Southwest Desert Unit: public land and hunting map
Southwest Desert Unit is one of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’s 31 mule deer general-season hunting units in Utah. It covers about 5,199 square miles (3,327,046 acres), and roughly 89% of it is public land: BLM 77%, state land 9.8%, Forest Service 1.8%.
- 89%public land
- 5,199square miles
- 2,947,763public acres
- 4neighbouring units
Measured Oct 12, 2026 from agency boundaries and USGS PAD-US 4.1 · sources and method
Who manages the land
- Bureau of Land Management77%
- U.S. Forest Service1.8%
- State land (wildlife, trust and natural-resource agencies)9.8%
Share of the unit’s area. Federal agencies plus state wildlife, trust and natural-resource land, as the WikiHunt map classifies it. The rest is private, tribal, local or other land.
Rut: Published deer rut timing for Utah: Mid-November. Rut dates and sources for Utah.
Units next to Southwest Desert Unit
Utah season dates, 2026
Statewide general seasons. Many units have their own dates, quotas or draw-only hunts, so check the unit in the regulations before you go.
| Species | Season | 2026 dates |
|---|---|---|
| Deer | Archery Deer | Aug 15 – Sep 11 |
| Deer | Muzzleloader Deer | Sep 23 – Oct 1 |
| Deer | General Rifle Deer | Oct 17 – Oct 25 |
| Elk | Archery Elk | Aug 15 – Sep 16 |
| Elk | Rifle Elk | Oct 3 – Oct 16 |
| Turkey | Fall Turkey | Sep 6 – Nov 28 |
Full notes on the Utah page · Utah regulations.
Questions
How much of Southwest Desert Unit is public land?
About 89% of Southwest Desert Unit (2,947,763 of 3,327,046 acres) is federal or state public land in USGS PAD-US 4.1, mostly Bureau of Land Management, State land (wildlife, trust and natural-resource agencies) and U.S. Forest Service. Public land is not always open land: check access and closures before you go.
Who manages the land in Southwest Desert Unit?
Bureau of Land Management: 77%; State land (wildlife, trust and natural-resource agencies): 9.8%; U.S. Forest Service: 1.8%. The rest is private, tribal, local government or other land.
Which units border Southwest Desert Unit?
Beaver, West Unit, Fillmore B Unit, Pine Valley Unit and West Desert, Swasey Unit.
Where are the season dates and rules for Southwest Desert Unit?
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources sets them. Start at the Utah hunting regulations. WikiHunt shows the statewide general seasons on the Utah page and in the app.
Sources and method
- Boundary: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (owner dwrdata, State of Utah shared org), the same layer the WikiHunt map draws.
- Public land: USGS Protected Areas Database (PAD-US) 4.1, Fee Managers layer (public domain).
- Method: the unit and PAD-US polygons are simplified to about 100 m and measured on a grid of about 250 cells across the unit, so overlapping records are counted once. Expect about ±1 percentage point.
- Season dates: WikiHunt’s season table, updated Sep 2, 2026, checked against each state’s published regulations. Dates change; the regulations win.
- Last updated: Oct 12, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.