DWR Press Release
More than 29,000 permits to hunt bull elk with a rifle or muzzleloader in Utah will go on sale at 8 a.m. on July 14.
General archery elk permits will also go on sale July 14. General archery elk permits are not limited in number, though, so there’s no rush to get one. General archery elk permits will be available throughout both the general and extended archery seasons.
8 a.m. on July 14
Starting at 8 a.m. on July 14, you can buy a bull elk permit at the Division of Wildlife Resources’ website (wildlife.utah.gov) and from DWR offices and more than 300 hunting license agents across Utah.
A list of license agents and where they’re located is available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/licenses/agent.html.
Judi Tutorow, wildlife licensing coordinator for the DWR, said the agency’s website could be busy on the morning of July 14. “If the site reaches the maximum number of people it can serve,” she explained, “a message will pop up indicating the site has reached its full capacity. If that happens, don’t leave the site. Stay on it and be patient. You should be able to access the site again in a few minutes.”
Any-bull or spike-only units
Before you buy a rifle or muzzleloader permit, you need to decide which units you want to hunt on: any-bull units, where you’re allowed to take a bull of any size, or spike-only units, where only spike bulls may be taken.
If you buy an any-bull permit, you can hunt on all of the any-bull units in Utah. If you buy a spike-only permit, you can hunt on all of the spike-only units in the state.
If you’re new to elk hunting, Justin Shannon, big game coordinator for the DWR, encourages you to buy a permit for the spike-only units. “Utah has lots of spike bulls,” he explained. “And there’s a lot of public land to hunt them on.”
If you decide to chase branch antlered bulls on an any-bull unit, Shannon said the two Uinta Mountains units, the North Slope unit and the South Slope unit, are your best bets.
If you look at the map on pages 48 and 49 of the 2015 Utah Big Game Field Regulations Guidebook, you’ll see Utah has quite a few any-bull elk units.
“But there’s a challenge to hunting these units,” Shannon stated. “With the exception of the North Slope and South Slope units, many of these units are covered by private land or they don’t have high numbers of elk on them.”
Copies of the 2015 Utah Big Game Field Regulations Guidebook are available for free at www.wildlife.utah.gov/guidebooks.
For more information, call the nearest Division of Wildlife Resources office or the DWR’s Salt Lake City office at (801) 538-4700.