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Your Ultimate Guide for Utah’s Big Game Draw

Erik Schell
|  
  • Erik Schell
Species: Rocky Mountain Elk, Mule Deer, Antelope, Shiras Moose, Bison, Desert Bighorn Sheep, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goat
Location: Utah

The day on which the Utah big game draw posts always garners excitement in our office, and rightfully so. Each year, world-class tags for one of the 8 available species are drawn by those who expected a 20+ year wait but somehow drew in short order. Defying the odds and drawing such a tag can typically be classified as the hunt of a lifetime for almost any hunter.

How the Draw Works

Utah’s big game tags are issued through a modified bonus point system. 50% of the tags in each unit are allocated to the applicants with the most points. The remaining 50% are distributed randomly among everyone else who applied for that hunt. Points also play a role in the random selection process. For instance, an applicant with five points will have his name into the draw five times. This means your draw odds increase from each year as you accrue points.

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Species Breakdown

Elk

Utah boasts the renowned Rocky Mountain elk, with numerous units capable of producing world-class bulls to rival those found in the best units across the West. Every limited-entry elk unit in the state offers the potential for trophy-quality bulls. The state provides a variety of seasons including archery, early rifle, muzzleloader, mid rifle, and late rifle hunts. Archery and early rifle seasons occurring during the rut are highly sought after. While mid rifle hunts offer better draw odds, they typically have higher tag numbers and coincide with spike hunts, resulting in more hunters in the field. Nonetheless, those with minimal points should not overlook this season. Late rifle tags are also in high demand with opportunities to spot bulls on their wintering range where they are easier to observe. Regardless of the unit or season, a limited-entry bull elk tag in Utah promises an exciting hunt.

Mule Deer

Utah offers two types of deer tags: limited-entry and general. Units such as the Henry Mountains, Paunsaugunt, and Oak Creek are renowned for producing trophy bucks, while several other areas across the state are showing signs of rebounding in terms of trophy production. Trophy quality outside these prime areas diminishes rapidly. Archery or muzzleloader hunters are encouraged to consider these weapons for improved draw odds. Please note that Utah will only allow 1X scopes/red dots or iron sights on muzzleloaders starting in 2024.

General deer hunting across the state is not considered a trophy hunt except in unique circumstances. These tags are ideal for youth or families seeking recreational time in the field and game for the freezer. General deer tags are allotted through a true preference points system, ensuring highly predictable draw odds.

Sheep

Utah is home to three wild sheep species: Rocky Mountain Bighorn, California Bighorn, and Desert Bighorn. Like other sheep tags across the West, these opportunities are highly coveted and come with challenging draws. Winners of these coveted tags can expect nearly 100% harvest management by the state, although trophy quality and hunt physicality vary significantly from unit to unit.

Bison

Harvesting a free-range bison is a pinnacle for many hunters and Utah offers exceptional opportunities. The majority of bison tags are available in the Bookcliffs and Henry Mountains. Hunts can be conducted via road networks or in a traditional fashion utilizing horses and wall tents. If you aspire to harvest a wild bison, missing the application deadline is not advisable.

Shiras Moose

A limited number of Shiras moose tags are available in the draw. If you’re already purchasing a non-resident hunting license, it’s worth while to enter the moose draw. Otherwise, it’s not recommended to apply for moose in Utah. Neighboring states like Colorado and Idaho offer larger tag allotments and better draw odds.

Mountain Goat

Stable populations and superior trophy quality attract many hunters to apply for goats in Utah. Every unit has the potential to produce Boone & Crockett trophies and is managed for 100% hunter success.

Pronghorn Antelope

While portions of Utah offer excellent trophy quality for antelope, tags are limited. If you’re already entering the draw for other species, consider applying for antelope as well. But states such as Wyoming, New Mexico, and Montana provide a wider selection of drawable tags.

 

If you’ve ever aspired to pursue bugling bulls, giant mule deer, or even sheep, moose, or mountain goat, you do not want to miss Utah’s application deadline on April 25, 2024. WTA TAGS is here to make sure your draw odds are maximized for these coveted tags. 

