2025 Henry Mountain Muzzleloader Deer Hunt

With the deer herd wiped out on the Durst Mountain CWMU (my #1 choice to deer hunt) with a massive winter kill a couple of years back, I have been putting in for the Henry Mountains. Knowing the odds of drawing the Henrys were very slim, it was quite a surprise to draw the tag!

With my life seemingly always in chaos and a huge video project I had to complete for Browning to broadcast the day of the opener of the season, I was unable to get down to the Henrys to scout. I did, however, finish my video project a few days before the hunt and was able to head down to the Henrys three days before the hunt. This time was crucial for me in getting familiar with the area and where the deer were located.

From talking with others, including a DWR officer over the area, I had a pretty good idea of the popular areas and where the deer could be found. One bit of advice I got from the DWR officer was that many people just drive and drive looking at bucks. The advice was not to spend all of my time driving around but to pick a spot and hunt it as "there were good bucks everywhere." I thought this was good advice and after spending 3 days looking over Mt Ellen, Mt Pennell and Mt Hillers (the three main mountain ranges on the unit) I decided I was going to focus on Mt Ellen. I liked the above timber terrain and I could hike and hunt the tops of the ridges with only up to a 1,000 vertical foot climb from the roads that accessed the mountain top, a discouraging amount for many but not too difficult to accomplish. Mt Ellen just felt like a mountain where I could hunt the way I liked to hunt by getting away from the people hunting the roads but not kill myself with too many vertical feet to climb. Also, my good friend Kirk had been on the Henry Mountains the past two years and showed me photos of bucks from all three mountains with some great bucks on top of Mt Ellen(see photos at the end of the article).

In the three days leading up to the opener, I hadn't found a buck that I thought would score over 170. I was really hoping for at least a 180 class buck. I did find some pretty looking bucks but all the really mature bucks were in the 150 to 170 range... spoiler alert, this was a theme that continued through the hunt.

My personal best buck to date is 30 inches wide and grosses at 160 inches... I was really hoping to find a much larger buck but so far I hadn't found anything much larger than what I had already taken on general public land.

While Mt Hillers and Mt Pennell look great as well, I didn't see any deer on them from the roads. I admit I wasn't on these mountains at the crack of dawn but I didn't have any trouble finding deer almost all day long on Mt Ellen. Where I would have liked to hunt on Mt Hillers and Pennell would be 2,000 to 3,000 vertical feet climbs that would be a lot harder to hike than Mt Ellen and it never really opened up on top of these mountains as it does on Mt Ellen.

From talking with a DWR officer and my good friend Kirk before the hunt I learned that the northern end of Mt Pennell in and around a geologic feature called "The Horn"(37.998, -110.798), was a very popular area for hunters to hunt as was the area around and above a major camping location for outfitters called the Ponderosas(37.97827, -110.76544). I drove through and glassed this area and it just felt like it was more covered with oak brush with fewer openings to see the deer, with the exception of the burn areas. I also didn't like the idea of hunting from the road with more people and I liked the higher elevation look of the top of Mt Ellen with the pines, quaking aspens and open hillsides.

After three days of scouting, I decided to focus my efforts on hiking to the north and south ends of Mt Ellen by accessing the ridgeline at Bull Creek Pass. To keep me mobile in where I hunted from I lived out of my Jeep. It is actually quite comfortable for me to sleep in the reclined driver's seat of my Jeep. I have slept in the driver's seat of my Jeep on many hunts over the years. With this setup, I sleep right where I want to hike from to hunt.

Opening day of the hunt found me climbing up the south ridge of Mt Ellen in the darkness of the early morning. In total, on opening day, I saw 34 different four-point bucks. It was fun sneaking in under 100 yards from lots of bucks. This was a theme for the entire hunt, getting in close to nice bucks. On the evening of the opener, I was sub 100 yards from a nice looking buck that I pulled my phone out to take video and photos of because I was afraid I would pull the trigger on him if I lifted my Paramount. (see photo below)

Day two found me heading all the way out to the north. I saw around ten four-point bucks with nothing that would go over 170 inches. There was what looked like a deer carcass (38.11887, -110.81333) on the southeast side of Mt Ellen Peak that a coyote and ravens were working on, I would guess from the archery season. I was hopeful to find something way out to the north. I did find deer but not as high of concentration of deer as there were to the south of Bull Creek Pass.

There is private property along the west side of the mountain when you hike out to the north. One source told me the private property was leased by Doyle Moss. I'm not sure if that is the case. The established trail that the hiking people (non-hunters) take runs through a corner of a piece of private property that, according to a hiker I spoke with, had a cellular trail camera with a solar panel attached to it on this private property. I was able to use onX maps and skirt the eastern edge of the corner of the private property to then get a couple of miles out to the north. There is a good trail going around the private property corner at (38.09452, -110.80383).

