Unit Southwest Desert
Utah Hunting Guide — Pronghorn, Mule Deer
Unit Southwest Desert lies in Beaver, Iron and Millard counties and covers about 5,199 square miles. Ground runs from 4,527 to 7,484 feet. UDWR publishes no per-unit pronghorn 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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Pronghorn Hunting in Unit Southwest Desert
Unit Southwest Desert lies in Beaver, Iron and Millard counties and covers about 5,199 square miles. Ground runs from 4,527 to 7,484 feet. UDWR publishes no per-unit pronghorn 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.
Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit Southwest Desert
UDWR's material on unit Southwest Desert stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its pronghorn live. Every place named below sits inside the unit line. Which of them holds animals in your season is for you to find out. The unit lies in Beaver, Iron and Millard counties. It runs to about 5,199 square miles.
What bounds unit Southwest Desert
UDWR draws unit Southwest Desert in Beaver, Iron and Millard counties with a boundary that runs on I-15, walked corner by corner in its hunting district legal descriptions. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. Those features are what you will check against the map all week, and the divides among them are the ones that matter.
High ground inside the line: Indian Peak Range, Indian Peak and Frisco Peak
Named high points inside the unit include Indian Peak Range at 9,761 feet, Indian Peak at 9,761 feet, Frisco Peak at 9,634 feet, San Francisco Mountains at 9,634 feet and Mountain Home Range at 9,472 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Pronghorn live in the open and trust their eyes, which is the whole problem.
Holding ground: Bob Leroy Pass, Little Horse Heaven and Little Horse Valley
Below them sit Bob Leroy Pass at 7,443 feet, Little Horse Heaven at 7,328 feet, Little Horse Valley at 7,234 feet, Big Jensen Pass at 7,171 feet and Spike Hollow at 7,152 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.
Water: Big Basket Spring, Little Basket Springs and Ryan Spring
The water inside the unit line comes to 142 mapped stream reaches, 22 lakes, 241 stock tanks and 59 springs. Named sources include Big Basket Spring, Little Basket Springs, Ryan Spring, Peaks Spring, Rock Spring and Needle Point Spring. On ground with that many tanks, knowing which two or three hold water in your season is the most useful thing a scouting trip can tell you.
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 85% and BLM 15%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. The unit runs from 4,527 feet to 7,484 feet, averaging 5,855 — enough relief to separate summer range from winter range.
Unit Southwest Desert terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 4,527–7,484 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 5,855 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 5,199.1 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.
Who owns the ground
- BLM — 15%
- Private / Other — 85%
Roughly 15% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 241 tanks
- 59 springs
- 142 stream segments
- 22 lakes
Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Indian Peak Range (9,761 ft), Frisco Peak (9,634 ft), Mountain Home Range (9,472 ft), Wah Wah Mountains (9,380 ft)
Holding ground: Ofer Basin (7,687 ft), Horse Valley (7,657 ft), Arrowhead Pass (7,642 ft), Big Basket Spring, Ryan 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 Pronghorn in Unit Southwest Desert
Pronghorn Success Rates
UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates carry no pronghorn row for unit Southwest Desert 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.
Pronghorn Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts Req |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 83 | 696 | 11.9% | 31 |
| Rifle — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 9 | 789 | 1.1% | 31 |
| Archery — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 30 | 67 | 44.8% | 8 |
| Archery — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 4 | 79 | 5.1% | 8 |
| Muzzleloader — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 30 | 40 | 75.0% | 7 |
| Muzzleloader — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 4 | 54 | 7.4% | 7 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 92 | 694 | 13.3% | 26 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 10 | 760 | 1.3% | 26 |
Data from 2024 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.
Open in Draw Odds EngineUDWR's draw recap has no pronghorn record we can tie to unit Southwest Desert. That usually means the licence is sold over the counter, is issued under a hunt code covering several units, or was not offered in the years we hold. Rather than estimate a point requirement, we leave it blank — check UDWR's own draw recap for the hunt code you mean to apply for.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Colorado unit Southwest Desert?
What is the pronghorn success rate in unit Southwest Desert?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit Southwest Desert hunt?
Can you hunt unit Southwest Desert on public land?
What is the mule deer success rate in unit Southwest Desert?
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Upgrade to Pro — $49/yrSources & 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