DWR proposes changes to archery and rifle deer hunts

If you like to hunt deer with a bow and arrow, you may have to wait until Sept. 1 to hunt statewide in 2009.

That idea is among several the Division of Wildlife Resources is proposing for Utah's 2009 big game hunts.

Most of the DWR's deer–hunting ideas came from a committee the agency formed last spring to review Utah's Mule Deer Management Plan. Increasing the number of deer in Utah, and providing more chances to hunt deer, are among the goals of the committee members.

Learn more, share your ideas

All of the DWR's big game proposals are available in the public meetings section of our website at www.wildlife.utah.gov. Once you've read the proposals, you can share your thoughts and ideas one of two ways:

RAC meetings

Five Regional Advisory Council meetings will be held across Utah. Citizens representing the RACs will take the input received at the meetings to the Utah Wildlife Board. Board members will use the input to set rules for Utah's 2009 big game hunts.

You can participate and provide your input at any of the following meetings (two notes: the Southern Region meeting begins at 5 p.m. The Central Region meeting is being held on a Thursday.):

Southern Region
Nov. 4
5 p.m.
Beaver High School
195 E. Center St.
Beaver

Southeastern Region
Nov. 5
6:30 p.m.
John Wesley Powell Museum
1765 E. Main St.
Green River

Northeastern Region
Nov. 6
6:30 p.m.
Uintah Interagency Fire Center
355 N. Vernal Ave.
Vernal

Northern Region
Nov. 12
6 p.m.
Weber Commission Chambers
1st floor
2383 Washington Blvd.
Ogden

Central Region
Nov. 13
6:30 p.m.
Springville Junior High School
165 S. 700 E.
Springville

E–mail

You can also provide your comments to your RAC via e–mail. E–mail addresses for your RAC members are available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings.

The group each RAC member represents (sportsman, non–consumptive, etc.) is listed under each person's e–mail address. You should direct your e–mail to the people on the RAC who represent your interest.
Proposals

Buck deer

The following are among the DWR's deer hunting proposals for 2009:

* Require general season archery buck deer hunters to hunt in a single region until Sept. 1. Starting Sept. 1, you could hunt in any region in the state.

"Hunters in southern Utah are concerned that too many archery hunters are hunting in the Southern Region at the start of the season," says Anis Aoude, big game coordinator for the DWR.

"Depending on which region you choose to hunt in, this change could prevent you from hunting in the Southern Region at the start of the archery season. But you could still hunt in the region halfway through the season."

The DWR is proposing that Utah's general season archery buck deer hunt run from Aug. 15 to Sept. 11.

Under the proposal, you'd indicate which region you wanted to hunt in when you bought your archery permit. Your permit would then be valid for that region until Sept. 1. Starting Sept. 1, you could hunt in any region in the state.

* Make Utah's general rifle buck deer hunt a nine–day hunt in each of the DWR's five regions. The hunt would run Oct. 17 – 25.

The only exception would be five subunits where buck–to–doe ratios aren't meeting goals in the state's management plan. The hunt on the five subunits would run Oct. 21 – 25.

The five subunits that would have the shorter hunts are the Nebo and Oquirrh–Stansbury subunits in central Utah; the South Slope, Vernal subunit in northeastern Utah; the LaSal Mountains subunit in southeastern Utah; and the Monroe subunit in south–central Utah.

* Allow more hunters to hunt on the Paunsaugunt and Henry Mountains premium limited entry units during a hunt that ran Nov. 7 – 11.

Those who hunted during this hunt would be restricted to taking deer that did not have a single antler with more than three points on it. They would also be required to hunt with either a muzzleloader, or a bow and arrow.

"This change would give more hunters a chance to hunt on these premiere units while still protecting the larger bucks on the units," Aoude says.

The committee that provided deer hunting ideas to the DWR consisted of 17 members. The Mule Deer Foundation, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, the Utah Bowman's Association, the Utah Wildlife Federation, the Utah Farm Bureau, the Bureau of Land Management, Utah's Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit Association, all five of Utah's Regional Advisory Councils and the Utah Wildlife Board were among the groups that had members on the committee.

Bull elk

The following is the major DWR elk hunting proposal for 2009:

* Increase the number of permits for spike–only units to 17,000, and allow spike bull elk hunting on all of Utah's limited entry units.

The state currently offers 11,000 spike bull elk permits. Spike bull hunting is allowed on 10 of Utah's 29 limited entry bull elk units.

