If the Utah Wildlife Board accepts recommendations from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, hunters will have a better chance of drawing out on a cow elk, cow moose or doe pronghorn permits this year.

Increases are being recommended in all three areas.

The DWR's proposals are available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings.

There will be five Regional Advisory Council meetings held to discuss the planned quotas. Information gathered at those meetings will be presented to the board for final decisions.

All five meetings will be April 29 at 6:30 p.m. Locations are:

• 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.
• Northeastern Region at Western Park, Room 2, 302 E. 200 South in Vernal.
• Southeastern Region at John Wesley Powell Museum, 1765 E. Main in Green River.
• Southern Region at Snow College South, Administration Building, 800 W. 200 South in Richfield.

Comments can also be submitted by e-mail to www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings.

The recommendations are:

Doe deer — 1,730 (2007) and 1,170 (2008)
Cow elk — 7,931 (2007) and 10,529 (2008)
Doe pronghorn — 392 (2007) and 727 (2008)
Cow moose — 89 (2007) and 109 (2008)

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," said 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 said. "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."

While the number of deer in Utah has declined a bit, the number of elk continues to climb, which is the reason biologists are recommending 10,529 cow elk permits.