Utah Black Bear Mule Deer

Unit Nine Mile

Utah Hunting Guide — Black Bear, Mule Deer

Unit Nine Mile lies in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery and Uintah counties and covers about 2,571 square miles. Ground runs from 4,972 to 9,290 feet. UDWR publishes no per-unit black bear success figure we can verify for this unit. 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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68%

Public Land

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Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Utah Unit Nine Mile guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.

Black Bear guide Mule Deer guide

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Black Bear Hunting in Unit Nine Mile

Where to Find Black Bear in Unit Nine Mile

UDWR draws an exact line around unit Nine Mile and says nothing about where the black bear stand inside it. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery and Uintah counties. It runs to about 2,571 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Green River and Duchesne River

UDWR draws unit Nine Mile in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery and Uintah counties with a boundary that runs on I-70, and on Green River and Duchesne River, walked corner by corner in its hunting district legal descriptions. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. What it does give you is the way in: the rivers and highways you cross, and the divides that decide which drainage you end up in.

High ground inside the line: Patmos Ridge, Mount Bartles and Range Valley Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Patmos Ridge at 9,926 feet, Mount Bartles at 9,923 feet, Range Valley Mountain at 9,834 feet, Patmos Head at 9,832 feet and Cottonwood Ridge at 9,691 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Bears follow food, which in early autumn means oakbrush, chokecherry and serviceberry on south slopes.

Holding ground: Dalton Canyon, Buck Canyon and Bull Flat

Below them sit Dalton Canyon at 8,040 feet, Buck Canyon at 8,010 feet, Bull Flat at 7,988 feet, Little Spring Canyon at 7,987 feet and Mule Canyon at 7,968 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: Dancehall Spring, Mine Hollow Spring and Nutters Spring

Named sources include Dancehall Spring, Mine Hollow Spring, Nutters Spring, Downard Spring, Daddy Spring and Mac 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. Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as Private / Other 100%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. The unit runs from 4,972 feet to 9,290 feet, averaging 6,789 — that is a lot of vertical to cover, and it means the season you draw decides which half of the unit you hunt.

Unit Nine Mile terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Patmos Ridge (9,926 ft), Mount Bartles (9,923 ft), Range Valley Mountain (9,834 ft), Patmos Head (9,832 ft)

Holding ground: Cracker Grove (8,772 ft), Wide Hollow (8,120 ft), Deathtrap Canyon (7,925 ft), Dancehall Spring, Mine Hollow 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 Black Bear in Unit Nine Mile

UDWR publishes no black bear success figure for unit Nine Mile that we can tie to this unit alone, so we won't quote one. The plan: find the berry crop first, then glass it morning and evening until something is in it.

Glassing from Argyle Ridge, Van Duesen Ridge and Minnie Maud Ridge

Take a position on one of Argyle Ridge (9,451 ft), Van Duesen Ridge (9,398 ft), Minnie Maud Ridge (9,387 ft) and Summerhouse Ridge (9,332 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, September hunts coincide with the feeding push before denning.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Season normals here run Sep 76/49°F, Oct 61/38°F and Nov 48/27°F. Warm afternoons compress the hunting into the first and last hour, and make meat care the day's real problem rather than the shot. Precipitation runs about 2 in. in Sep, 1.5 in. in Oct and 0.6 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Patmos Ridge, Mount Bartles, Range Valley Mountain and Patmos Head as places to see from, and Cracker Grove, Wide Hollow, Deathtrap Canyon and Dancehall Spring 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 a day here costs you

2,571 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. With 4,318 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. Leave the truck earlier than you want to and you will hunt the best half-hour of the 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. We have no black bear success figure for this unit that survives checking against UDWR's own harvest and hunter counts, and we would rather say so than print a statewide average as though it were measured here.

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.

Black Bear: 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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Black Bear Success Rates

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates carry no black bear row for unit Nine Mile 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.

Black Bear Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — Limited Entry either sex (resident)	7	36	19.4%	11
Rifle — Limited Entry either sex (nonresident)	1	8	12.5%	10

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

Open in Draw Odds Engine

UDWR's 2024 draw recap for black bear in unit Nine Mile, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

Rifle, Limited Entry, Either Sex, resident: 141 applicants for 15 licences, 10.6% drawn, 10 bonus points needed
Rifle, Limited Entry, Either Sex, nonresident: 8 applicants for 1 licences, 12.5% drawn, 10 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 Nine Mile

Unit Nine Mile lies in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery and Uintah counties and covers about 2,571 square miles. Ground runs from 4,972 to 9,290 feet. UDWR's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 20%. 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 Nine Mile

UDWR's material on unit Nine Mile stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its mule deer live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery and Uintah counties. It runs to about 2,571 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Green River and Duchesne River

UDWR draws unit Nine Mile in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery and Uintah counties with a boundary that runs on I-70, and on Green River and Duchesne River, walked corner by corner in its hunting district legal descriptions. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. Its value is practical — those are the features you will navigate by, and the ridges that separate one day's country from another's.