Day three I hiked back up the ridge to the south and spent most of the day in the area above the bromide mine. Midday, I glassed what I believe was the largest scoring buck of my whole hunt. The buck had an inline tine on its left G3 and I believe he would go close to 180 inches. I spent three hours working to get close enough for a shot at him. I had him at 325 yards on the skyline. A shot I probably could have made, but I had only practised out to 300 yards. I was very confident shooting out to 300 yards, but since I hadn't practised past 300 yards and the buck was skylined, I waited for him to crest the ridge, then made my final approach. Unfortunately, a couple of unseen does busted up and over the ridge in front of me and where I crested the ridge, ended up being only 30 yards from the buck that was behind some small pines (38.06133, -110.78872). I had misjudged where he would be and got too close. Ahh!!! The buck saw me first, bolted and stopped completely hidden behind some small pines at 50 yards. After around 5 seconds, he snorted and bolted straight down the mountain. Ahh!!! I scared him pretty good. Three hours of hiking later and well after dark I made it back to my Jeep on Bull Creek Pass.

The canyon the mine is in has really odd boundaries in onX Map that don't match up with where the mining roads are cut. Hiking and glassing around the rim of that canyon, I also could not find a single sign or marker indicating no trespassing. I'm not sure where the line would be on trespassing down in that canyon. Luckily, I didn't see any bucks large enough to tempt me, but I did see a couple of four-point bucks down in the bottom.

Day four, I decided to drive around to the west side of Mt. Ellen and hike up and over into the area above the mine to see if by some miracle the inline G3 buck would show up again or if I could find something better in that area. Although the distance was shorter to the basin, it was not an easier hike to scale up the steep, loose rock on the western side of Mt Ellen. This western side of Mt Ellen had a large number of nice bucks on it, especially down closer to the roads in this area (38.06464, -110.80491).

I spent the day glassing and hiking around the rim of the basin the mine is in. I found a masher of a two-point buck that was somewhat tempting but never turned up the inline G3 buck. Here is one of the bucks I snuck into 72 yards from in his bed on this day. (see photo below)

That night I thought heavily about moving to hunt Mt. Pennell or Hillers and I wanted to take a day of rest off my feet. My Total knee replacement was working as well as ever, my feet were doing great and my heart was going strong two years after heart ablation surgery. I felt great, but I needed a little mental reset with some rest. I credit my feet for doing so well because of the lightweight, comfortable Brooks trail running shoes with gaiters I was using. I have gotten so spoiled hiking with trail running shoes that I can't stand it when I have to wear hiking boots during muddy/wet conditions. Trail running shoes are just far superior in the comfort level and I never get blisters on my feet no matter how long I am out hiking.

Day five, I slept in until just before light and started glassing up the usual bucks in the area from my Jeep that was parked on Bull Creek Pass. After a half hour of glassing, I was pulling out to start heading toward Mt Pennell when a group of family members that was scouting for the rifle season pulled up to the pass. I had spoken with some of them on the road in the dark the night before and they also expressed that the mature bucks they were finding were in the 150 to 170 class, just like what I was seeing. I was in no rush as I was taking a day of rest from all of the hiking I had been doing. We visited as we watched buck after buck from this pass.

I was about to leave when one of them spotted a better-than-usual buck down in the bottom of the canyon. I took a look at him and liked his wide frame and his tank-sized body. He made the other two four-point bucks with him look small. I could tell he wasn't going to score great but he did look cooler than the bucks I had been seeing. I grabbed my pack, rifle and shooting sticks and off I slipped down into the canyon. I was able to get to around 320 yards from him unseen but wanted to make sure I was 300 or under to make sure I would make the shot. At this point, I had to leave the cover of trees and slip further down the canyon, knowing I would be seen by the bucks. They watched me and nervously worked their way into the pines. They didn't run but they weren't hanging around. I was able to get into a much better position to take a shot at 240 yards. I had plenty of time to set up on my homemade double-crossed shooting sticks with my shooting bag under my shoulder. I was rock solid waiting for him to lineup broadside. Unfortunately, when he was broadside, one of the other bucks would be in front of him and when they would clear, he wouldn't be broadside. If I was going to take that long of a shot I wanted a good, clear, broadside shot and honestly, I wanted some time to get a better look at him to decide if I really wanted to take him. After they disappeared into the pines, I hiked back to my Jeep and waited out the rainstorms that were about to start. I figured I would slip back down into the canyon in the evening to hopefully pick the buck back up again. Back at the Jeep I visited a little more with my new friends from Cedar City and they said they had digiscoped some of the buck and would send it to me. (see that video below)

Here is some footage above I took of the buck the day before the opener and some digiscope footage my new friends from Cedar City took while I was sneaking down to look at getting a shot five days into the hunt.

