Herriman South Valley Extended Archery Area, Utah

Terrain divides sharply between a flat, urbanized northeastern portion and a rugged southern portion where ridgelines climb roughly 2,000 feet off the valley floor. Elevations range from approximately 5,000 feet on the valley floor to about 7,400 feet on upper ridges; South Mountain, the high point of the western Traverse Mountains above Herriman, tops out at 6,824 feet. The southern slopes feature open faces, moderately timbered hillsides, and good glassing terrain. The Traverse Mountains form an east-west-trending ridge separating the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys.

Public access is limited and requires careful navigation of a predominantly private-land unit. BLM parcels are concentrated on the southern end of the unit and constitute roughly 15% of total area. Butterfield Canyon Road provides the primary route toward the higher southern terrain but the canyon itself is more than 75% Kennecott Copper property with additional private ownership; Kennecott holds a CWMU permit with very limited tags, and public access within the canyon is restricted — only a horse/hiking trail allows non-motorized public travel. Rose Canyon has been noted by local hunters as off-limits to hunting. Herriman City maintains a developed trail network on open-space lands south of the urban core, though these trails attract heavy recreational foot traffic and motorized vehicles are prohibited on all trails. Herriman City Ordinance 2020-09 prohibits discharge of firearms and archery equipment within city limits; hunters must verify the applicable exceptions and boundaries before hunting near the urban core. Hunters must carry proof of annual UDWR Archery Ethics Course completion while afield. Written permission is required to access any private property. The small concentration of public land creates predictably heavy hunting pressure on accessible parcels.

Slopes in the southern portion of the unit are characterized by sagebrush and oakbrush scrub — classic Great Basin foothills cover — with moderately timbered areas on mid-elevation slopes. The flat northeastern portion transitions into residential and agricultural land with minimal native vegetation. Riparian corridors follow drainages descending from the ridgeline toward the valley. The Bonneville shoreline terraces are geologically visible on the northern flanks of the Traverse Mountains, indicating the stepwise terrain character.

Mule deer are the primary game species present and the sole target of the extended archery hunt. Deer are relatively easy to locate given the small unit size and compressed sustainable habitat, but individuals are difficult to pattern due to heavy hunting pressure and movement between public and private parcels. The southern Traverse Mountain slopes and Oquirrh foothills also support coyotes and rattlesnakes. The North Oquirrh Management Area (NOMA), managed by BLM northwest of the unit, is noted as important winter habitat for mule deer and elk and as a watershed for the Tooele Valley; the Herriman EAA itself is a deer-only designated boundary.

This is an archery-only Extended Archery Area (EAA) — no rifle or muzzleloader seasons exist within this boundary. The hunt requires a DB0008 permit obtained through the UDWR big game draw; alternatively, hunters who did not take a buck during the regular season may use their archery buck deer permit. Hunters must complete the UDWR Archery Ethics Course annually and carry proof while hunting. Butterfield Canyon (within or adjacent to the southern unit boundary) contains a Kennecott Copper CWMU — hunters must verify exact CWMU exclusion boundaries before entering. Rose Canyon has been reported by local hunters as off-limits to hunting, but verify current status with UDWR. Herriman City Ordinance 2020-09 prohibits discharge of both firearms and archery equipment within city limits; consult city hunting maps for permitted zones. Specific harvest data, tag quotas, and hunter success percentages for this unit were not publicly available in sourced materials and are recorded as null. Public land percentage (15%) and unit size (~30 sq mi) are sourced from the GoHunt unit profile. Elevation range (5,000–7,400 ft) is from GoHunt. South Mountain elevation (6,824 ft) is sourced from SummitPost/Peakbagger geographic records for the Traverse Mountains high point above Herriman. Season dates (Sept 13 – Nov 30) confirmed via wildlife.utah.gov extended archery page.