Unit West Desert, Rush Valley
Utah Hunting Guide — Pronghorn
Unit West Desert, Rush Valley lies in Juab, Salt Lake, Tooele and Utah counties and covers about 2,830 square miles. Ground runs from 4,485 to 7,625 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 West Desert, Rush Valley
Unit West Desert, Rush Valley lies in Juab, Salt Lake, Tooele and Utah counties and covers about 2,830 square miles. Ground runs from 4,485 to 7,625 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 West Desert, Rush Valley
UDWR's material on unit West Desert, Rush Valley stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its pronghorn live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Juab, Salt Lake, Tooele and Utah counties. It runs to about 2,830 square miles.
The lines of the unit: Salt Lake, Sevier River and Cherry Creek
UDWR draws unit West Desert, Rush Valley in Juab, Salt Lake, Tooele and Utah counties with a boundary that runs on I-15 and I-80, and on Salt Lake, Sevier River, Cherry Creek and Keg Spring, walked corner by corner in its hunting district legal descriptions. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Flat Top Mountain, Oquirrh Mountains and Lowe Peak
Named high points inside the unit include Flat Top Mountain at 10,588 feet, Oquirrh Mountains at 10,588 feet, Lowe Peak at 10,564 feet, Lewiston Peak at 10,392 feet and Kelsey Peak at 10,341 feet. None carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle the ownership question before you plan to stand on one. Pronghorn live in the open and trust their eyes, which is the whole problem.
Holding ground: Big Hole, Box Elder Pass and Edwards Pass
Below them sit Big Hole at 8,785 feet, Box Elder Pass at 8,384 feet, Edwards Pass at 8,231 feet, White Pine Flat at 8,179 feet and Right Hand Fork Soldier Canyon at 7,878 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.
Water: Crystal Spring, Maple Spring and Rose Canyon Spring
The water inside the unit line comes to 2,045 mapped stream reaches, 87 lakes, 740 stock tanks and 353 springs. Named sources include Crystal Spring, Maple Spring, Rose Canyon Spring, Holladay Springs, Cottonwood Spring and Jack 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 National Forest 60%, Private / Other 17%, BLM 15% and State Trust 8%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. The unit runs from 4,485 feet to 7,625 feet, averaging 5,382 — enough relief to separate summer range from winter range.
Unit West Desert, Rush Valley terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 4,485–7,625 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 5,382 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 2,830.3 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.
Who owns the ground
- National Forest — 60%
- BLM — 15%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 17%
Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 740 tanks
- 353 springs
- 2,045 stream segments
- 87 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: Vickory Mountain (10,282 ft), Bald Mountain (9,994 ft), Butterfield Peaks (9,351 ft), Nelson Peak (9,345 ft)
Holding ground: Big Hole (8,785 ft), Box Elder Pass (8,384 ft), Edwards Pass (8,231 ft), Crystal Spring, Maple 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 West Desert, Rush Valley
Pronghorn Success Rates
UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates carry no pronghorn row for unit West Desert, Rush Valley 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archery — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 8 | 34 | 23.5% | 4 |
| Archery — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 1 | 5 | 20.0% | 4 |
| Rifle — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 30 | 329 | 9.1% | 12 |
| Rifle — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 3 | 69 | 4.3% | 12 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 32 | 337 | 9.5% | 12 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 4 | 57 | 7.0% | 12 |
Data from 2025 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 West Desert, Rush Valley. 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
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What is the pronghorn success rate in unit West Desert, Rush Valley?
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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