Utah Bison

Utah is one of the few states with truly wild bison populations within its borders. The bison herds in the Henry Mountains, Book Cliffs/Bitter Creek are entirely self-sustaining and spend most, if not all, of their lives on public lands open to hunting. The Book Cliffs, Little Creek herd, however, moves between public BLM land and the Uintah and Ouray reservation. Due to the high number of hunts and permits issued in the area, these bison have become increasingly aware of the boundary between public and reservation lands, which has led to drastic tag reductions and the removal of some hunts completely.

In 2020, Utah introduced a new over-the-counter bison hunt along the Green River in Desolation Canyon, which saw great success in its first year, with 123 bison harvested out of 248 permits sold. Most of these bison spent the summer and fall on the Ute Indian Reservation, only crossing the Green River into non-native public and private lands during late fall and winter. In 2021, improvements to road access along the reservation’s Green River corridor, better forage conditions, and likely more cautious bison led to a significant drop in harvest numbers, with only 8 bison taken from 163 permits. This pattern has continued, with harvest numbers steadily decreasing each year, and it’s expected to remain that way moving forward.

Utah’s bison population is going through a declining phase and appears to be as lean as they have been since they first opened up a Book Cliffs hunt in 2008. Despite this, there are still plenty of bison on the landscape to have a good hunt, but it is a much tougher hunt across the board, and an outfitter and/or time is going to be a hunter’s best friend in most cases. If you are applying for other species as a non-resident, it just makes sense to throw your name in the hat for bison.

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