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New Zealand: A Spring Paradise

New Zealand: A Spring Paradise

The end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere gives me the itch to travel. I often visit Uganda to chase buffalo, before coming home for Spring turkey season. But this year, I switched it up. My wife, Alka, and I headed south to New Zealand for the last few days of February. We hosted two groups of hunters at two of WTA’s top outfitters and we all enjoyed a wonderful trip.

New Zealand offers endless opportunities for non-hunting companions while delivering a world-class hunting experience. Both lodges where we stayed had dedicated hosts who organized daily activities for the non-hunting guests. Shopping, visiting wineries, sightseeing in Mount Cook, jet boating, and many other activities filled the schedule. Once our hunts wrapped up, the guys joined the ladies on several of these excursions. I especially enjoyed spending a day exploring Mount Cook and an afternoon on the jet boat.

After flying to New Zealand and clearing customs, we caught a short flight to Queenstown. Queenstown is beautiful, situated on a lakeshore with steep mountains dropping straight to the water, making for postcard views. The local food scene is excellent. Alka and I tried multiple restaurants, checked out local shops, and rode the skylift to the top of the mountain. It was nice to have a day or two to acclimate to the 13-hour time difference.

We went to our first lodge, got settled in, visited the rifle range, and then had an incredible dinner.

Alka isn’t really a hunter. She has taken a few animals, and somehow I talked her into hunting a red stag. We got out at daylight with our excellent guide, Victor, when the stags were roaring. We looked at a couple of groups and crept over a ridge to glass into a creek bottom. We found stags roaring, fighting, feeding, and moving all over.

We finally decided on a beautiful red stag with a tank of a body, heavy mass, great crowns. And you could tell he was old. He was also dominant. The others gave way whenever he came near.

After a couple of hours, our stag bedded with another away from the others, and we decided to make a move. Victor expertly maneuvered us down into the thick creek bottom with the wind in our faces. Eventually, we moved within 100 yards of where we thought the stags were. After a while, the other stag stood up and repositioned. When he bedded again, Victor wanted to shift for a better angle. We ended up at 65 yards and could see our stag’s antler tips.

We waited 3 hours for the big guy to get up. We roared, threw rocks, raked brush, but he was tucked in and didn’t budge. Finally, in the early afternoon, Victor raked some brush, roared loudly, and the stag stood. Alka quickly got on the .30-06 and with a couple of shots an inch apart to the shoulder, the big stag dropped. Celebration time!

Alka got a super experience with lots of stag action, a great stalk in close, and then the nerve-racking wait for the 525″ stag to stand up and offer a shot.

Over the next few days, our group of hunters took some incredible stags and fallow deer. Toward the end, a few of us wanted to hunt tahr in the southern Alps.

I cannot describe how beautiful and rugged those mountains are, and seeing them from a helicopter is an experience not to be missed. My hunting partner and I both scored on nice bull tahr the morning we went out, and then the chopper pilot took the ladies up for a quick ride to show them the beauty and majesty of the southern Alps. It was a morning none of us will ever forget.

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Alka and I then packed up and transferred to our next lodge, where we met four other couples, including our good friends Russell and Cindy. Russell and I were going to hunt together, as we have all over the globe, and again, the ladies had a full palette of fun excursions planned.

During the first afternoon, we saw a number of great stags and some incredible fallow. What really excited me was seeing and hearing bugling elk. We returned for a 5-star meal (Be ready to gain weight in New Zealand!) and prepared for the next day. 

Just after daylight, we were on stags and moving around the hills and canyons, glassing and enjoying the views and the number of animals. One of the hardest parts of hunting there is choosing the stag you want to pursue. There are so many, and they are all so different, it’s sensory overload. There are wide, heavy, drop tines, typical frames, and every other antler configuration imaginable.

