DWR proposes more antlerless hunting permits

You might have a better chance than you did last year at drawing a cow elk, cow moose or doe pronghorn hunting permit.

The Division of Wildlife Resources is recommending increased permit numbers for all three species for this fall.

Learn more, share your ideas

The DWR's proposals should be available at wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings by April 14. Once you've read the proposals, you can provide your comments one of two ways:

RAC meetings

Five Regional Advisory Council meetings will be held across Utah on April 29. Citizens representing the RACs will take the input received at the meetings to the Utah Wildlife Board. Board members will use your input to set permit numbers for this fall's hunts.

The April 29 meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. You can participate and provide your input at any of these 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
1765 E. Main St.
Green River

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

E-mail

You can also provide your comments to your RAC via e-mail. E-mail addresses for your RAC members are available at 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.

Antlerless permit recommendations

The number of antlerless permits available in 2007, and the number biologists are recommending for 2008, are as follows:

	2007	2008
Doe deer	1,730	1,170

Cow elk	7,931	10,529

Doe pronghorn	392	727

Cow moose	89	109

Doe deer

Most of Utah's doe deer permits are used to control the number of deer that live in and near urban areas throughout the year. However, on some units, such as the East Canyon and Chalk Creek units in northern Utah, the permits are also used to control the number of deer across the entire unit.

The East Canyon and Chalk Creek units are mostly private property. Sometimes the number of deer on the units can climb higher than the population objective for the units.

"It might be hard to remember, but before all of the snow fell this winter, Utah was starting to slide back into a drought," says Anis Aoude, big game coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

"The drought conditions affected the habitat the deer rely on. As a result, the number of fawns that made it through their first year of life started to drop," he says. "We want to reduce the number of doe permits on the East Canyon and Chalk Creek units, and a few other units, to allow the deer populations on these units to grow."

Cow elk

While the number of deer in Utah has declined a bit, the number of elk continues to climb. That's the main reason DWR biologists are recommending 10,529 cow elk permits for this fall's hunts.

"Several of the state's elk herds are getting close to their population objective. We want to slow their growth a bit so the herds don't overshoot their objective. If they overshoot it, then we'll have to offer a lot of cow elk permits in 2009. We'd prefer to increase permit numbers slowly rather than all at once," Aoude says.

Aoude says several herds are also at or over their population objective. "Raising the number of permits will help us keep these herds at or near their population objective," he says.

Doe pronghorn

DWR biologists have worked for years to reduce the number of pronghorn in the large herds on the Parker Mountains in southwestern Utah. Lots of hunting permits have been issued, and animals have been taken off the unit and transplanted elsewhere.

Biologists conducted an aerial survey of the unit a few weeks ago. They found there's still a large number of pronghorn on the unit and more work to do.

For that reason, DWR biologists are recommending 350 doe pronghorn permits for the Parker Mountains. The Parker Mountains are part of the Plateau unit.

The remaining 377 doe pronghorn permits the DWR is recommending would be split among the rest of the state's pronghorn units to deal with depredation issues.

Cow moose

Utah's moose herds, including those along the Wasatch Front, continue to flourish. For this reason, the DWR is recommending 109 cow moose permits for this fall's hunts.