Last modified: Friday, March 03, 2006

RACs to consider fall big game hunt recommendations

Many of Utah's big game hunters, especially elk hunters, might be excited about Division of Wildlife Resources' recommendations for this fall's hunts.

Big game populations in the state are doing well, and the DWR is recommending that permits be increased for many of Utah's big game hunts.

Limited entry bull elk permits would increase the most. The DWR is recommending 2,017 limited entry bull elk permits for 2006.

Plans that will guide the management of deer in Utah over the next five years also are being revised, and the DWR is looking for public input about proposed changes to the plans.

People can learn more about the recommendations and provide their comments at a series of upcoming meetings. Citizens representing Utah's public Regional Advisory Councils will take the input received to the Utah Wildlife Board when it meets April 6 in Salt Lake City to approve big game hunting permits for this fall's hunts.

Meeting dates, times and locations are as follows:

Southern Region
March 14, 7 p.m.
Beaver High School
195 E. Center St., Beaver

Southeastern Region
March 15, 6:30 p.m.
John Wesley Powell Museum
885 E. Main St., Green River

Northeastern Region
March 16, 6:30 p.m.
Uintah Basin Applied Technology College
1100 E. Lagoon St., Roosevelt

Northern Region
March 22, 6 p.m.
Brigham City Community Center
24 N. 300 W., Brigham City

Central Region
March 23, 6:30 p.m.
Springville High School
1205 E. 900 S., Springville

More elk permits

Limited entry bull elk permits would increase the most under the DWR's recommendations. The DWR is recommending 2,017 permits for 2006. In 2005, a total of 1,554 were offered.

"The number of permits that can be offered is based on the average age of the bull elk hunters took on limited entry units the previous fall," said Craig McLaughlin, big game coordinator for the DWR.

"Each elk unit in Utah is managed with an age objective," he said. "If the average age of the bulls taken on a unit is above the objective, then more permits can be offered for that unit."

At the request of the Utah Elk Management Plan Advisory Committee, in 2004 the Utah Wildlife Board lowered the age goals on many of Utah's elk hunting units. Units that had been managed to keep bulls at between seven to eight years old are now managed to keep the bulls at between fiv and six years old. Units that had been managed for five- to six-year-old bulls are now managed for four- to five-year-old bulls.

The 15-person committee included representatives from conservation and sportsman's groups (including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife), the Utah Farm Bureau, land managing agencies, and Utah's Regional Advisory Councils and Wildlife Board. Jim Karpowitz, who now serves as the director of the DWR, was the committee's facilitator.

"The committee was looking for a way to allow more hunters to hunt bull elk, but to still allow those hunters to take a nice, mature bull," McLaughlin said.

Lowering the age goals allowed 283 more limited entry bull elk permits to be offered in 2005 than were offered in 2004.

"Even though more permits were offered last fall, the average age of the bulls hunters took is still way above the age goal on almost every unit in the state," he said. "That's good news for hunters because it means more permits can be offered this year."

McLaughlin says the DWR is still waiting for age data from hunts that were held at the end of the hunting season, but he doesn't believe that data will change the division's recommendations.

"We have more than 80 percent of the data in right now," he said. "If the remaining data tells us that we need to change our recommendations, we still have time to do that before the Wildlife Board meets on April 6."

More pronghorn permits

The DWR is also recommending an increase in pronghorn antelope permits. The DWR is recommending 843 permits for this fall's hunts. A total of 587 were available in 2005.

Most of the permits would be available for the Plateau unit in southwestern Utah.

"The buck to doe ratio on the Plateau unit is more than 80 bucks per 100 does, so there's plenty of bucks for hunters to take," McLaughlin said. "The goal for the unit is 1,500 pronghorn. About 3,100 pronghorn are on the unit now, so the herd is doing great."

Buck deer permit increase

Under DWR recommendations, the number of general season buck deer permits would begin moving back to the 97,000 permit cap that was started in Utah in 1994.

In 2005, general season buck deer permits in the Central and Northeastern regions were cut by 1,000 permits each because the three-year buck to doe ratio in each region had fallen below the minimum of 15 bucks per 100 does called for in Utah's Deer Management Plan. As a result, the statewide permit cap was reduced from 97,000 permits to 95,000 permits.

After hunts this past fall, DWR biologists found that the buck to doe average in the Northeastern Region had increased to 15 bucks per 100 does, the minimum number called for in the management plan. In the Central Region, the average increased to 14 bucks per 100 does.

"Based on the findings, we're recommending that 1,000 permits be added to the Northeastern Region for this fall," McLaughlin said. "That will increase the total number of general season buck deer permits in Utah to 96,000 for this fall."

Permit recommendations

Permit numbers for 2005, and the number of permits the DWR is recommending for 2006, are listed below:

Hunt	2,005	2,006
General season buck deer	95,000	96,000

Premium limited entry deer	174	179

Limited entry deer	768	813

Limited entry bull elk	1,554	2,017

Pronghorn antelope	587	843

Moose	117	138

Rocky Mountain goat	64	89

Desert bighorn sheep	35	34

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep	11	15

Bison	28	17

A breakdown showing the total permits for each unit will be available at the DWR's Web site at wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings several days before the RAC meetings. Once you're on the site, go to the Meeting Agenda portion to find the permit numbers.

Deer management plans

Management plans for the state's 30 deer hunting units also will be reviewed and revised at the meetings. The long-term goal to have more than 426,000 deer in Utah may take more time to reach than originally thought.

"Since the plans were first written in 2003, Utah has lost some of its winter ranges and we've learned that some of the winter ranges we have can't support the number of deer that we first thought they could," McLaughlin said.

The new plans propose short-term goals that would result in about 400,000 deer in Utah by 2011. McLaughlin says favorable weather and work to improve winter ranges in Utah could result in that goal being met before that time, however.

Management plans for each of the state's deer hunting units will be available on the DWR's Web site at wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings several days before the RAC meetings. Once you're on the site, go to the Meeting Agenda portion to read the plans.