Utah Landowner Tags
Utah runs two mutually exclusive landowner routes per species and per parcel: a CWMU, which needs 10,000 contiguous acres for elk or moose and 5,000 for deer, pronghorn or turkey and hands the operator 75-90 percent of the buck and bull permits for that CWMU only, and Landowner Permits under R657-43, which need 640 acres of agricultural Eligible Property and add permits above the public quota. Some of those vouchers are openly sellable; CWMU permits are the only way a nonresident gets in, because nonresidents may not draw a CWMU permit.
Checked against Utah Division of Wildlife Resources rules, October 20, 2026. Where the rule is silent or its sources disagree, the line says so.
Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit · Landowner Permits
contiguous, deeded and other tests apply
same as any hunter
Hunting Your Own Land
A landowner in Utah needs the same license and tag as any other hunter to take big game on their own property. The programs below change who gets a limited tag, not whether one is needed.
Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit
Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit (CWMU), R657-37
approved management plan
Operator keeps 75-90 percent of buck/bull permits; the...
not addressed in the rule
Who Qualifies
| Species | Deer, Elk, Antelope (Pronghorn), Moose, Turkey |
|---|---|
| Acreage test | 10,000 contiguous acres for elk or moose, 5,000 for deer, pronghorn or turkey; corner-to-corner contact is excluded; a unit at 90 percent of the minimum may enroll at the cost of one extra public permit, and non-contiguous additions of 640+ acres within four miles are allowed.1 |
| Land test | ✓ Contiguous within the ranch |
| Nonresident owner | Not addressed in the rulesNot addressed in the rule. R657-37 defines Landowner by acreage and agricultural use, including agricultural lessees, and states no residency test for the operator; the residency rule it does state applies to hunters, who cannot draw a CWMU permit as nonresidents. |
| Who may hunt it | A resident public-draw winner for the public share, or anyone the operator names for the operator share. The operator and family are barred from that CWMU's public draw. Nonresidents may not draw a CWMU permit - voucher only. |
| When to apply | CWMU certificate of registration by Aug 10; elk units of 4,000-8,999 acres before Jul 1; hunter draw Mar 19 - Apr 23, 2026. |
What You Get
| The tag | 75-90 percent of the buck and bull permits for that CWMU (options 1-4), 0-50 percent of antlerless, 60/40 for moose and pronghorn and 50/50 for turkey, with a floor of one buck/bull permit or 10 percent to the public. Permits are valid only inside that CWMU. |
|---|---|
| Set-aside | Operator keeps 75-90 percent of buck/bull permits; the public floor is one permit or 10 percent |
| Transfer or sale | Varies by ranch. CWMU hunting is openly commercial - the operator names the hunters for its share - but the per-voucher price was not found and must not be published.Not addressed in the rule. R657-37 lets the operator name the hunters for its own share but never addresses selling or transferring a CWMU voucher, so the commercial practice is not covered by a stated transfer rule. |
| Enrolled properties | Agency list |
Good published data: operator list with contacts, hunt tables and boundary maps. Agricultural lessees also count as Landowner under the rules, and CWMU and R657-43 are mutually exclusive per species and parcel.
Landowner Permits
Landowner Permits, R657-43
or 100 ac 100 acres of Cropland for unit-wide general-season buck deer
Additive to the public quota: +7 percent, +3 percent or...
not addressed in the rule
Who Qualifies
| Species | Deer, Elk, Antelope (Pronghorn) (Buck deer, bull elk and buck pronghorn only.) |
|---|---|
| Acreage test | 640 acres of Eligible Property, or 100 acres of Cropland for unit-wide general-season buck deer; the land must be in agricultural use under Utah Code 59-2-502.3 |
| Land test | ✓ Agricultural use within the hunt unit |
| Nonresident owner | Not addressed in the rulesNot addressed in the rule. R657-43 keys eligibility to Eligible Property and Cropland in agricultural use under Utah Code 59-2-502 and states no residency test for the landowner. |
| Who may hunt it | Varies by sub-program: family only for general-season unit-wide, any legal hunter for Association vouchers. |
| When to apply | Association applications by Sep 1; hunter draw Mar 19 - Apr 23, 2026. |
What You Get
| The tag | Permits added above the public quota: general-season private-land +7 percent, general-season unit-wide +3 percent, limited-entry individual +5 percent, and for an Association a share equal to its percentage of enrolled habitat acreage. |
|---|---|
| Set-aside | Additive to the public quota: +7 percent, +3 percent or +5 percent by sub-program |
| Transfer or sale | Yes. Mixed by sub-program. General-season private-land vouchers are sellable; general-season unit-wide vouchers are family-only, maximum 5 per year and may not be sold; Association vouchers are sellable to any legal hunter; limited-entry individual permits are in conflict between the rule text and the program table.Sources conflict: R657-43 rule text bars compensation for a limited-entry individual landowner permit versus Utah's landowner permit program table shows limited-entry elk vouchers as sellable |
Permits are additive to the public quota and the sub-programs differ in who may hunt, so the sellable answer has to be read per sub-program.
General Season or Limited Draw?
General-season buck deer is draw-only on preference points, with leftovers sold over the counter from Jul 7, which forfeits the points. General-season elk is largely OTC - archery Jul 7, any-bull Jul 9, spike Jul 16, 15,000 any-bull plus 15,000 spike permits and no cap on the late any-bull hunt. Nonresidents face the same structure and may apply for all limited-entry and once-in-a-lifetime species; resident-only hunts are printed in blue. There are about 30 named general-season units per weapon type, and CWMUs are their own units.
Per-unit classification: 2026 Big Game Application Guidebook hunt tables (general-season deer from p.43, limited-entry deer p.49, bull elk p.54, CWMU p.69), plus the Field Regulations and the hunt-boundary service..
Check a parcel on the map →
Click the ground or paste a listing's coordinates: the unit for every species (367 Utah units mapped), and whether the acreage clears the floor.
Utah draw odds →
Every species, unit and hunt code, with the odds at each point level, fees and deadlines.
Things That Trip People Up
- A unit lookup returns the wrong answer over a CWMU: dates vary per CWMU and nonresidents can only get in by voucher.
- CWMUs are their own units, not a sub-area of the surrounding general-season unit.
- CWMU and R657-43 are mutually exclusive per species and per parcel.
- Land leased solely for hunting or recreation does not qualify, so acreage alone produces false positives.
- A CWMU may enroll at 90 percent of the acreage minimum in exchange for one extra public permit, so the stated floor is not absolute.
Sources
- 1. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · R657-37, Cooperative Wildlife Management Units for Big Game · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 2. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · CWMU program page · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 3. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · R657-43, Landowner Permits · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 4. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · 2026 Big Game Application Guidebook (CWMU operator list and hunt tables from p.69) · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 5. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · Utah hunt boundary service (CWMU boundary maps) · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 6. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · Utah Big Game Field Regulations · retrieved 2026-10-20
This page summarizes agency rules for orientation. The statute, commission rule and the current year's application booklet govern; check them before buying land or applying.