2024 General Deer reports

Bux n Dux

Bux n Dux

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897
Post up your photos and stories from this years hunt!

This was the worst opening morning I’ve ever experienced. I was hunting with my dad today who has the tag. It was DEAD. No deer. No hunters. No shooting. I figured with the recent snow it was going to be a deer petting zoo. Couldn’t have been more wrong. Glassed up a handful of deer at first light. Couple little 2 points. That was it. My brothers wife also has a tag, first time for her hunting. Sent them to my go-to spot, no way could they go there and not have any opportunities. WRONG. Few does and fawns was it.

I heard 1 shot all morning that I knew was from a hunter. Few guys here and there, but not close to what a normal year looks like.

Going to give it another try in the morning. The wife is up to bat this time.

Good luck to everyone! You’re probably going to need it.
 
Bux n Dux said:
Post up your photos and stories from this years hunt!

This was the worst opening morning I’ve ever experienced. I was hunting with my dad today who has the tag. It was DEAD. No deer. No hunters. No shooting. I figured with the recent snow it was going to be a deer petting zoo. Couldn’t have been more wrong. Glassed up a handful of deer at first light. Couple little 2 points. That was it. My brothers wife also has a tag, first time for her hunting. Sent them to my go-to spot, no way could they go there and not have any opportunities. WRONG. Few does and fawns was it.

I heard 1 shot all morning that I knew was from a hunter. Few guys here and there, but not close to what a normal year looks like.

Going to give it another try in the morning. The wife is up to bat this time.

Good luck to everyone! You’re probably going to need it.
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Reports like this are useless without knowing what part of the state you were at.
 
shootem said:
Reports like this are useless without knowing what part of the state you were at.
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Why? So internet scouters can get all their after? It doesn’t matter to anywhere other than me, as to where I was located. I feel the same for anyone else. I don’t care where they were. I want to hear how their hunt went and look at their pics.

Don’t give a dam where everyone’s at. I want to hear how their hunt went in UTAH.
 
Bux n Dux said:
Why? So internet scouters can get all their after? It doesn’t matter to anywhere other than me, as to where I was located. I feel the same for anyone else. I don’t care where they were. I want to hear how their hunt went and look at their pics.

Don’t give a dam where everyone’s at. I want to hear how their hunt went in UTAH.
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I was muzzy hunting the same unit as you and it was pretty tough this year. Lots of does and little bucks.
 
Hey bux!

I Think The Moon Was SCREWIN With Us!

But Ya!

The DRATville Deer Herd Over All Is In Big Trouble!

6"-8" Of Fresh Snow So That Helps Maybe Seeing Them!

Pitiful How Few Of Tracks/Deer We Seen For The Amount Of Territory Covered/Hiked/Glassed!!

But The Places We're Hunting You're Basically Looking For Just A Buck Or Two!

It's One Of The Worst Units In The State For Deer!
 
Bux n Dux said:
Why? So internet scouters can get all their after? It doesn’t matter to anywhere other than me, as to where I was located.
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Nobody is virtual scouting via your post. If you mention a unit, you are giving several hundred square miles, not a GPS location or a specific canyon.

Guys already have their tags, they are restricted to their unit, and they most likely already have their spot.

I never understood the ultra-secrecy mentality, when asking about something as general as a unit. Besides, it's not like you're exactly revealing a hotspot now, are you? 😉
 
ColdBore said:
Nobody is virtual scouting via your post. If you mention a unit, you are giving several hundred square miles, not a GPS location or a specific canyon.

Guys already have their tags, they are restricted to their unit, and they most likely already have their spot.

I never understood the ultra-secrecy mentality, when asking about something as general as a unit. Besides, it's not like you're exactly revealing a hotspot now, are you? 😉
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You need to copy and paste this and send it over to rockslide. Those buttheads over there nuke just about every thread that mentions a unit specifically by name or number.
 
I took a year off the deer, but wished I had gotten a tag versus a point.

Reports and stories I'm seeing are actually very positive.

A lot more bigger and older age class bucks being harvested than I thought would be.

Kinda makes sense though, our record snowfall in 21-22 hammered our younger deer and left the oldest, strongest bucks to carry on.

I think the next two seasons might be rough because we virtually lost an entire age class that would be 3.5 and 4.5 in 25-26, especially in the northern and eastern parts of the state.

Time will tell....
 
Both of the Wasatch units are doing what they are supposed to do.

I know of one 200” deer that got whacked off a road on opening morning. Couple other dandy bucks got killed as well.

Spent opening morning tooling around Moab with the fam, went out this morning glassed up 7 bucks, couple 3 yr old 4 points and now I’m sitting in church.
 
I am going out with my son in law for his first deer hunt ever. He lives in Logan and has a general tag there. Hunting Friday and Saturday. He will be thrilled to shot a 2 point.
 
