# Mt. Dutton General season deer



## sambo3006 (Feb 25, 2016)

Hey guys,
I last hunted Utah in 2016 when I took my 6x6 bull elk on the Wasatch late hunt. It's been a several years since I hunted for deer here and I'm a ways out from a decent LE tag with my 10 NR points but I have 6 general season deer points that I was thinking about using this year. 
I was looking at Mt. Dutton GS rifle and it seems to have a decent success rate with not too high numbers of hunters. What do you guys think about this hunt? 
I'm willing to do some hiking to get to some areas not visible by road. Would I be able to see some bucks most days and maybe have an outside chance at a 3.5 yr old buck? 
Thanks!
Sam


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## TPrawitt91 (Sep 1, 2015)

I have only hunted elk and turkeys on that unit. But I have seen some nice bucks, one in particular was a slammer! My buddy and I were a ways in the unit glassing on a finger ridge. Got up to make the hike back to the trailhead and bumped a giant out of the trees maybe 20 yards from where we had been glassing for 3 hours. He must have been there with those does all day haha


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## copple2 (Jan 23, 2008)

I'd love to know insights here as well. I hope to draw a late bull elk tag here in the next 4-6 years and thought about deer hunting it until then to get to know the area.

With all the closed forest service roads, I would assume there are some places to find some decent bucks if you put the time in.

Any decent water sources for backpacking into the roadless areas?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk


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## Bucksnbulls08 (Sep 18, 2008)

The Dutton Unit is a very diverse unit with a few quality bucks in the most of remote of areas. The best bucks are on the steep rugged mid unit and south. They are very few and far between. I am on the unit a lot through out the year and in my opinion, the quality for deer and elk both have taken a nose dive. In most of the places I could take an evening drive and glass, that would produce 30 to 50 deer, 15 or so bucks and a couple nice shooters, is reduced to maybe 12 deer and only bucks are Spock’s and 2 points with an occasional small 3 point. I spent a lot of time looking for bucks to photograph during the rut and found 1 buck that would have been worth filling a tag on. Winter range observations have produced considerably smaller bucks as well, when normally I could find the big guys after all the seasons but not the last couple years. Fingers crossed this winter isn’t long and harsh on them or the quantity and quality will be even less.
Elk, they are still there in reasonable numbers but quality is reduced. Dutton was a premier unit with 350 plus bulls with some 400’s. Since the DWR reduced the age objective to 4 year old bulls, that is exactly what the average big bull is. While there are still some huge bulls on the south half of the unit, the average big bull is now about a 330 or 340 bull.
One last thing to keep in mind. Sheep are grazed in very large herd, on the unit. They start on the south end and travel the length of the unit to the north. They are usually moving onto the north half in August and reach the north end in September. The unit is rough, steep and rugged with minimal road access. They call it the “Rock Pile” for a reason.
Good luck.


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## sambo3006 (Feb 25, 2016)

Thank you Bucksnbulls08. That is some solid information. It sounds like I should look at a different unit. I don't mind some hiking but I since I usually hunt solo, rugged and steep doesn't sound like a fun general season hunt, especially if the pack out is just a forky.


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## Bucksnbulls08 (Sep 18, 2008)

The majority of bucks within easy hike from the road are young immature bucks. The few big bucks left live in the nastiest of country but they do exist.
Good luck.


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## TPrawitt91 (Sep 1, 2015)

That unit is tough, I have seen some quality animals, but only have a few seasons on the unit and it’s been a couple years since I’ve hunted it


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