Day five evening. It rained for most of the day, so I just napped in the front seat of my Jeep. At 5 pm the rain let up and I was back down the canyon looking for him. Sure enough, he and his two buddies were already out and were bedded and getting up off and on below me on a more open hillside. I was able to slip into 154 yards from them without being detected. This was no easy task, as the hillside was covered with deer all around them and the deer were scattered all the way up to the ridgeline 400 yards north of my Jeep. I was able to get all set up on my sticks and was going back to my binos to watch the bucks and get a better idea on the buck's size when the hillside started to erupt. It appeared that a hiker who had hiked out to Mt Ellen Peak was hiking along the ridge above and he bumped the deer that were along the ridge. This caused all the deer on that hillside to start running and moving down and away from me. I was hoping to take my time and assess the buck and get a really good shot if I decided to take him. Now I had the three bucks moving down and away and I was going back and forth with my binos and muzzleloader to try and make sure which buck was the Tank. It was difficult to identify which buck was the one I wanted, looking through a 1x scope in now a very fast-paced event. I was able to range the bucks as they stopped and the Tank just happened to turn back to a nearly full broadside angle at 218 yards. I had to make a real quick decision... going through my head I remembered that I liked the look of him from what I saw that morning, but he didn't look over 170, but he looked cool... It was right now or never ahhhh... and I let the 280 Gr ELD Powerbelt sail. I was greeted with a loud whop sound and as the smoke cleared, I could see the buck tumbling down the steep hillside.

Looking back, I'm pretty sure I would have passed on the buck if I had time to watch him for an hour or so and talk myself out of him. Oh well, he is one of my best bucks, just not a great buck for the Henry Mountains Unit. I am happy with taking him but.... I just likely blew my only opportunity to get a really nice buck in my lifetime. I did really enjoy the ride of getting to hunt such a neat unit that many will never get a chance to hunt.

Time for a few pics and then the work began boning out the buck. Two trips up with the boned out meat and I was back to my Jeep at 11 pm.

Other than one hunter on the opening morning, I was the only hunter hiking on Mt Ellen. Everyone else was just glassing from the roads. I felt I had a better chance of finding a better scoring buck by getting away from the roads, but in the end I took a buck that was spotted from the road. An ideal hunt for me would have been to get a huge buck out near Mt Ellen Peak, far from any road. 

A few days into my hunt, I started getting pain in my left shoulder and down into my left arm. I was a little confused about it as I didn't feel that I had injured my shoulder in any way. Upon looking in a mirror after getting home, I found that I had shingles on the back of my shoulder and down the upper half of my arm. This was a first for me. According to my doctor, stress can be a major factor in getting singles. Hmm...I will admit that, as much as I loved having the experience to hunt the Henry Mountain Unit, I was very stressed and going really hard all day long for five days of the hunt.

Oh, how I wanted to get a larger buck. I do like the buck I took but deep down, I feel like a failure at going to the Henry's and coming home with a buck that probably scores around 165 gross. I haven't measured the antlers and I doubt I ever will, other than measuring the rack at 28 inches wide. If I had to do it over I would have found a way to hike to the top of Mt Hillers to hunt... not sure how I would get water in there for me to stay very long with a 3,000 vertical foot climb but that would be where I would like to have hunted. A big factor in choosing Mt Hillers over Pennell would be fewer people. I don't like spending my hunts strategising what the people are doing, I want to focus on what the deer are doing. People can ruin the hunting experience for me if my brain is focused on how to get the buck based on what I think the people are doing.

Very unique and fun experience. I would love to hunt the area again... my only chance would probably be if I went and helped one of my sons hunt the unit.

I'm sure someone, maybe many, reading this article will say I don't know what I'm talking about and that there are many 180+ bucks running around on the Henry's. They are probably right. I have a total of nine days on those mountains and 95% of that time was focused on Mt Ellen but other than riding out the rain in my Jeep one day, the rest of the time I was out looking for deer all day long, with most of that time away from the roads.

It appeared that the predominant tactic by hunters was to drive and glass, drive and glass until you find something to shoot from the road or big enough to go hike after.

My preference is to start hiking before light, get away from the roads and people, hunt all day, then hike back in the dark if I'm not packed in to stay the night. Probably not the best strategy for hunting the Henry Mountains but how I enjoy hunting.

I would like to thank my friends from Cedar City and I hope they found a great buck during the rifle season.

While I may not know the area the greatest, hopefully, something I shared will be of worth to someone in the future who draws that tag and likes DIY hunting. I am sharing more details of the area than I normally would in hopes that maybe some piece of information will help some other DIY hunter find a better buck than I found. Best of luck out there!

With this hunt over, I was able to get back to northern Utah to help Kaden on his muzzleloader hunt. Proud father moment while I was on the Henrys, Kaden was solo hunting from his Jeep on the East Canyon Unit in northern Utah.