High desert ranches offer quality mule deer in Utah


Rich LaRocco 801-709-9280 phone or text
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High desert CWMU ranches in northern Utah produce quality mule deer

This hunt produces quality mule deer on northern Utah ranch land that is managed under the state's Wildlife Management Unit program. The outfitter has two ranches. One of them is 20,000 acres of mostly high desert cattle range with a 50 to 100-acre alfalfa food to attract deer and provide them with top-quality nutrition. The other ranch covers about 4,000 acres of mostly dry farm with most of a high desert mountain included.

As a reward for proper management through a limit on the number of bucks taken each year, the outfitter is allowed a longer season that can start in September, when the bucks are easier to hunt and spend more time in the open feeding. The outfitter takes a maximum of two hunters per year on the smaller ranch and five hunters per year on the larger ranch.

We started booking for the outfitter in 1987, and he consistently gets high marks for his hunts. This trip is for the hunter who is looking for a quality experience with a large amount of private land to himself and good numbers of mature bucks.

The bigger bucks can be dandies. Two years ago a customer killed a buck scoring 217 B&C points. When Rich LaRocco of Hunts.Net used to lease the smaller ranch in the late '80s, he produced a buck over 200 Pope and Young for a bowhunter from Wisconsin.

Though there's a possibility of taking a 190 or bigger buck, you have a much more realistic chance of finding a good, mature buck in the 175 to 185 B&C range.

There are two hunts. The first hunt is usually about twice the price of the second hunt because the first hunters usually take the largest buck on the property.

Accommodations are in a small ranch house. Meals are included. Hunters are picked up at a hotel near the Salt Lake City aiport. You don't have to draw a tag for this hunt.

All pictures on this page are from 2005-2009. Click on a photo to see a larger image. There is one opening for 2011 on the second hunt on one of the ranches.

Five-day hunt	Price per person
Hunt MD4514PR
1st hunt, early Sept.	Booked for 2011. Call for 2012.
2nd hunt, mid-Sept.	One opening starting Sept. 12, 2011.
Hunter success	Trophy size
Typicall 100%. Hunters who hold out for huge bucks typically pass on 175 to 185 class bucks.	Best buck so far scored 217 B&C points. Though record-book bucks are a possibility, 175 to 185 class animals are more realistic.
Area	Lodging/meals
Two private ranches in northern Utah. One covers 20,000 acres and is mostly high desert range with a new 50 to 100-acre alfalfa food plot going in for 2007. The other is a dry farm and high desert mountain with CRP and crop fields around it. That one is about 4,000 acres.	Lodging in a ranch house are included. Meals are included in the price of the 1x1 fully guided hunt. No meals are included on the semi-guided hunt. A representative of the rancher or outfitter will show you around the property.
Dates	Travel
Hunts usually start Sept. 1 and Sept. 12.	Meet the outfitter at a motel near the Salt Lake City airport.
Licenses	Notes
The hunt price does not include the license or tag fee. Click here for updated license fees.	We've booked for this outfitter since 1987. Most hunters go back repeatedly. 6.75% sales tax is not included in the price.