• Every hunter with a general-season any-legal-weapon permit on the Ogden unit must submit a CWD sample if they harvest a deer.
• The CWD sample requirement for limited-entry any-legal-weapon buck deer hunters in the Castle Valley and Moab Valley areas continues.
• Antlerless hunt information moved online: season dates and application requirements are in the Antlerless Application Guidebook from 29 May.
• The antlerless draw moved to a new online system at utahdraws.com.
• The West Cache elk extended archery hunt boundary changed and its season now runs to 31 January.

Archery

Guidebook, printed pp. 9 and 26

• Archery equipment

• HAMSS and antlerless permits on an extended archery hunt

Muzzleloader

Guidebook, printed p. 26

• Muzzleloader, to the guidebook's legal weapon rules on printed p. 26

Any legal weapon

Guidebook, printed p. 26

• Any legal weapon under the guidebook's rules on printed p. 26

Legal Shooting Hours

Guidebook, printed p. 25

"You may take big game animals from 30 minutes before official sunrise until 30 minutes after official sunset." Utah Code § 23A-5-309 and Utah Admin. Rule R657-5-6. One line, no seasonal or unit variation.

Fluorescent Orange

Guidebook, printed p. 25

One or more of a hat, shirt, jacket, coat, vest or sweater in hunter orange, worn on the exterior so that it can be seen. At least one such item must be visible while hunting. Required of anyone hunting big game, with four exceptions: a once-in-a-lifetime, statewide conservation or statewide sportsman hunt; an archery, muzzleloader or HAMSS hunt *outside* an area where a general-season any-legal-weapon bull elk or buck deer hunt is occurring; hunting on a Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit, unless the CWMU operator requires it; and urban deer removal under Utah Admin. Rule R657-65. The second exception is the one that catches people — a bowhunter inside a rifle unit during the rifle season is not exempt. Utah Code § 23A-11-205.

Sundays

Guidebook, which prints no Sunday exception

Utah sets no Sunday restriction on big game hunting.

How a Utah deer permit works

Guidebook, printed pp. 11, 17 and 44

• A general-season buck deer permit names a unit and a weapon type, and it is drawn — the 2026 application closed on 23 April.
• Permits remaining after the draw may be bought over the counter, but buying one forfeits every general-season buck deer preference point you hold.
• You must be at least 12 years old to hunt big game in Utah; an 11-year-old may apply if they turn 12 by 31 December.
• An archery buck deer permit also admits you to the extended archery areas if you take the annual ethics course.

Where a permit does not reach

Utah's own boundary descriptions, and the guidebook, printed pp. 33-34

DWR prints the same warning against every general-season unit: "A hunting permit does not authorize the permit holder to hunt on Native American trust lands, CWMUs (unless you specifically have a permit for that CWMU) or on National Park lands. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of hunters to learn if hunting is allowed and what specific rules and regulations may apply on National Monuments, National Wildlife Refuges, State Parks, UDWR Wildlife and Waterfowl Management areas, military installations and within the boundaries of cities, towns and municipalities. Written permission is required to hunt private lands." All of Utah's national parks and monuments are closed to hunting except Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears.

Units that are mostly private

Utah's own boundary descriptions

DWR flags several general-season units as all or largely private land and advises getting written permission before you even apply: Chalk Creek, Morgan-South Rich and East Canyon among them. A permit for such a unit is not access to it.

Guidebook, printed pp. 4 and 24

Every deer must be reported harvest survey within 30 days of the end of your season.

• File the mandatory harvest survey for every big game and antlerless hunt — wildlife.utah.gov/harvest
• A limited-entry archery hunter who goes on to hunt the extended areas still files within 30 days of the season printed on their permit
• Submit a CWD sample if your permit is for a mandatory sampling hunt; a kit and instructions arrive in the post

Guidebook, printed pp. 4 and 22

Utah requires CWD samples from hunters on named units, and the list grows. For 2026 the Ogden unit joins the general-season any-legal-weapon requirement.

• All hunters with a general-season any legal weapon permit on the Ogden unit must submit a CWD sample if they harvest a deer.
• The requirement continues for limited-entry any-legal-weapon buck deer hunters in the Castle Valley and Moab Valley areas.
• Hunters with a permit for a mandatory sampling hunt receive a kit and instructions by post.

• The ten extended archery areas are drawn on their own boundaries, which are not the thirty-one general-season units this app maps a pin to. The dates are split at 15 October — all ten open before it, seven after — but which of the ten you are standing in is not something a general-season unit can answer. Check the Utah Hunt Planner at hunt.utah.gov before hunting an extended area after 15 October.
• Utah's general-season dates are the same in all thirty-one units. The unit on your permit says where you may hunt, not when — so unlike most western states, the calendar here is not the thing to check by unit.
• The thirty-one units here are the general-season units, and they do not cover Utah. About a sixth of the state — the Book Cliffs, the Henry Mountains, Paunsaugunt, Pahvant, Thousand Lakes and San Juan/Elk Ridge — is limited-entry buck deer country with no general season at all, and a pin there resolves to no unit rather than to a season. That is the honest answer for a general-season permit and a useless one if you drew a limited-entry tag: those hunts have their own dates in the guidebook, and this app does not carry them. "All of Utah's national parks and monuments—except the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments—are closed to hunting", and those are outside the units too.
• The extended archery areas are drawn on their own boundaries, which are not the general-season unit boundaries, and this app maps the general-season units. It shows the longer of the two extended date sets, 12 September to 30 November; three areas close on 15 October instead. Check hunt.utah.gov for which area you are in.
• The extended archery season needs the annual online archery ethics course, taken before the season opens, with proof carried in the field.
• A general-season buck deer permit is for a buck. Antlerless hunts are applied for separately in June, through a different guidebook and a different draw.
• Hunter orange is required of archery and muzzleloader hunters wherever their hunt falls inside an area with a general-season any-legal-weapon deer or bull elk hunt running. The app shows the orange rule against the rifle seasons; check the overlap before assuming a bow exempts you.
• A permit does not authorise hunting on tribal trust land, on a CWMU without that CWMU's permit, or in a national park. Several general-season units are largely private land.
• Utah's peak breeding date is DWR's mid-November, from its statewide mule deer plan, weeks after the general rifle season closes. The plan names the middle of the month rather than a day; the rut meter uses 15 November.
• Utah publishes no open statewide parcel service, so there are no property lines on the map here.

Report wildlife crimes

800-662-3337, or text 847411

Ogden office

801-476-2740

Cedar City office

435-865-6100

Hunt Planner

hunt.utah.gov