TheOneRidgeRunner said:
Every person that I know who had a deer tag and actually hunted has killed a deer this year.
This rifle hunt with two days of snow and rain before the opener is making it a guaranteed slaughter in the units I typically hunt
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I can't wait to see the difference and comparisons in success rates now that everything is mandatory reporting.

My guess is it will rise my quite a margin.
 
Bigwiffy said:
I love this post every year.....rifle guys spend half a day out driving roads then the whining starts.....carry on in your pumpkin suits and 40x scopes! Good luck!
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This is true and I’m one of those guys who drove around and observed the tactics and ethics of the people around me to decide I wasn’t going to continue to hunt that area. It was an experimental draw for me and I gained great intel on the pulse of the hunt unit. I decided I’ll go somewhere else next year or whenever I draw a different Utah tag. The situation seemed sad to me and I just didn’t want to be there. I’ve hunted a lot of places in different states and this was the most wrong feeling of a hunt I’ve ever had. Bash if you must, but that area is gorgeous country and I felt sorry for the whole area from what I saw. I actually happened upon a fire that someone started and was still burning long after they left..I put it out the best I could but it could have turned into another forest fire (and we were surrounded by old burns)..that is stupid. As much as we don’t want law enforcement involved, people need held accountable. If you started a fire in your glassing spot and left it in BoX Elder you should get a swift ass-kicking! I won’t ever put in for that tag again and Utah needs a makeover of their wildlife plan. Sound off mouths!!
 
Seemed about typical for an Utah deer opener the last handful of years. The dusting of snow definitely helped the hunting. Utah could be awesome if some of these areas could get some age class on them. But I think the dwr has taken action as well as any western state to stabilize the mule deer numbers. Considering our large human population, they do alright with the hand they’re dealt. If we had Wyomings human population we’d be right at the top for mule deer hunting IMO.
 
Calbuck said:
This is true and I’m one of those guys who drove around and observed the tactics and ethics of the people around me to decide I wasn’t going to continue to hunt that area. It was an experimental draw for me and I gained great intel on the pulse of the hunt unit. I decided I’ll go somewhere else next year or whenever I draw a different Utah tag. The situation seemed sad to me and I just didn’t want to be there. I’ve hunted a lot of places in different states and this was the most wrong feeling of a hunt I’ve ever had. Bash if you must, but that area is gorgeous country and I felt sorry for the whole area from what I saw. I actually happened upon a fire that someone started and was still burning long after they left..I put it out the best I could but it could have turned into another forest fire (and we were surrounded by old burns)..that is stupid. As much as we don’t want law enforcement involved, people need held accountable. If you started a fire in your glassing spot and left it in BoX Elder you should get a swift ass-kicking! I won’t ever put in for that tag again and Utah needs a makeover of their wildlife plan. Sound off mouths!!
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That's too bad, your stewardship is appreciated. With that said you have the best part of the hunt ahead of you, sucks you've thrown in the towel. Lots of good bucks hitting the dirt.
 
I'm excited for later in the week.

But honestly the opener was a bust, no complaints, hunting is hunting, but just getting to places to even get the hunt started was near impossible after a day of rain, covered in snow, followed with fog.

Turned into playing in the snow more than hunting, and that's ok, I got time.

Saw only 2 small bucks.

Was encouraged on the muzzy with the better class of bucks we saw daily.

IMG20241019092218.jpg


IMG_20241018_111123_01.jpg
 
The areas open to rifle on public land on the wasatch font were decimated by that bad winter. Hard to even find a deer
 
Dangbig said:
Passed on a bunch muzzle hunting seen a few good ones
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Glad you saw some on the muzzle load season!
There were 7 bucks checked in the first day, Logan canyon.
This is pathetic.
There are a couple nice bucks, and a couple big bucks still. Having 10-12 cameras out in the same places, year after year, and bow hunting 8 days, I can tell you deer and elk numbers on the Cache are poor. Hunted it for 50 years. Seen the ups and downs. It is way down.
 
huntin50 said:
Glad you saw some on the muzzle load season!
There were 7 bucks checked in the first day, Logan canyon.
This is pathetic.
There are a couple nice bucks, and a couple big bucks still. Having 10-12 cameras out in the same places, year after year, and bow hunting 8 days, I can tell you deer and elk numbers on the Cache are poor. Hunted it for 50 years. Seen the ups and downs. It is way down.
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Yes it is down
 
A lot of People. A lot of mud. Not a single deer in some areas that always have deer. But found quite a few in other areas. Several 2 point and small 2X3's. 2 decent 3X4's and a decent little 4X4 (maybe 20 inches wide). Would have been great had my son not broken his clavicle wrecking his dirt bike last week and couldn't come. I'll head out again for a couple of days later this week and see if I can glass up something that piques my interest and is worth going after.
 
I switched it up this year found a new unit I had interest in hunting. We had a blast! My dad and son was with me. We used our horses to access some cool country. No complaints. Still got a few more days and plans to hunt. It’s a great time of year.
 
