Hunters have chance to speak out

Every hunter has an opinion about proposed changes to Utah's deer and elk hunts.

And now hunters will have the chance to express their opinions during two Regional Advisory Council meetings scheduled next week. The councils, in turn, will pass along those opinions to the Utah Wildlife Board, which will make the final decisions.

The Central Region meeting is Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., at the Department of Natural Resources offices, 1594 W. North Temple, Salt Lake City. The Northern Region meeting is Wednesday, 6 p.m., at the Brigham City Community Center, 24 N. 300 West, Brigham City.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is recommending a number of changes to the 2004 deer and elk hunts including:

• Setting aside 15 percent of the general buck deer permits in each region for hunters ages 14 to 18.

• Eliminating a second drawing for big-game permits and selling permits not taken in the first big-game draw in June.

• Eliminating 300 special archery elk permits.

• Allocate limited-entry elk permits on all units in a consistent way, based on weapon type — 25 percent archery, 65 percent any weapon and 10 percent muzzleloader. This distribution would reduce current rifle-elk hunting opportunities and increase the number of archers and muzzleloader hunters. This would lay the groundwork for expanded limited-entry elk-hunting opportunities in the future, because archers and muzzleloader hunters are less successful than rifle hunters.

• Eliminate 1,300 muzzleloader elk permits and add the permits to the general any-bull-elk-permit cap. This would increase the any-bull-elk cap to 14,300 permits. When hunters buy an any-bull permit, they could choose whether they wanted their permit to be a rifle permit or a muzzleloader permit.

"The thing we keep hearing from elk hunters is that the regulations are too complicated. They also want the regulations to be fairer and more consistent across the board," said Jim Karpowitz, big game coordinator for the DWR. "At the same time, they don't want the quality of their hunting experience to decline. We believe we've come up with recommendations that will provide hunters what they're looking for."

Regional council representatives will take the information gathered from public comment to the Utah Wildlife Board on Nov. 13, where the board will vote on Utah's 2004 Big Game Proclamation.

According to a release from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, wildlife biologist estimated there were 310,000 deer in 2001 and 280,000 deer in 2002. There will likely be fewer deer when figures are added up this year.

Of particular concern is the loss of sagebrush, which is key winter range for deer, along the eastern side of the state. Biologists expect that anything between a normal and a heavy winter will result in heavy losses to Utah's herds. A mild winter would prolong the drought and also hurt Utah's deer.

Three earlier RAC meetings were held in Vernal, Green River and Beaver.

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