This mountainous unit holds good numbers of deer and has good trophy potential due to the large tracts of private lands providing some security for the herds. The biggest challenge for most hunters in this unit will be finding unpressured public lands. If private access can be granted the odds of filling a tag will increase. Most of the private property in this unit is managed as part of several Cooperative Wildlife Management Units so public hunting opportunities are limited.

With this unit being largely private this can be a difficult hunt. Most of the good bucks that get taken every year come off of private land, but there are still some great deer on public. Most tag holders hunt on public land, which can be extremely crowded at times.

This unit stretches from Mountain Green about six miles upstream from the mouth of Weber Canyon all the way to the Wyoming border near Evanston. Most of the terrain is hilly to mountainous and is flat to moderately steep except in a few places, where cliffs and really steep slopes make it difficult to get around. Most valleys follow streams and rivers, most of them flowing below 6,500 feet. Mountains and hills are mostly below 7,000 feet with a few high points above 8,000 feet, including Durst Mountain at 9,234 feet.

Sagebrush, oakbrush, bigtooth maple brush, mahoganies, and aspen are the main cover. High elevations have some thick spruce and fir forests on north slopes. Junipers grow in some places, like the south side of Durst Mountain. Hay and alfalfa farms are common along streams in the Morgan and Henefer valleys.

Hunters may camp on public ground in the Monte Cristo area. Hike-in or horseback hunters may camp in the Henefer-Echo Wildlife Management Area. There’s a public campground just below Causey Reservoir. Ther are also many campgrounds along the South Fork of the Ogden River. Most campgrounds close in the fall. Lodging is available in nearby towns of Evanston, Ogden, Coalville, and Park City. Most motels are too far away to be convenient for hunters who want to be in the field at first light.

Little of this unit is public land, and most of the private land has been combined to form Cooperative Wildlife Management Units, which have their own seasons and tags. Some ranchers don’t want to join co-ops, and occasionally a hunter can get on private land by trading for services or paying an access fee. Henefer-Echo Wildlife Management Area near the tiny town of Echo offers hunting on about 14,000 acres of state land. Hunters can access the area from Bull Hollow, Fire Canyon and Croyden. A large piece of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest runs along Monte Cristo Ridge near the Monte Cristo Highway and stretches south between private properties. Some of that land can be reached via trails from Causey Reservoir. Carry a GPS with updated land ownership data to hunt this area effectively.