Wildlife Board approves hike

A proposal to increase hunting and fishing licenses for the 2007 season and a plan to shift more bear-hunting permits from fall to spring were approved by the seven-member Utah Wildlife Board on Thursday. The last word in the request to increase license fees will now be put before the Utah Legislature. If approved, resident fishing licenses will go up $2 and the general deer permit will go up $5.

The increase in fees is necessary, said Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, to cover budget shortfalls.

The shift in hunting pressure on bear-hunting seasons is an attempt to reduce the number of female bears taken by hunters.

The new plan follows a five-year experiment that involved eight of the state's bear-hunting units. The eight held a similar number of bears. Four units were hunted in the spring, and four were hunted in the fall. Of the four hunted in the spring, 21 percent were female. Of the four hunted in the fall, 31 percent were female.

One reason is that male bears usually come out of their dens sooner than females, which means hunters are more likely to encounter male bears, said Kevin Bunnell, mammals program coordinator for the DWR.

Also, sows tend to say closer to their dens and their cubs, which means hunters are more likely to see cubs when they encounter a female bear, then leave and continue hunting.

"Switching more of Utah's black-bear hunting from the fall to the spring should result in hunters taking fewer females, and that should lead to an even healthier bear population in Utah," Bunnell said.

The spring hunt will run from April 8 to May 31. The board approved 172 permits for this hunt.

The fall hunt will run from Aug. 26 to Sept. 30 and Nov. 1 to Nov. 26. A total of 70 permits were approved.

The total of 242 permits is four more permits than were issued in 2005. The board also approved issuing 13 permits to American Indian tribes in Utah.

The application period will begin Feb. 1, and applications must be submitted no later than Feb. 28. The draw will be held March 29.

The license-fee increase is expected to bring in as much as $2.5 million in additional funding to the wildlife agency.

"If we don't receive the additional funding, we'll have to make significant budget cuts that will include reducing the number of employees," said Karpowitz.