The Pahvant,
One of Utah’s premier elk units, roughly 850 square miles of pure elk country. It goes from the sage covered valley floors through cedar; juniper covered midsection with the high county covered with a mix of aspen stands and deep thick pine canyons.
Over ¾ public lands with roughly 90% of that being fish Lake national forest. Much of the private is at the base of the range with some big chunks of private on the south end of the unit. The access is pretty even unit wide with the Piute ATV trail system running unit wide. Some trails are limited to 50-inch machines only.
All amenities are available with Fillmore, Salina, and Richfield all within a short drive. This is busy area that is very popular with ATV riders so expects to see lots of traffic.
Season dates, success rate, draw odds, for limited entry elk:
Archery: Aug. 15 –Sept. 11, less than 25% success, 15 points for 100% successful draw in 2019
Early rifle: Sept. 12 -20, 90% success, 24 points for 100% successful draw in 2019
Muzzleloader: Sept. 21 - Oct. 2, 85% success, 20 points successful draw in 2019
Late rifle: Nov. 7 - 15, 80% success, 20 points successful draw in 2019
Elk hunting the pahvant will be a great experience if you do your homework. Archery hunters need to do their summer scouting. Much of Utah’s archery season is pre-rut and summer groups of elk so for the best success on archery elk on the pahvant is Having a bull found and patterned is key.
The unit is great for glassing, with big deep canyons. Get out in the night to listen for bugling bull when rifle and muzzleloader season starts so you know where to start glassing at Graylight.
Late season rifle guys find the most rugged remote ridges and start scanning for those big bulls many will be bachelor grouped again.
For each season guys and gals don’t overlook the cedar juniper forest at the lower levels of the mountain. This is not your typical elk country but can and will hold some great bulls.