I took a mediocre 3x4. Went on Wednesday to get ahead of the weather and hoped to scout up some good bucks before opening day. It was a nasty to-get-to spot. So, thought I’d have it to myself. Spent all day Thursday and Friday socked in with no visibility, so no glassing. And on Saturday morning, dudes actually were in the area. Two of them told me they also thought they’d have it to themselves. I guess there’s nowhere people won’t go anymore, haha. Anyway, the big bucks all stayed on the private side. So, I took the biggest of the 5 bucks I saw.

IMG_3943.jpeg
 
We were above A World-Basin Famous Spot Opening Morning/Day & Never Heard One Shot From Down Below!

Keep POUNDIN It Boys Maybe A F'N Miracle Will Happen & It Will Magically Fix Itself!

The Shoot-Out Didn't Happen This Year & Hasn't For Many Years Now!

But I Think It's A Great Place For A whole Bunch Of Hunters To Be & Stay!
 
This is the biggest of the 10 bucks we seen in three days the deer numbers are way down and people are congregating in the nurseries so who know how many little bucks got killed
20241021_094728.jpg
 
I tend to agree with Fullthrottle.
We hunted a high tag number unit that had plenty of pressure. Not many shots though. Good numbers of doe, fawns and yearling doe/bucks- 2 and 3 year old bucks too. Daughter shot a nice mature 4x5 plus eyeguards and decent mass. The buck was fat- even considering the lack of moisture this Fall. The future looks bright if weather patterns give us what we need. If we drought out or winterkill it will be reset again.
 
Calbuck said:
This is true and I’m one of those guys who drove around and observed the tactics and ethics of the people around me to decide I wasn’t going to continue to hunt that area. It was an experimental draw for me and I gained great intel on the pulse of the hunt unit. I decided I’ll go somewhere else next year or whenever I draw a different Utah tag. The situation seemed sad to me and I just didn’t want to be there.
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So will you do the same "drive around and look" when you draw a different unit, then come back and say the same thing?
 
My son and I both drew NE Utah tags and decided not to hunt them. My son is 16 and has shot a few small bucks and wants a bigger buck. My buddy who lives in the area reported what we expected and that is the deer herd is really down. Something we probably knew already, but still decided to draw the tags. We could have still gone out, probably should have just to learn the area better but the Mrs. isn't feeling great lately, so we didn't try. My boy also has a couple of cow tags this year, so we'll concentrate on them and give the deer herd a break.
 
Come On fstop!

We Can Show You Some Nice Country Where There Used To Be A Few But They Don't Let Em Live Past Age 3 maybe 4 Max anymore!

Maybe Nilly Can CHIME In & Tell Everybody They Are Mature At That Age Because Somebody Said It On A Podcast!

I'm Not Changing My Mind!

Mature At 3-4 Years Old Is TOTAL BULLSSHITT!

They Shoulda Said:

3-4 Years Old Is As Mature As The Get On Average In This State!

fstop said:
My son and I both drew NE Utah tags and decided not to hunt them. My son is 16 and has shot a few small bucks and wants a bigger buck. My buddy who lives in the area reported what we expected and that is the deer herd is really down. Something we probably knew already, but still decided to draw the tags. We could have still gone out, probably should have just to learn the area better but the Mrs. isn't feeling great lately, so we didn't try. My boy also has a couple of cow tags this year, so we'll concentrate on them and give the deer herd a break.
Click to expand...
 
elkassassin said:
Come On fstop!

We Can Show You Some Nice Country Where There Used To Be A Few But They Don't Let Em Live Past Age 3 maybe 4 Max anymore!

Maybe Nilly Can CHIME In & Tell Everybody They Are Mature At That Age Because Somebody Said It On A Podcast!

I'm Not Changing My Mind!

Mature At 3-4 Years Old Is TOTAL BULLSSHITT!

They Shoulda Said:

3-4 Years Old Is As Mature As The Get On Average In This State!
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NE region? Take a year off that. If you see a 2 year old, you're doing good.
 
I had a great Archery hunt on a general unit in the Central part of the state. Spent about 8 days hunting total. My buddy killed a decent 150" 4x4 on opening morning and we saw about 10 bucks before he killed and then spent the rest of the morning packing it out.

I went back for 6 days straight after that and had plenty of encounters. Saw 75+ bucks in 6 days of hunting, but not a single buck over 160". I was looking for something a little bigger this year.

I had scouted in July and had a bunch of Trail cams up early. Had a 190+ buck I really wanted to find, but never could turn him up during the hunt. There was another double dropper buck in the area as well that I could never turn up. A local guy killed a huge 200+ buck in the area. I had heard about that buck, but never put eyes on him. The big bucks in this area seem to disappear and it's so thick with quakies that they are hard to pattern and glass up. I guess that's how they get big.

I ate my tag, but I'm totally ok with that. It's a general tag and I had a great time watching bucks all summer and fall. Great year down there in Central Utah and the deer are in great shape. Wish I could say the same for the Northern Utah deer herd, but its going to take several years to recover up here.
 

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