Unit West Desert, Vernon
Utah Hunting Guide — Mule Deer
Unit West Desert, Vernon lies in Juab and Millard counties and covers about 1,520 square miles. Ground runs from 4,572 to 7,710 feet. 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 West Desert, Vernon
Unit West Desert, Vernon lies in Juab and Millard counties and covers about 1,520 square miles. Ground runs from 4,572 to 7,710 feet. 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 West Desert, Vernon
UDWR draws an exact line around unit West Desert, Vernon and says nothing about where the mule deer stand inside it. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such. The unit lies in Juab and Millard counties. It runs to about 1,520 square miles.
What bounds unit West Desert, Vernon
UDWR describes unit West Desert, Vernon in Juab and Millard counties by a boundary walked in full in its hunting district legal descriptions, which is the document to check before you cross a line. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: Black Crook Peak, Dutch Peak and Black Peak
Named high points inside the unit include Black Crook Peak at 9,220 feet, Dutch Peak at 8,935 feet, Black Peak at 8,885 feet, Greens Ridge at 8,644 feet and Red Pine Mountain at 8,488 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer on open country use every fold and draw there is, and almost none of the flat.
Holding ground: Little Valley, Cottonwood Canyon and Rock Canyon
Below them sit Little Valley at 6,767 feet, Cottonwood Canyon at 6,684 feet, Rock Canyon at 6,560 feet, South Oak Brush Canyon at 6,554 feet and Devils Gate at 6,506 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.
Water: Flint Spring, Simpson Springs and Cherry Springs
The water inside the unit line comes to 293 mapped stream reaches, 14 lakes, 26 stock tanks and 49 springs. Named sources include Flint Spring, Simpson Springs, Cherry Springs, Mud Spring, Antelope Springs and Willow 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 4,572 feet to 7,710 feet, averaging 5,538 — enough relief to separate summer range from winter range.
Unit West Desert, Vernon terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 4,572–7,710 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 5,538 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 1,519.5 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.
Who owns the ground
- Private / Other — 100%
Roughly 0% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 26 tanks
- 49 springs
- 293 stream segments
- 14 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: Black Crook Peak (9,220 ft), Dutch Peak (8,935 ft), Red Pine Mountain (8,488 ft), Simpson Mountains (8,409 ft)
Holding ground: Upper Pine Grove (8,016 ft), Rock Canyon (6,560 ft), Sheeprock Canyon (6,423 ft), Flint Spring, Simpson Springs
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 West Desert, Vernon
Mule Deer Success Rates
UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates carry no mule deer row for unit West Desert, Vernon 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archery — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 39 | 368 | 10.6% | 16 |
| Archery — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 4 | 91 | 4.4% | 16 |
| Rifle — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 5 | 227 | 2.2% | 18 |
| Rifle — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 1 | 78 | 1.3% | 18 |
| Muzzleloader — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 40 | 300 | 13.3% | 21 |
| Muzzleloader — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 4 | 60 | 6.7% | 21 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Limited Entry bull/buck only (resident) | 115 | 2,659 | 4.3% | 22 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Limited Entry bull/buck only (nonresident) | 12 | 462 | 2.6% | 22 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Multi-season bull/buck only (resident) | 6 | 200 | 3.0% | 21 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Multi-season bull/buck only (nonresident) | 1 | 69 | 1.4% | 21 |
Data from 2025 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.
Open in Draw Odds EngineUDWR's 2025 draw recap for mule deer in unit West Desert, Vernon, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- Any Legal Weapon, Limited Entry, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 2,659 applicants for 115 licences, 4.3% drawn, 22 bonus points needed
- Any Legal Weapon, Limited Entry, Bull/Buck Only, nonresident: 462 applicants for 12 licences, 2.6% drawn, 22 bonus points needed
- Archery, Limited Entry, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 368 applicants for 39 licences, 10.6% drawn, 16 bonus points needed
- Muzzleloader, Limited Entry, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 300 applicants for 40 licences, 13.3% drawn, 21 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 4 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
Frequently Asked Questions
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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