The DNR Division of Law Enforcement was formally established in January 2025 and is a unification of law enforcement from four divisions: Wildlife Resources, State Parks, Outdoor Recreation, and Forestry, Fire and State Lands. For more information about the Division of Law Enforcement, visit the Utah Department of Natural Resources website.
Report poaching and other wildlife-related crimes
Help us protect your wildlife, turn in a suspected wildlife violation.
If you witness an in-progress wildlife or fishing violation — or you're aware of a previously committed wildlife crime — please contact DNR conservation officers as soon as possible.
Note: If you are witnessing a public safety emergency, please call 911.
Your four Utah Turn-in-a-Poacher (UTiP) contact options are listed below in order of urgency:
Call the Utah Turn-in-a-Poacher (UTiP) hotline at 800-662-3337. It's staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Hotline operators will ask you detailed questions about what you saw, and in many instances, may patch you directly through to a local conservation officer.
Use the DNR Law Enforcement app
If the violation may not demand an immediate response, or if you're unwilling or unable to speak with UTiP hotline operators,
you may submit a tip through the DWR Law Enforcement app, which is available as a free download for
iOS (Apple)
and Android devices.
This reporting option will initiate a chat conversation with DNR Law Enforcement personnel. You may remain anonymous, if you wish, but we encourage you to provide your name and contact information to better assist the investigating officers.
Submit a tip online
You may also submit an online tip using the map below. If you choose this reporting option, please understand that system limitations may make it difficult for our officers to contact you with any follow-up questions. Please provide detailed, comprehensive information in the body of your report — or be sure to include your name and contact information — to ensure that investigating officers can obtain the details they need.
Click or tap one of the links or the location of the violation on the DWR region map, below. This will ensure the tip is routed to appropriate patrol staff.
The long-term viability of Utah's wildlife depends on citizens who care passionately about natural resource issues and support law enforcement efforts.
You may also earn a reward for your efforts. Do your part to protect Utah's wildlife by reporting poachers immediately.
Learn more
Be a good witness: Providing the right kind of information helps us investigate the report.
Drought affects many fish and wildlife species and can impact their population numbers. More animals may die due to competition for increasingly limited resources. Drought may lead some animals to seek food and water in urban areas, causing conflicts with humans. When drought reduces the amount of water in lakes, reservoirs and streams, the remaining water heats up quickly and has less oxygen, stressing fish and causing die-offs.
This page is a resource for describing the effects of Utah's current drought on wildlife in the state, as well as explaining how the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is working to try and mitigate these effects.
For more information on current drought conditions across the state, visit drought.utah.gov.
Wildlife
Deer and other big game species can be severely affected by drought. The limited availability of food and water can lead to a reduced number of newborn fawns and fewer fawns that survive their first year. The harsh conditions can also reduce the number of huntable buck deer and result in lower overall deer population numbers.
Does struggle with drought largely because the decreased food supply either limits their ability to get pregnant, or, if their body condition is poor during pregnancy, the growth of the fetus may be impacted. The in utero impacts of drought will be felt for the entire life of the deer, and for male offspring, may result in relatively smaller antlers even after reaching maturity.
Drought can also impact antler growth for buck deer because a sparse food supply provides fewer nutrients, which bucks need to grow antlers.
Deer and other wildlife can end up in your yard or garden to find food,
although there are ways to deter them.
It is important that you not try to feed animals such as deer, moose or bear yourself, as you may
cause more harm than good.
The animals could become habituated and lose their natural fear of people, or they could attract predators.
Upland game and migratory birds are also impacted by drought conditions. In addition to
ongoing drought impacting the Great Salt Lake,
Utah’s wetlands provide a crucial source of food for migrating birds. Reduced water in wetland environments means not having aquatic invertebrates
or vegetation, food sources that waterfowl, shorebirds and other birds such as pelicans, ibises and herons depend upon. There has been an extreme
reduction in foraging habitat for birds over the last decade due to ongoing drought and decreased water levels. This results in reduced fat
accumulations for birds to complete long migrations, and increased disease transmission (such as
avian influenza) from populations concentrating
at remaining water sources.
In other areas of Utah, drought impacts upland game animals — including grouse, quail, partridges, pheasants, turkeys, rabbits and hares — in a diverse range of habitats. In many cases, these species rely upon winter snowpack, spring precipitation and/or summer monsoons for replenishing water sources. When pressured by drought, these species decline due to adult die-off, but predominantly due to having smaller clutch sizes and lower nest success rates. Drought often results in higher mortality for chicks due to the lack of good cover (making them easy prey for also-stressed predators) and fewer bugs (their major food source).
Cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares are also impacted by drought. Although they don't require free-standing water, they do rely on grasses and other forage for hydration. This is true for many upland game species, especially outside of brood-rearing seasons. Upland species may move into more urban or agricultural areas due to less water, especially quail, turkey, pheasant, sharp-tailed grouse and partridge.
Drought impacts fish by reducing the amount of
water available in lakes, reservoirs and streams. Less water heats up more quickly and has less oxygen, stressing the fish and causing more to die.
Trout in low-elevation waterbodies are most likely to be impacted by drought, although all fish species can be affected.
Drought also impacts flows in our hatcheries.
Natural springs that feed our hatcheries can experience reduced flows when snowpack is at low levels
(like we experienced in the winter of 2025-2026). This means that there are often too many fish in the hatchery for the amount of water available,
and fish have to go out the door earlier than what is ideal to take advantage of spring zooplankton blooms.
However, stocking fish earlier than desired is far better than losing hatchery fish when the water is running low.
If you like to fish, you should visit your favorite lakes and reservoirs early in the year. Water levels at some places can be so low during
summer months that boat ramps won't be functional. Also, go fishing in the mornings when temperatures are cooler — fish are more likely to be
active at this time of day anyway. And if you release your fish, minimize handling as much as possible and release it in deeper, cooler water
(try using a descending device) so they are more likely to survive.
Otter Creek, May 2021
DWR's ongoing efforts to mitigate the impacts of drought
The DWR works proactively to reduce the effects of drought to fish and wildlife, including monitoring the following:
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