Unit Ogden Extended Archery Area

Ben Lomond Peak serves as a dominant southern landmark and key ridge reference. The Ogden River canyon system provides the primary natural navigation corridor, with Mill Creek and Warm Springs Creek offering secondary drainages. Malans Peak, Lewis Peak, and Strongs Peak offer glassing vantage points from higher elevations.

North Ogden Canyon, Taylor Canyon, and Sardine Canyon cut significant passages inland and provide terrain relief for navigation. Willard Basin and the canal infrastructure around the Great Salt Lake's northern edge establish reference points for lower-elevation hunting. These features combine to create multiple focal points for hunt planning and daily navigation.

Elevations span from Great Salt Lake basin levels around 4,200 feet up to nearly 9,700 feet at the highest peaks. Lower elevations feature sagebrush plains and grasslands with scattered vegetation, while mid-elevations transition into ponderosa and mixed forest zones. Higher canyon and ridge systems support denser timber and alpine meadows.

The terrain is characterized by rolling foothills that steepen into canyon systems as you move east and inland. This vertical relief across relatively contained geography creates distinct habitat zones compressed within accessible distance, with vegetation patterns responding to elevation and aspect throughout the unit.

The unit's proximity to the Ogden and Brigham City metropolitan areas, combined with I-15 frontage and well-developed road networks, makes it one of the more accessible archery zones in the Wasatch Front. Highway and county road corridors provide straightforward entry from the west, while canyon roads penetrate toward higher-elevation terrain. This accessibility brings hunting pressure, particularly near roadheads and canyon mouths.

However, the unit's rolling to steep terrain and multiple canyon systems allow pressure distribution across the landscape. Early-season archery crowds tend to concentrate near main drainages and established trailheads; hunters willing to work steeper terrain find more solitude in the mid and upper elevation ridges.

The unit occupies a substantial portion of the Wasatch Front, bordered by I-15 on the west and the drainage divide east of Brigham City to the north. The southern boundary follows Ben Lomond Peak's ridge system between Weber and Morgan counties, while the eastern edge traces the Weber/Morgan and Weber/Davis county lines. The western boundary runs along the Great Salt Lake shoreline and Willard Bay's southern dike.

This creates a geographically complex zone that encompasses both the populated Wasatch Front corridor and the higher canyon systems inland. Major reference points include Brigham City to the north and Ogden to the south.

This unit benefits from abundant water sources. The Ogden River is the primary perennial drainage, flanked by reliable tributaries including Mill Creek, Warm Springs Creek, and Burch Creek. Second Salt Creek, Little Weber Creek, Spring Creek, Dix Creek, and Facer Creek provide additional water corridors.

Rice Creek Spring, Hamre Spring, Cold Springs, and Willard City Spring supplement the network at higher elevations. The western portion includes managed reservoirs and ponds—Perry Reservoir, Beus Reservoir, and others—though most archery hunting occurs away from waterfowl management areas. Water accessibility across the elevation spectrum reduces logistical constraints and supports extended hunting strategies.

The extended archery season in this unit targets elk moving through mid and higher elevation canyon systems during early fall, particularly along ridge transitions and in timber. Mill Creek and Warm Springs Creek drainages funnel elk movements and offer productive glassing from adjacent ridges. Mule deer concentrate in lower canyon systems and sagebrush transitions throughout the season, responding to water and forage.

Pronghorn utilize the basin flats and lower rolling terrain—focus on rim country overlooking open sagebrush where visibility extends across basin floors. Mountain lions and bears follow deer and elk distributions through the canyons. The abundant water network is a tactical advantage; key springs and creek crossings concentrate hunting opportunities.

Ben Lomond Peak ridge system and higher canyon heads offer access to mountain goat terrain in extreme upper sections. Success depends on early-season scouting to identify active animal movements through the canyon network before archery pressure intensifies.