Utah Moose Elk

Unit Woodruff Creek South

Utah Hunting Guide — Moose, Elk

Unit Woodruff Creek South 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.

View Draw Odds Utah Hunting Guide

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Moose Hunting in Unit Woodruff Creek South

Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit Woodruff Creek South

UDWR publishes no per-unit account of Shiras moose in unit Woodruff Creek South, so what follows is a read of the ground inside the unit line. It runs to about 18 square miles.

Woodruff Creek South is private land, not public ground

Woodruff Creek South 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 18 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.

Holding ground: Road Hollow and Sugar Pine Canyon

Below them sit Road Hollow at 7,186 feet and Sugar Pine Canyon at 7,041 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

What is published about unit Woodruff Creek South, and what is not

The public datasets name only 2 terrain features inside this unit, and no agency access property at all. That is the finding. Ground this size held privately is farmed and grazed rather than mapped, and the hunt starts as a conversation with a landowner rather than a route. What the unit does have is 18 square miles of it, and the Shiras moose living on it are there whether or not anyone has mapped a name onto the ground. Moose need standing water and willow, so on dry country they are tied to the few drainages that hold both.

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 Woodruff Creek South terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Holding ground: Road Hollow (7,186 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 Woodruff Creek South

UDWR's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit Woodruff Creek South 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

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.

Finding a view in unit Woodruff Creek South

No named high ground falls inside this unit, which changes the method rather than ruling it out. Height comes from the vehicle or from a bank above a watercourse, and either is enough at first light. Moose need standing water and willow, so on dry country they are tied to the few drainages that hold both. Cover ground slowly and stop more often than feels sensible.

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.

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 Woodruff Creek South 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	96	1.0%	2
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (resident)	2	118	1.7%	28
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	28

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 Woodruff Creek South, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 118 applicants for 2 licences, 1.7% drawn, 28 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.

Elk Hunting in Unit Woodruff Creek South

Unit Woodruff Creek South 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 Woodruff Creek South

UDWR publishes no per-unit account of elk in unit Woodruff Creek South, so what follows is a read of the ground inside the unit line. It runs to about 18 square miles.

Woodruff Creek South is private land, not public ground

Holding ground: Road Hollow and Sugar Pine Canyon

Below them sit Road Hollow at 7,186 feet and Sugar Pine Canyon at 7,041 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.

What is published about unit Woodruff Creek South, and what is not

The public datasets name only 2 terrain features inside this unit, and no agency access property at all. That is the finding. Ground this size held privately is farmed and grazed rather than mapped, and the hunt starts as a conversation with a landowner rather than a route. What the unit does have is 18 square miles of it, and the elk living on it are there whether or not anyone has mapped a name onto the ground. Elk on low, open country live on distance and visibility, so they see you first.

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 Woodruff Creek South terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Holding ground: Road Hollow (7,186 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 Woodruff Creek South

UDWR's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit Woodruff Creek South 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

Finding a view in unit Woodruff Creek South

No named high ground falls inside this unit, which changes the method rather than ruling it out. Height comes from the vehicle or from a bank above a watercourse, and either is enough at first light. Elk on low, open country live on distance and visibility, so they see you first. Cover ground slowly and stop more often than feels sensible.

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 Woodruff Creek South 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)	2	40	5.0%	5
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (resident)	2	40	5.0%	20
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU bull/buck only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	20
Any Legal Weapon — CWMU antlerless (resident)	7	28	25.0%	—
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 Woodruff Creek South, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 40 applicants for 2 licences, 5% drawn, 20 bonus points needed
Any Legal Weapon, CWMU, Antlerless, resident: 28 applicants for 7 licences, 25% drawn, no bonus points needed

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

⛺

Camp Sites

Dispersed camping on surrounding USFS and SITLA ground; no developed campgrounds inside the boundary.

💧

Water

Good for wildlife, limited for humans; treat or pack your own.

🛣️

Road Conditions

Mix of gravel county roads and unimproved two-track. 4WD recommended, mandatory after rain or snow.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Moderate — rolling sagebrush ridges step down into steep willow drainages; pack-outs can be tough.

👥

Hunting Pressure

Very low — only a few moose tags plus overlapping general-season elk and deer hunters.

🌦️

Weather

Early season can be hot; late season brings snow and overnight lows into the teens.

📱

Cell Service

Spotty — expect no service in the drainages; plan on a satellite communicator.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Woodruff (15 minutes); Evanston, WY and Randolph, UT provide lodging and fuel within 45 minutes.

Note: Scout early. This country does not look like classic moose habitat from the road — the willow pockets reveal themselves only when you walk them.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Shiras moose success rate in unit Woodruff Creek South?

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

Can you hunt unit Woodruff Creek South on public land?

What is the elk success rate in unit Woodruff Creek South?

UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit Woodruff Creek South 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