"On many of these units, the number of bull elk and cow elk is the same," Aoude says. "The only way to keep bull elk numbers that high is to continuing taking a lot of cow elk. And that isn't good for the herds.

"Because the herds have fewer cow elk in them, fewer and fewer calves are being born. If the situation doesn't change, the elk populations will eventually crash."

Aoude says the DWR proposal would allow more hunters to take spike bulls while continuing to protect the larger bulls in the herds.

Share Your Fishing Ideas with the DWR

Please share your ideas no later than June 1

Even though Utah’s 2008 fishing regulations won’t be decided until
this fall, Division of Wildlife Resources biologists already have some
ideas they’d like to the share with the public.

And the biologists are also anxious to hear ideas from anglers and
others across the state.

“If you have an idea for a fishing regulation change in 2008, please
share it with us,” says Roger Wilson, cold water fisheries coordinator
for the DWR.

“We need to hear from you no later than June 1. Summer is the time
when we put our fishing recommendations together. We need your ideas by
June 1 so we can consider them as we’re putting the recommendations
together.”

All of the changes the biologists are considering for 2008 are
available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings/next.php.

“These potential changes are only proposals at this time,” Wilson
says. “We’re very open to what anglers think about our ideas.
We’re hoping they’ll let us know.”

How to Share Your Ideas

In addition to the DWR’s Web site, you can learn more about the
biologists’ ideas, and share your ideas with them, at any of the
following Regional Advisory Council meetings:

Southern Region
May 15
7 p.m.
Beaver High School
195 E. Center St.
Beaver

Southeastern Region
May 16
6:30 p.m.
John Wesley Powell Museum
885 E. Main St.
Green River

Northeastern Region
May 17
6:30 p.m.
Western Park, Rm. #2
302 E. 200 S.
Vernal

Central Region
May 22
6:30 p.m.
Springville Junior High School
165 S. 700 E.
Springville

Northern Region
May 23
6 p.m.
Brigham City Community Center
24 N. 300 W.
Brigham City


If you can’t attend one of the meetings, please send your ideas to
one of the following addresses no later than June 1:

- e-mail your ideas to DWRComment@utah.gov

- mail your ideas to:

Sport Fisheries Coordinator
Division of Wildlife Resources
Box 146301
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6301


Bass Fishing

DWR biologists aren’t proposing any major bass fishing changes for
2008, but they’d like to start a discussion with the public about
smallmouth and largemouth bass regulations in Utah.

“Right now there are six or seven different bass regulations across
the state,” Wilson says. “We’d like to reduce the number of
regulations. That would make it easier for anglers to know what the
regulations are.”

Wilson stressed that the DWR is not proposing any statewide bass
regulation changes for 2008. “We just want to get a discussion going
so we can learn more about how people feel about the bass
regulations,” he says.


Among the changes DWR biologists are considering for 2008 are the
following:

- allowing anglers to keep yellow perch at Yuba Reservoir in
north-central Utah. The DWR is proposing a daily bag and possession
limit of 10 perch. Between Jan. 1 and April 30, anglers would be
required to keep all the perch they caught, up to their 10-perch limit.
They would also be allowed to use dead yellow perch for bait at Yuba.

- lowering the trout limit at Woodruff Reservoir in northern Utah
to two trout, and allowing anglers to use artificial flies and lures
only. “This change would create a trophy fishing water in northern
Utah and would also protect the cutthroat trout in the reservoir. We
don’t stock cutthroats in the reservoir, and we want to make sure we
keep plenty of cutthroats in the reservoir for anglers to catch,”
Wilson says.

- increasing the bass limit at Sand Hollow Reservoir in
southwestern Utah to six bass. Only one of those bass could be over 12
inches. “The bass in the reservoir are doing really well. In fact,
there are so many bass in the reservoir that they’re starting to
compete with each other for food,” Wilson says. “We’ve noticed
that the bass aren’t growing as fast as they used to. This change
would allow anglers to take more of the smaller bass home. That would
help the fishery by removing some of the smaller bass. The new limit
would also protect the larger bass.”

DWR Recommends More Antlerless Deer, Elk and Moose Permits

After another mild winter, Utah’s big game animals are in great shape.

How well the animals are doing is reflected in the Division of Wildlife Resources’ 2007 antlerless hunting recommendations. Taking female animals is the main tool biologists have to keep big game animals from increasing past the number their habitat can sustain.

