Unit Herriman South Valley Extended Archery Area

Shaggy Peak, Step Mountain, and South Mountain serve as obvious reference points for navigation and glassing vantage. Several named drainages—Stockings Fork, Yellow Fork, Butterfield Canyon, and Water Fork—provide both travel corridors and landscape anchors. These canyons run predominantly north-south, creating natural pathways into the interior.

Butterfield Canyon Road offers established vehicle access and serves as a primary staging route. The relatively open terrain makes landmark-based navigation straightforward compared to heavily forested units.

Terrain spans from roughly 4,600 feet at the valley interface to 7,500 feet along upper ridges, with most country concentrated in the mid-elevation band. The landscape is dominated by open sagebrush plains dotted with juniper and scattered Douglas fir on north-facing aspects and higher benches. Grassy swales alternate with rocky outcrops typical of transitional foothill country.

Vegetation is sparse enough for long-range glassing but sufficient to provide cover and forage. The rolling topography creates numerous pockets and benches where animals concentrate seasonally.

Over 200 miles of roads thread through and border the unit, providing fair vehicle access to multiple entry points. Mountain View Corridor and Redwood Road form primary boundaries with reliable parking and staging areas. Butterfield Canyon Road penetrates deep into the interior.

Despite road connectivity, the archery-only designation and relatively compact size mean pressure remains light compared to general rifle seasons. Urban proximity cuts both ways—easy access for locals but also discourages distant travel. Most pressure concentrates along main road corridors and obvious canyon bottoms.

The unit occupies a roughly rectangular footprint in the Herriman-Draper foothills, bounded by 12600 South and Mountain View Corridor on the north, Redwood Road on the east, the Camp Williams boundary fence line on the south, and the Salt Lake/Utah county line and Stockings Fork drainage on the west. Suburban development frames much of the perimeter, particularly around Herriman and Draper, but the interior remains largely intact foothill terrain. The area sits immediately above the expanding Salt Lake Valley, making it accessible but distinct from lower-elevation pressure zones.

Water is the unit's limiting factor. Stockings Fork, Yellow Fork, Butterfield Canyon, and Water Fork all hold seasonal flow, but reliability varies by year and elevation. Springs exist in the drainages and on upper benches, but hunters should scout and confirm sources before committing to specific areas.

The sparse forest cover means water doesn't concentrate animals as predictably as in higher-elevation units. Late summer can see significant drying, pushing animals toward the few reliable seeps and canyon bottoms where water persists.

Mule deer are the primary archery target, with elk present at higher elevations and in the upper canyons, particularly along north-facing slopes with better timber. Mountain lions hunt the drainages year-round. The rolling terrain and limited timber create excellent conditions for spot-and-stalk hunting typical of archery pursuits.

Mornings offer best glassing from ridges overlooking the major drainages; afternoons allow movement into shadowed canyons where animals shelter. Water scarcity means concentrating effort on known springs and drainage bottoms, especially in September and October. The short archery season (typically mid-September through late October) coincides with mule deer rut, making access to upper benches and mixed-cover country productive.