Unit 452 Diamond Mtn/Vernal

The marquee draw — a premium limited-entry trophy unit that produces mature bucks in the 160-inch class with genuine 180-plus potential. Healthy herds spread across the plateau and breaks, with a large roadless core holding the biggest, oldest deer for hunters willing to work away from the roads.

• →Glass the long ridges, washes and juniper-brush benches at first and last light for feeding bucks
• →Hunt the steep Green River breaks and the roadless core where mature bucks hold security
• →Time later dates to catch rutting and migrating bucks on the more open benches
• →Invest heavily in preseason scouting to build a target list on this quality unit
• →Work the transitions between sage/juniper benches and timbered rims

Diamond Mountain carries a solid Rocky Mountain elk herd managed for quality bulls on limited-entry tags, using the timbered high country of the Ashley rim and the plateau's brush and canyon pockets.

• →Work the aspen and conifer pockets on the Ashley Forest rim during the archery rut
• →Locate bugling bulls from ridge glassing points at dawn, then close through timber
• →Focus on the interface of high timber and the plateau's brushy benches
• →Later hunts pull elk toward lower, more open winter ground

Shiras moose inhabit the wetter drainages and willow bottoms of the Vernal/Bonanza country, hunted on once-in-a-lifetime Utah permits — a modest but real presence on the higher, wetter ground.

• →Still-hunt willow-lined creek bottoms and aspen-meadow edges at first and last light
• →Check riparian stringers and beaver-pond complexes on the forested rim
• →Glass slowly — moose hold tight in the willows

Black bears use the timbered and brushy country of the Diamond Mtn/Vernal/Bonanza area on a limited-entry season, favoring the mast-rich aspen, oak and mountain-brush drainages.

• →Glass oak brush, serviceberry and chokecherry patches and aspen bottoms in late summer
• →Focus on south-facing green-up in spring and berry-heavy drainages in fall
• →Check the forested rim and canyon heads where bears travel

Pronghorn use the more open sage and grass benches on the lower, drier margins of the unit toward the Bonanza and basin country — a scattered, limited presence rather than a marquee hunt.

• →Glass the open sage benches and flats on the lower margins from high ground
• →Use terrain rolls to close the distance across open country
• →Pattern bucks around water and forage edges

Mountain lions track the strong deer herd through the juniper breaks and timbered rims and are hunted, typically with hounds after snow.

• →Cut fresh tracks on plateau and canyon roads after snow
• →Focus on the Green River breaks and deer wintering concentrations
• →Work the rocky rims and juniper travel corridors