High ground inside the line: Bishop Ridge, South Ridge and Buckskin Ridge

Named high points inside the unit include Bishop Ridge at 9,663 feet, South Ridge at 9,529 feet, Buckskin Ridge at 9,522 feet, Argyle Ridge at 9,451 feet and Van Duesen Ridge at 9,398 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer bed on broken ground with a view and feed on the brush below it.

Holding ground: Deathtrap Canyon, South Patterfore Canyon and Mill Canyon

Below them sit Deathtrap Canyon at 7,925 feet, South Patterfore Canyon at 7,907 feet, Mill Canyon at 7,889 feet, Spring Canyon at 7,883 feet and Trail Canyon at 7,873 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.

Water: Petes Spring, Odekirk Spring and Snyder Spring

Named sources include Petes Spring, Odekirk Spring, Snyder Spring, Burnt Cabin Spring, Willow Patch Spring and Spradling 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

Unit Nine Mile terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Patmos Ridge (9,926 ft), Mount Bartles (9,923 ft), Range Valley Mountain (9,834 ft), Patmos Head (9,832 ft)

Holding ground: Cracker Grove (8,772 ft), Wide Hollow (8,120 ft), Deathtrap Canyon (7,925 ft), Dancehall Spring, Mine Hollow 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 Nine Mile

UDWR's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit Nine Mile at muzzleloader 20%. 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.

Glassing from Steer Ridge, Gooseneck Ridge and Horse Ridge

Take a position on one of Steer Ridge (9,227 ft), Gooseneck Ridge (9,129 ft), Horse Ridge (9,124 ft) and Cottonwood Ridge (9,124 ft) and be on it before light. In the dark the air runs downhill. Pick an approach that doesn't send it into the country you want to see, and plan to move once the slope warms. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Patmos Ridge, Mount Bartles, Range Valley Mountain and Patmos Head as places to see from, and Cracker Grove, Wide Hollow, Deathtrap Canyon and Dancehall Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Take the pair you can reach on one road and treat the rest as a second trip.

What a day here costs you

2,571 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. With 4,318 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. One good position held through the whole of first light beats three visited in a hurry.

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

Muzzleloader20%

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates carry no mule deer row for unit Nine Mile 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
Muzzleloader — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident)	115	116	99.1%	—
Muzzleloader — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident)	8	8	100.0%	—
Archery — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident)	163	168	97.0%	—
Archery — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident)	13	13	100.0%	—
Any Legal Weapon — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident)	154	269	57.2%	1
Any Legal Weapon — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident)	18	19	94.7%	1

Data from 2025 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 Nine Mile, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

Any Legal Weapon, Limited Entry, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 690 applicants for 308 licences, 44.6% drawn, no bonus points needed
Archery, Limited Entry, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 168 applicants for 163 licences, 97% drawn, no bonus points needed
Muzzleloader, Limited Entry, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 54 applicants for 6 licences, 11.1% drawn, 10 bonus points needed
Any Legal Weapon, Limited Entry, Bull/Buck Only, nonresident: 29 applicants for 27 licences, 93.1% drawn, no 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. There are 2 further season-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. 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.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Camp Sites

2 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Desolation Gray Canyons Screen Cabins and Sand Wash Ranger Station.

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Road Conditions

Roughly 0 mi paved, 0 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

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Terrain Difficulty

4,972–9,290 ft, averaging 6,789. More than 4,000 feet of relief, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

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Hunting Pressure

Our land-status read for this unit is approximate, so treat any pressure estimate from it with suspicion and check a current ownership layer.

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Weather

Season normals: Sep 76/49°F, 2 in.; Oct 61/38°F, 1.5 in.; Nov 48/27°F, 0.6 in..

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Cell Service

Verizon 21%, AT&T 14%, T-Mobile 7% of the unit area — modelled coverage, not measured. Assume no signal off the paved road.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit Nine Mile?

Unit Nine Mile lies in Carbon, Duchesne, Emery and Uintah counties. UDWR draws unit Nine Mile with a boundary that runs on I-70, and on Green River and Duchesne River, walked corner by corner in its hunting district legal descriptions. It covers about 2,571 square miles.

What is the black bear success rate in unit Nine Mile?

UDWR publishes no black bear success figure we can tie to unit Nine Mile on its own — the 2023 harvest tables either omit the unit or report it in a grouping we could not read back to it reliably. Rather than quote a statewide average as though it were measured here, we say so. Check UDWR's current harvest estimates before you apply.

Can you hunt unit Nine Mile on public land?

What is the mule deer success rate in unit Nine Mile?

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit Nine Mile at muzzleloader 20% 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.

UDWR Hunt Boundaries — boundary descriptions from the Hunt Planner boundary layer — Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · supports: GMU boundary description, Counties the unit lies in, 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