While glassing some stags in a wallow across a canyon, I spotted a big bull elk up on a ridge. He was so regal standing on the skyline, I kept coming back to him with my binos. I must have talked about him non-stop, because my outfitter and guide Shaun finally said, “We can go after him if you want, but he is about a mile away, and it’s all uphill.” I told Shaun I was ready to go if he was, so off we went, trekking up the mountain.

When we got to the top, we couldn’t find the bull. Huge rock formations blocked us from seeing a number of areas, so we slowly moved from rock to rock, carefully glassing, until we found the big bull on the third set of rocks.

I quickly set up and Shaun ranged the bull at a bit under 300 yards, moving away. Shaun has suppressed Gunwerks rifles available for his clients to use. I knew with that setup, the shot should be easy if the bull presented a good angle.

After watching him for a few minutes, the bull swung around, giving me a quartering away shot, and I tucked one in behind the shoulder. The big guy was done. When we got to him, he was way bigger than I thought, with 54″ beams and a huge frame, the 7×7 stretched the tape to 397″. I was ecstatic!

That afternoon, I went along with Russell on an exciting stag hunt where we got in on two great bulls. After a lot of maneuvering, they stepped out of a bedding area at 70 yards, and Russell hammered a beautiful stag with great crowns and kicker tines off both sides. Getting in close on these huge stags is an absolute blast.

The other guys in camp were laying down some great animals as well. On our second-to-last day, we all decided to go with the ladies for a jet boat ride up a glacial river, a short hike, and then a winery stop for apps and drinks. It was a fantastic day of seeing incredible scenery and relaxing with old and new friends.

On our last morning, Russell decided to find a good elk. An hour or so later, we found a big bull working a wallow. Russell and his guide made a stalk, Russ got on the sticks, and the next thing Shaun and I saw through our binos was the big heavy bull tipping over. What a great way to end our superb hunt!

We all headed back to Queenstown in the afternoon, had a great dinner at the Botswana Butchery restaurant, and then it was one sleep and a long flight home.

…
Croatia’s Highland Hunt

Croatia’s Highland Hunt

The roar cuts through morning mist like nothing you’ve heard before. Not the bugle of an elk or the grunt of a whitetail, but something primal and commanding that echoes off canyon walls and freezes you in place. It’s a sound you’ll never forget. Welcome to Croatia’s mountain hunting, where red stags rule kingdoms of stone and forest that stretch beyond horizons.

From Zagreb’s contrasts, where Habsburg elegance meets Yugoslavia’s concrete legacy, it’s a 1½-hour drive through rolling hills into the mountains. The road climbs past villages of a few hundred into country that feels genuinely wild. This is one of Europe’s last uninhabited places, where brown bears and wolves still roam freely and red stags grow huge.

Our mountain lodge sits in a valley that time seems to have forgotten. Built from local stone and timber, it serves as base camp for adventures across 100,000 acres of contiguous hunting ground. The setting alone justifies the trip. Peaks rising beyond peaks, morning fog filling valleys like lakes, and silence broken only by wind through pines and the distant roar of stags announcing their presence.

The accommodations may surprise anyone expecting rustic mountain camps. This is European mountain hunting, which means serious comfort after serious days afield. Our hosts bring genuine culinary experience to meals featuring local game, including brown bear sausage. This delicacy would shock American sensibilities, but it proves delicious when prepared by people who’ve perfected the art. The wine cellar doesn’t hurt either.

Late September puts us at the peak of the rut, when mature stags lose all caution in pursuit of genetic immortality. Their roars begin before dawn, rolling across valleys with an air of primal authority. Following those sounds leads to encounters that redefine what big game means. These Croatian red stags rival anything North America produces, but with an Old World majesty that feels almost royal.

Hunting varies with your ambitions. Valleys offer evening opportunities, where stags emerge to claim meadows and announce their dominance. For the adventurous, mountain hunting means serious climbs across terrain that would challenge sheep hunters, chasing roars that echo from ridge to ridge. Our guide Marco reads these mountains with a familiarity that only comes with time and calls stags with skills that border on art. His ability to bring a monarch within range through pure vocal mimicry must be witnessed to be believed.

