# 2014 Henry Mountain Archery Deer



## hansenusn

My brother has drawn the coveted Henry Mountain tag for this year. We are starting our scouting plans and are curious of good areas to camp and possibly start our scouting at? 

Anyone familiar with the area that knows of decent areas that we can get our 5th wheels into?

I hear Mt. Ellen and Mt. Pennell are good areas to start looking. 

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


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## Critter

It sounds like you have never been there. The best advise that I can give is to park your trailers down low and then go learn the mountains. There are a lot of places to park trailers on them. A couple of words of advise, make sure that you have good tires on both the trailers and your trucks, take extra fuel, oil, transmission fluid, and a extra spare tire (2) besides the one that you already have for both the truck and trailer. If it rains don't try to get out, wait it out until it dries up some.


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## hansenusn

You are right as I have never been down there myself. I am just looking for starting points. We usually hunt deer on the Abajo Mountains or La Sal.


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## RandomElk16

I started a thread on here with the hopes my dad was drawing. He had 17 or 18 points, and did not. 

The positive to this is the area is huge. He has spent a good amount of time there and research, internet, google earth, forum scouting done more on my end as well as gear planning and purchasing. However, after all this my dad still feels like he needs one more scouting season. That's how big it is, and how much of a OIL the area really is.

The biggest 2 things I learned about the Henry's:

1. It's huge. Your brother needs to go down there a few times and learn the area. You can find deer without, but nothing will beat going down there and knowing the area and roads.

2. Be prepared. You need hunting gear, but you also want all the safety/non hunting preparedness things you can have. Tire(s), chains, patch kits, etc... Knowing the area goes with this. There are some roads you will not want to be on when they get the type of flash floods they get.

What season does he have? The deer change habits every month it seems.


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## Critter

For archery hunting think high real high. The grassy hills to the south of Mt. Ellen are good along with the burn areas to the south. 

If you come in from the west you can get your trailers into good area that are down low and then take drives to see what the mountain holds, if you come in from the east do the same thing. 

If you know what you are doing you can get a trailer just about anywhere up there but it isn't necessary, there are good camping spots for trailers on the east side of Mt. Hillers and at Airport Springs just to the west of the Horn. 

On your scouting trips look for the deer up high in the early morning and late evening. 

But it is still best to park where you can get your trailer out if it rains, those roads once you get onto the mountains themselves get like gumbo when they are wet but it doesn't take long for them to dry out.


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## hansenusn

He has one of the Archery tags. We have 2 maybe 3 scouting trips planned so far.


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## hansenusn

Thanks for the advise on camping Critters. I hear they get some terrential rains down there sometimes. We are coming down from Salt Lake not really sure yet of where we will enter from yet though.


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## goofy elk

I dissagree on it's a "Huge" unit ......
The bookcliffs, or the Paunsy, Those are huge ...

The Henry's, archery,,,,,Bull creek pass, around Copper basin, To Mcmillian springs..
Just circle that high road------------------Good to go with a bow.;-).

Gawd I miss the antler restric days when a guy could just hunt right there every year:!:


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## Mr Muleskinner

Great advice here. We saw far and away the most deer high while scouting for Bison during the archery deer hunt but the biggest we saw, far and away was right here:

38° 1'0.98"N
110°53'27.79"W

Saw a ton of nice bucks but this one was a true mammoth. Saw it crossing the creek two more times during the Bison hunt in December. I would have to spend a day right there in a blind waiting for Mr. Big to come around the corner if I had an archery tag.


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## hansenusn

Thanks for the insight Muleskinner. 

Is there any truth to Mt. Pennell being better than Mt. Ellen?


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## Mr Muleskinner

hansenusn said:


> Thanks for the insight Muleskinner.
> 
> Is there any truth to Mt. Pennell being better than Mt. Ellen?


I haven't spent near as much time down there as many have but in the time I was there I can tell you that we covered A LOT of ground. We saw nice bucks to be had on both mountains and in between. Heard a lot of complaining from other hunters. Coincidentally those same hunters seemed more interested in stirring up dust with an ATV than they were putting boots in the ground.

If it were me though I would spend most of my time on the south, southwest side of Ellen and go high.

We sat on top of the Horn glassing for bison on afternoon and lost count of the bucks that we saw.

Put in the work and there is no reason you shouldn't be packing out an awesome deer.

Do not underestimate what you have heard with regards to roads and weather. That place is is like it's own little planet and it can get ugly real fast.


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## Critter

When we used to hunt that area back in the antler restriction days we used to hunt up high south of Mt Ellen. We would spot the bucks laying in the tall grass during the day and then come in from the east above the bromine mine and over the top and come down on them. Also since the fires back in 2003 Mt Hillers is also a prime area since the fires cleared off a lot of trees and brush to the point that the deer love it. 

The last time that I was down there we saw a 37"-40" buck on Coyote Flats but that was in November just before the bison hunt.


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## RandomElk16

Goofy, 

I was meaning huge as far as being undisturbed and minimal roads. Hoofing it on an archery hunt... It may seem there are only a few main peaks, but when its a hunt like this and you have a bow, being on the wrong peak can cost ya. Deciding where to hunt on a given time at the Henry's can make it seem big!

Pennell vs Ellen.. this is my point exactly. Hillers, Pennell, the coyote benches.... There are deer everywhere making the area seem huge when you have to pick one spot. 

Ellen doesn't necessarily have the biggest... but it usually holds the most bucks.


