Take a position on Red Rock (6,785 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Red Rock as places to see from, and Hollow of the Holes and Tunnel Hollow as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Join two of them into a morning: be on the first before light, move to the second once the thermals turn.

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.

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 Ensign Ranches 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)	3	131	2.3%	12
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (resident)	3	140	2.1%	20
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	20

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 Ensign Ranches, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 140 applicants for 3 licences, 2.1% drawn, 20 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.

Moose Hunting in Unit Ensign Ranches

Unit Ensign Ranches is a hunt unit. UDWR's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 70%. 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 Shiras Moose in Unit Ensign Ranches

UDWR publishes no per-unit account of Shiras moose in unit Ensign Ranches, so what follows is a read of the ground inside the unit line. It runs to about 150 square miles.

Ensign Ranches is private land, not public ground

High ground inside the line: Red Rock

Named high points inside the unit include Red Rock at 6,785 feet. None carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle the ownership question before you plan to stand on one. Moose need standing water and willow, so on dry country they are tied to the few drainages that hold both.

Holding ground: Lewis Canyon, Stag Canyon and Hollow of the Holes

Below them sit Lewis Canyon at 6,306 feet, Stag Canyon at 6,249 feet, Hollow of the Holes at 6,577 feet, Shed Hollow at 6,551 feet and Tunnel Hollow at 6,454 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

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 Ensign Ranches terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Red Rock (6,785 ft)

Holding ground: Hollow of the Holes (6,577 ft), Tunnel Hollow (6,454 ft)

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 Shiras Moose in Unit Ensign Ranches

UDWR's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit Ensign Ranches at rifle 70%. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: walk the willow bottoms slowly at first and last light and look for fresh browse before you look for the animal.

Getting on the ground here

Glassing from Red Rock

Take a position on Red Rock (6,785 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. Work the glass in strips and go back over ground you already covered — animals appear in country you looked at ten minutes ago. On the rut hunts, late September bulls answer a cow call near water.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Red Rock as places to see from, and Hollow of the Holes and Tunnel Hollow 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

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.

Moose: where to put the shot

Broadside, behind the shoulder and a third up. Moose look slow to react — the first shot has to count.

Shots to refuse

Where it falls decides your next two days. Avoid shots that drop a moose in water or a bog.
A .30-06 class cartridge minimum, with a bullet built for heavy bone.

Plan the carry: roughly 350– 500 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — four or more large coolers, or a processor. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Moose Success Rates

Rifle70%

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates carry no Shiras moose row for unit Ensign Ranches 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.

Moose Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident)	1	126	0.8%	11
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (resident)	1	124	0.8%	—
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (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 Shiras moose in unit Ensign Ranches, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 124 applicants for 1 licences, 0.8% drawn, no bonus points needed

No bonus points were needed for the hunts above in that year, which can change the moment applicant numbers do. 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.

Elk Hunting in Unit Ensign Ranches

Unit Ensign Ranches 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.

Where to Find Elk in Unit Ensign Ranches

UDWR publishes no per-unit account of elk in unit Ensign Ranches, so what follows is a read of the ground inside the unit line. It runs to about 150 square miles.

Ensign Ranches is private land, not public ground

High ground inside the line: Red Rock

Named high points inside the unit include Red Rock at 6,785 feet. None carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle the ownership question before you plan to stand on one. Elk on low, open country live on distance and visibility, so they see you first.

Holding ground: Ellis Canyon, Lewis Canyon and Stag Canyon

Below them sit Ellis Canyon at 6,421 feet, Lewis Canyon at 6,306 feet, Stag Canyon at 6,249 feet, Hollow of the Holes at 6,577 feet and Shed Hollow at 6,551 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.

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 Ensign Ranches terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Red Rock (6,785 ft)

Holding ground: Hollow of the Holes (6,577 ft), Tunnel Hollow (6,454 ft)

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 Ensign Ranches

UDWR's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit Ensign Ranches 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

Glassing from Red Rock

Take a position on Red Rock (6,785 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Red Rock as places to see from, and Hollow of the Holes and Tunnel Hollow 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

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 Ensign Ranches 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)	4	87	4.6%	1
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (resident)	4	95	4.2%	17
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	17
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU antlerless (resident)	48	223	21.5%	—
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 Ensign Ranches, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Antlerless, resident: 223 applicants for 48 licences, 21.5% drawn, no bonus points needed
Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 95 applicants for 4 licences, 4.2% drawn, 17 bonus points needed

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

⛺

Camp Sites

Typically not permitted on CWMU ground. Confirm lodging arrangements with ranch when you draw.

💧

Water

Ranch water is not for human use. Pack your own.

🛣️

Road Conditions

Ranch roads are maintained gravel. 4WD not typically required.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Moderate. Typical Utah foothill mule deer country — benches, ridges, and drainages.

👥

Hunting Pressure

Very low. CWMU access is capped at the allocated tag count.

🌦️

Weather

Utah rifle deer season (late October) brings cold mornings and potential snow at elevation.

📱

Cell Service

Varies by ranch parcel. Plan for spotty coverage.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Ranch office will provide specific directions on arrival. Most northern-Utah CWMUs stage out of Logan, Evanston, or Heber depending on location.

📋

Permit Notes

Public-draw CWMU tag requires check-in with the ranch, compliance with posted boundaries, and full adherence to UDWR season dates and weapon restrictions.

Note: Call the ranch the week you draw — scheduling and orientation are essential for CWMU success.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the mule deer success rate in unit Ensign Ranches?

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

Can you hunt unit Ensign Ranches on public land?

What is the Shiras moose success rate in unit Ensign Ranches?

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit Ensign Ranches at rifle 70% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the elk success rate in unit Ensign Ranches?

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit Ensign Ranches at rifle 28% 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