The mild winter may not have put down the snowpack, but it did make life easier on Utah's big game animals, which is both good and bad news.

The light winter means more animals survived, but it also means that in some areas of the state the animal population exceeds carrying capacity for the state's limited winter range.

This is reflected in the Division of Wildlife Resources' 2007 antlerless hunting recommendations for this fall.

Taking female animals is the main tool biologists have to keep big game animals from increasing past the number their habitat can sustain.

This year the DWR is asking for an increase in antlerless deer, elk and moose permits. Pronghorn antelope permits would decrease by about 250 permits.

Recommended numbers will be provided by DWR biologists during five public meetings.

Regional Advisory Council representatives will take the public input and present it to the Utah Wildlife Board on April 26 in Salt Lake City.

The April 17 meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The meetings will be:

• Northern Region at Brigham City Community Center, 24 N. 300 West in Brigham City.

• Central Region at Springville Junior High School, 165 S. 700 East in Springville.

• Northeastern Region at Western Park, Room 2, 302 E. 200 South in Vernal.

• Southeastern Region at John Wesley Powell Museum, 885 E. Main in Green River.

• Southern Region at Snow College South Administration Building, 800 W. 200 South in Richfield.

The number of antlerless permits available in 2006, and the number the DWR is recommending for 2007, are as follows:

Doe deer — 1,080 in 2006; 1,705 in 2007

Cow elk — 4,999 in 2006; 8,031 in 2007

Cow moose — 63 in 2006; 89 in 2007

Doe pronghorn — 587 in 2006; 347 in 2007

Utah's Deer Management Plan calls for 411,300 deer after the hunting seasons are over in 2010.

To reach that goal, the plan also sets a benchmark: 320,000 deer in Utah by 2008.

DWR biologists are happy to report that the 320,000 deer benchmark has almost been reached two years early.

"Based on computer modeling we did after the 2006 hunting seasons were over, we estimate that more than 318,000 deer were in Utah last winter,"said Anis Aoude, big game coordinator for the DWR.

The DWR wants to increase the number of doe deer permits, but not for areas where most of Utah's deer are found. "We want the state's deer herds to keep growing,"Aoude added.