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## hansenusn

So we will be headed down scouting next weekend and am still trying to figure out our camping areas. Where do you guys think that we should enter from? Right now we are figuring that we will drop our trailer down at the base and drive in and see where we think we can get.


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## RandomElk16

hansenusn said:


> So we will be headed down scouting next weekend and am still trying to figure out our camping areas. Where do you guys think that we should enter from? Right now we are figuring that we will drop our trailer down at the base and drive in and see where we think we can get.


When you say "base" where do you mean? There is many "bases" around there.

Hanksville, coyote benches, capital reef, the horn.. There is a possible base all over. What mountain excites him the most? Base by that and start exploring there. You may change your mind after scouting, so then next time try a new "base"


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## Critter

How big of a trailer are you dragging in? Either the east side or west side have good enough roads to get a 5th wheel up quite a ways with no problems getting out if it gets wet. If you want to get up into some trees you can go up past Coyote Benches and then hang a right and head towards the Horn. There are some nice camping spots before you come around to the horn. The west side you can head to Airplane Springs just below the Horn or head up to McMillan Springs on the Mt. Ellen side. Or if you want to camp down low and just drive around there is Apple Brush Flats on the west side before you even head up a hill.


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## Old Fudd

Goofy. Agree 1000% . The Good old days. Gone forever.. San Juan restriction days. BUCKS. BUCKS> BUCKS>


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## Huge29

Did you catch the part about good tires? Let me clarify, not only good tires, but you must have LT tires, not P rated passenger tires, they wont last much more than an hour down there. So, if you take a Suburban with OEM or tires purchased at Costco have roadside service on call for you. You must have the 8-12 ply tires. I have spoken to many people who have had serious tire issues down there making for a terrible trip and experience. The granite is very unforgiving and shreds tires on ATV's, trailers, trucks, etc. Good luck!


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## Critter

I think that the tire eating roads is a bit over hyped. They are really no different than any other graveled, rock based roads in the state. You big problem is that you are a long ways from help if you end up with a couple of flats. I ran around down there for years and never did have a flat or tore up tire, but if your tires are on the fringe of being replaced then there is a possibility that you may ruin a couple of them. Same for your ATV tires but their problem is the low pressure that you run in them, it doesn't take that much to tear one up if it is low.


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## hansenusn

Critter said:


> How big of a trailer are you dragging in? Either the east side or west side have good enough roads to get a 5th wheel up quite a ways with no problems getting out if it gets wet. If you want to get up into some trees you can go up past Coyote Benches and then hang a right and head towards the Horn. There are some nice camping spots before you come around to the horn. The west side you can head to Airplane Springs just below the Horn or head up to McMillan Springs on the Mt. Ellen side. Or if you want to camp down low and just drive around there is Apple Brush Flats on the west side before you even head up a hill.


Thanks Critter.

We will be taking up 5th wheels. My trailer is a 28ft. My dads is a 36ft. My Brother will be in a smaller bumper pull. The BLM was telling me that we wouldn't get them anywhere on the mountain. We were hoping to get to McMillan or Airplane Springs. Even near the horn would be nice. I'm just not sure where to enter from. We were looking at coming in on Sawmill Basin Rd. But if there is a better / easier entry point then that would be helpful.


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## hansenusn

RandomElk16 said:


> When you say "base" where do you mean? There is many "bases" around there.
> 
> Hanksville, coyote benches, capital reef, the horn.. There is a possible base all over. What mountain excites him the most? Base by that and start exploring there. You may change your mind after scouting, so then next time try a new "base"


By base I was meaning that we may have to drop our trailers just off the highway and drive in without them to determine where we could get to. We are hoping to get to McMillan or Airplane Springs. I have been trying to figure out the best roads to enter from where we could get somewhere with trees to set up camp. Scouting we will be looking all over into different areas.

Really just wanting to figure out where to come in from and how far we can get before it is too rough for trailers.


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## Critter

If that is where you want to get to then come in from the west side. That way you won't have any passes to go through. The road that you want is the Notom/Bullfrog road off of HWY 24 and then take a left turn about 3 1/2 miles once the pavement ends or just before the second set of farms, and head towards the hills. 

I would still camp down low until I got some knowledge of the roads.

I was thinking that if you want to come in from the east off of the Bullfrog highway I would not go any higher than Coyote Benches until you get to know the roads. There is usually a cow camp at the benches with a 5th wheel trailer but the area is large enough that you wouldn't get into each others way.


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## hansenusn

So if we decide to come in off the West side then we will use the Notum-Bullfrog Rd and head up toward McMillan Springs. 

What if we decide to come in off the East side? Is the Coyote Benches the only option or can we get up along cresent creek toward bromide canyon? 

My brother is wanting to focus on Mt. Ellen mostly on this first trip.


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## Critter

You can come up toward Bromide Canyon but I would stay in the bottom where it is flat. I haven't been in that area for quite a while and don't know what the road conditions would be like


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## hansenusn

Thanks Critter,

You have been very helpful.


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## utarchery

i agree with critter. notom road and stay down where its flat. the road is pretty curvy and rough the higher up you get even before mcmillian springs. also PM sent


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## hansenusn

There are definitely some nice bucks on the Henry's. But I see why everyone says its rough. We did get our trailers into Mcmillan springs campground but going through the washes was a task. We did scrape on 1 of them with our trailers. 28 ft 5th Wheel. I would not recommend going there with anything over a 24 ft unless someone is willing to risk it.


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## goofy elk

Mcmillan springs is a GREAT base camp for archery!!!!!
I camped there alot in the 80's .....

That big buck is a STUD!!!!


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