If you like to hunt deer in northern Utah, you're encouraged to do one of two things: Attend an open house on Feb. 13 or send your comments to an email address.

Phil Douglass, regional conservation outreach manager for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says biologists in the Northern Region want to hear from you about the number of bucks per 100 does you'd like to see each deer hunting unit in the region managed for.

"After Feb. 27, our biologists will put recommendations together that they'll present at the Northern Region Regional Advisory Council in April," Douglass says. "We want your ideas."

There are two different ways to give DWR biologists your input about deer units in the Northern Region:

1. Attend an open house at Sportsman's Warehouse on Feb. 13. The open house will run from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sportsman's Warehouse is in Riverdale at 1137 W. Riverdale Road.
2. Email the DWR at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This e-mail address has been set up for comments only and will be deactivated on Feb. 27. "The thoughts and ideas of sportsmen are important to us, so we ask deer hunters to please take this opportunity to express their opinion," says Randy Wood, Northern Region wildlife manager.

Douglass provides the following information:

At its December 2011 meeting, the Utah Wildlife Board asked our biologists to provide a more flexible proposal for buck-to-doe ratios on the state's general-season deer units to provide some additional hunting opportunity. Buck-to-doe ratios directly affect how many deer permits the board will approve.

To put together our recommendations for the Wildlife Board, we will be holding the Feb. 13 open house to consider buck-to-doe ratios for Northern Region Units:

• Unit 1 Box Elder
• Unit 2 Cache
• Unit 3 Ogden
• Units 4/5/6 Chalk Creek/East Canyon/Morgan-South Rich
• Unit 7 Kamas
• Unit 8 Uintas North Slope

We hope to gather the public's input on two topics:

1. What criteria should be used to place deer-hunting units into different management objectives? (We may consider things like the amount of public land vs. private land, road density and possibly the distance from population centers.)
2. What management objectives would the public support for individual units? The current objective for all general-season deer units is 18 to 25 bucks per 100 does after the hunting season is over. One option might be to manage some units at 15 to 17 bucks per 100 does and others at 18 to 20 bucks per 100 does.

We are gathering this input before putting together formal recommendations that will go out to the Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) in April. The Wildlife Board will hear the recommendations and RAC feedback in May when it could decide to set new objectives for individual units. New objectives would affect how many permits the Wildlife Board approves for the 2012 deer season.

In addition to discussing these topics, biologists will be available to answer questions about the status of the local deer herds and the switch to unit-by-unit hunting. At some of the open houses, personnel will be on hand to help you apply for the big game drawing.