Hi Muley Buck,
I've lived in CA my entire life. I've hunted Utah for about 30 years. It took a couple years to figure out where most deer were. It's called edge. At least 80% of all game will be found in about 10% of any given area. While we've hunted our area for a long time, we're still finding edge.
Try to figure out patterns of movement. During general deer season, big bucks tend to be bedded most of the day unless they're disturbed. So keep an eye on what other hunters are doing. If you see other hunters walking into an area, try to figure our escape routes. That will give you an advantage.
Scouting a new area is crucial. If it's possible, spend as much time as you can scouting before opening day. It sounds like you're going alone, so you'll be doing a whole lot of work. Get topos of the area and carry a compass so you can mark locations of deer you see. BTW, seeing deer now is a whole lot different than seeing them during general deer season.
I'm familiar with Unit 20, although I've never hunted it. Unit 20 does have a decent population of deer. If I remember correctly, Unit 20 has a lot of cedar trees.
I've learned this pretty quickly: don't hunt where locals tell you that you'll find deer. Hunt where locals hunt. If you see a lot of Utah plates in an area, it's a good bet there will be deer there.
You might want to call DWR for buck to doe ratios.
Best of luck to you. And I hope you kill a big one.
