Report your game harvest

Mandatory reporting requirements apply to all limited-entry and general-season hunts for elk, deer, pronghorn and once-in-a-lifetime species.

Harvest reports are due within 30 days of the end of the hunting season printed on your permit.

• Hunts ending Jan. 16 or later must have a harvest report submitted by Feb. 15, whether you harvested an animal or not.
• Mitigation permits do not require a harvest report.
• Extended archery exceptions:
  • If you have a general-season buck deer or bull elk archery permit, your report is due within 30 days after the extended archery season closes.
  • If you are a youth with an any legal weapon general-season buck deer permit, your harvest report is due within 30 days of the end of the extended archery season.
  • Important: The extended archery exception does not apply to limited-entry archery buck deer and bull elk permits — they are still due within 30 days of the end season date printed on your permit.
• Submitting teeth or other biological samples from your animal — or having your animal checked by a DWR representative or CWMU operator — does not fulfill your mandatory harvest reporting requirement.

Complete your harvest survey online or call any DWR office.

Report your harvest

If you have a tundra swan permit, be aware of the following reporting requirements.

If you harvest:

1. Complete your harvest report.
2. Within 72 hours of harvesting any swan, check in your swan or its head at a DWR office or the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. (Check-in at the refuge is only available Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.–noon and 2–7 p.m.)
   • DWR or Refuge staff will take measurements of your swan's bill and confirm that it is a tundra swan.
   • They will enter your swan's bill measurements into your harvest report, and your check-in requirement will be complete.

If you don’t hunt or harvest:

• You must complete your harvest report within 30 days of the end of the swan season.

Complete your harvest survey online or call any DWR office.

Report your harvest

If you take a black bear, cougar, bobcat or marten you are not required to submit a harvest report, but there are check-in requirements.

We strongly encourage you to make an appointment to check in your bear or cougar. An appointment is required to check in a bobcat or marten. Otherwise, you run the risk of not having someone available to help you obtain a permanent tag for the pelt or carcass.

Important: Do not bring in frozen carcasses.

CHECKING IN BEAR OR COUGAR

• Within 48 hours of harvesting a bear or cougar, you must check in your harvested animal and receive a permanent tag.
• You will need to provide the following:
  • Evidence of the bear's or cougar's sex must remain attached to the carcass or pelt until a division employee attaches a permanent tag.
  • Date and time of harvest.
  • Exact location where the bear or cougar was taken (GPS coordinates preferred).
• Our biologists will extract a small tooth at the time of check-in to obtain accurate age information
• To report your harvest after business hours (8 a.m.–5 p.m., Monday through Friday) or over the weekend, please call your local police department on a nonemergency dispatch line. They will contact a Division of Law Enforcement officer who can assist you.

CHECKING IN BOBCAT OR MARTEN

• Shortly after the close of bobcat and marten season, you must have a DWR employee attach a permanent possession tag to any pelt. See the current Utah Furbearer Guidebook for this deadline, which varies by calendar year.
• An appointment is required to check in a bobcat or marten.
• You can also obtain permanent tags at the Utah Trappers Association Fur Sale, typically held the second Friday and Saturday in February.

Swans are the only migratory game bird species requiring a DWR harvest report and mandatory check-in within 72 hours of harvest.

UPLAND GAME AND TURKEY

Turkey, greater sage-grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, and other upland game species do not require harvest reporting, but you may receive a nonmandatory survey request from the DWR via email. Thank you for participating in these surveys, which provide important information to help us manage hunting in Utah.

WATERFOWL AND OTHER MIGRATORY GAME BIRDS

Register for a Harvest Information Program number if you're hunting migratory game birds.

• Migratory game birds include American crows, ducks, geese, rails, snipe, coot, doves, band-tailed pigeons, sandhill cranes and swans.
• Each year you plan to hunt migratory game birds, you must register for a HIP number.
• When you apply for a HIP number, self-reporting your previous year's harvest information helps the DWR and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service generate more reliable estimates of hunting activity, as well as of the numbers of migratory birds harvested throughout the country.