This year the DWR is asking for an increase in antlerless deer, elk and moose permits. Pronghorn antelope permits would decrease by about 250 permits.

You can learn more about the proposals, and provide DWR biologists with your input and suggestions, at any of five public meetings. The meetings will be held April 17.

Citizen Regional Advisory Council representatives will take the public input received at the meetings to the Utah Wildlife Board when it meets April 26 in Salt Lake City to approve Utah’s 2007 Antlerless Addendum.

The April 17 meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. You can participate and provide your input at any of the following locations:

Northern Region
Brigham City Community Center
24 N. 300 W.
Brigham City

Central Region
Springville Junior High School
165 S. 700 E.
Springville

Northeastern Region
Western Park, Rm. #2
302 E. 200 S.
Vernal

Southeastern Region
John Wesley Powell Museum
885 E. Main St.
Green River

Southern Region
Snow College South
Administration Building
800 W. 200 S.
Richfield

Antlerless Permit Recommendations

The number of antlerless permits available in 2006, and the number the DWR is recommending for 2007, are as follows:

2006 2007

Doe Deer 1,080 1,705

Cow Elk 4,999 8,031

Cow Moose 63 89

Doe Pronghorn 587 347

Deer

Utah’s Deer Management Plan calls for 411,300 deer after the hunting seasons are over in 2010.

To reach that goal, the plan also sets a benchmark: 320,000 deer in Utah by 2008.

DWR biologists are happy to report that the 320,000 deer benchmark has almost been reached two years early.

“Based on computer modeling we did after the 2006 hunting seasons were over, we estimate that more than 318,000 deer were in Utah last winter,” says Anis Aoude, big game coordinator for the DWR.

The DWR wants to increase the number of doe deer permits, but not for areas where most of Utah’s deer are found. “We want the state’s deer herds to keep growing,” Aoude says.

Instead, the DWR is recommending more permits for deer herds that live in low-elevation valleys and don’t migrate. Many of these deer are causing depredation and nuisance problems in the areas where they live.

Hunts for these deer are usually held in August and September, before deer from other areas migrate into these low-elevation areas to spend the winter.

Elk

Utah’s elk populations are also doing well.

After last fall’s hunts, DWR biologists estimated the state’s elk population at more than 63,800. That’s less than 5,000 animals away from a statewide goal of 68,200 elk.

“Elk herds on many of the state’s units are actually over the population objective for those units,” Aoude says.

The DWR wants to increase cow elk permits to bring these herds back to the number their habitat can sustain.

On units where elk are approaching the population objective, taking some cow elk will help ensure the herds don’t grow too fast. “If a herd overshoots its population objective, then we have to recommend a lot of cow elk permits the following year,” Aoude says. “That’s something we don’t want to do.”

Moose

Moose populations in northern Utah are also doing well. In fact, populations near Ogden are doing so well that a new cow moose hunt has been created. The DWR is recommending 10 permits for the new hunt.

“There are so many moose in northern Utah that the moose are actually starting to damage their habitat,” Aoude says. “In addition to creating the new Ogden moose unit, we’re also recommending more permits for some of the other units.”

Pronghorn

Utah’s largest pronghorn antelope herd lives on the Parker Mountains in southwestern Utah.

During the past two years, doe pronghorn permits have been increased to try and bring the area’s pronghorn population back to its objective.
Biologists have also taken pronghorns off the Parker Mountains and transplanted them to other areas in Utah and outside the state.

“Our objective is to count 1,500 pronghorns on the unit after the hunts are over,” Aoude says. “We’re getting close to that objective. That’s why we’re recommending a decrease in doe pronghorn permits this year.”

A Good Time for Big Game

Aoude says good weather and intense habitat improvement projects over the past few years are starting to pay off. “All of Utah’s big game animals are doing really well,” he says.

“Over the past few years, much of the state has enjoyed mild winters and wet springs and summers,” Aoude says. “All of these conditions help animals.”

Aoude says fewer animals die during a mild winter. And a wet spring provides good vegetation for does and cows.

“Good vegetation in the spring helps does and cows produce more milk for their young. That results in strong, young animals,” Aoude says.
“Good summer rains also provide plenty of vegetation for the fawns and calves, which helps them grow to a good size before fall and winter arrive.”

For more information about the April 17 meetings, call the nearest Division of Wildlife Resources office or the DWR’s Salt Lake City office at (801) 538-4700.