The country itself tells stories. The clearing where we found fresh sign? Former Olympic training grounds from Yugoslavia’s era, now reclaimed by forest and wildlife. The abandoned ski runs make natural travel corridors for game while creating openings where morning encounters unfold like theater. History layers beneath every step, but the hunting remains timelessly authentic.

Brown bears add another dimension. Spring offers the largest specimens, but Fall hunting means frequent encounters while pursuing other species. From elevated blinds, we watch these giant predators emerge from shadows. The opportunity to add a European brown bear to a red stag hunt creates combinations unavailable anywhere else.

Success rates approach certainty when seasons align with your schedule. European game management focuses on ensuring animals are in the right area when seasons open, and the package system provides clear, transparent pricing. Pay for what you take rather than gambling on opportunity. It’s a model that brings world-class hunting within reach of normal budgets.

The fallow deer and mouflon add variety to days when stags prove elusive. During the rut, fallow bucks respond to calls with aggressive charges that create heart-stopping encounters. Their spotted coats and palmated antlers provide a striking contrast to the red stag’s noble bearing, while mouflon offer mountain hunting that rivals anything North America produces.

The predator exclusion areas deserve mention. Not high-fence hunting as most know it. It’s 4,000 acres of natural habitat protected from increasing wolf populations. Six-foot fences keep predators out while allowing stags to jump freely in and out. It’s game management focused on balance, ensuring healthy populations for generations.

Beyond hunting, the mountains offer sightseeing that rivals any European destination. Plitvice Lakes National Park, a day trip from our lodge, presents waterfalls and lakes so pristine that they seem otherworldly. Sixteen terraced lakes connected by waterfalls create one of Europe’s most photographed natural wonders, though photos fail to capture the reality.

What makes Croatian mountain hunting special isn’t just the game or the country, though both exceed expectations. It’s the complete immersion in hunting culture that dates to medieval times, where the experience matters as much as the outcome.

Standing on a ridge at sunrise, listening to stags roar across valleys that stretch to the horizon, you understand why this hunting creates addictions. The combination of Old World game management, stunning country, and genuine mountain hunting delivers experiences rarely matched by other locations.

These mountains hold more than game. They hold traditions worth preserving and experiences worth crossing oceans to pursue.

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Europe Awaits! Hosted Hunting + A European Vacation

Europe Awaits! Hosted Hunting + A European Vacation

I have been hunting Europe for a little over 10 years now, but there are so many countries and so much game that I feel like it could take another 20 years to see and do everything I want to do. That’s part of what makes Europe so exciting. It truly feels endless. Europe has become incredibly popular for several reasons. First, as an international hunting destination, it is easily accessible, with numerous flights available and no 15-hour, long-haul flights required from the U.S. and North America. Second, the hunts are almost always 100% successful because game management is top-notch and populations are extremely healthy. Third, hunts are relatively short, usually three to five days. Hunts lend themselves perfectly to adding extra vacation time, bringing non-hunters, and enjoying a truly memorable overall trip.

I’ve had the privilege of running WTA-hosted trips designed specifically for couples for the past three years, and we will continue this program well into the future, due to its overwhelming popularity. These trips are structured with a primary hunt alongside a dedicated non-hunter program for observers who prefer not to spend time in the field. Some of these activities have included spa days, shopping excursions, guided sightseeing tours, visits to olive oil operations or wineries, and more. Of course, non-hunters are always welcome to join the hunters in the field if they’d like.

On a personal level, my wife absolutely loves these trips, and I wouldn’t think of traveling to Europe without her. On several occasions when I’ve finished my hunt early, I’ve joined the non-hunters on their excursions and had an absolute blast. We also typically add a couple of days at the beginning of the trip to explore a city or region we haven’t visited before, which helps us adjust to the time change before the hunt begins.

In addition to the hunting, the scenery, the accommodations, and the food are always top-shelf.

Find the outdoor adventure of a lifetime.

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