Utah seeking increase in permits for bull elk

Utah's big game population is doing well. So well, in fact, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will be recommending more permits be issued this fall.

The largest increase is expected to be for limited entry bull elk permits. DWR will be recommending to the Utah Wildlife Board that 2,017 limited entry bull elk permits be issued for 2006.

Management plans for the next five years for Utah's deer will also be presented to the board.

The public will have the opportunity to respond to the proposed plans at an upcoming Regional Advisory Council meeting. Recommendations will be presented at which point the public will have the opportunity to respond.

The wildlife board meeting will be April 6 in Salt Lake City.

The three remaining meetings will be:

March 16 — Northeastern region meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Uintah Basin Applied Technology College, 1100 E. Lagoon St. in Roosevelt.

March 22 — Northern region meeting at 6 p.m. at the Brigham City Community Center, 24 N. 300 West in Brigham City.

March 23 — Central region meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Springville High School, 1205 E. 900 South in Springville.

If passed, the limited entry bull elk permits would increase the most under the DWR's recommendations. In 2005, the division issued 1,554 permits.

"The number of permits that can be offered is based on the average age of the bulls that elk hunters took on limited entry units the previous fall," said Craig McLaughlin, big game coordinator for the DWR.

"Each elk unit in Utah is managed with an age objective. If the average age of the bulls taken on a unit is above the objective, then more permits can be offered for that unit."

At the request of the Utah Elk Management Plan Advisory Committee, in 2004 the Wildlife Board lowered the age goals on many of Utah's elk hunting units. Units that had been managed to keep bulls at 7 to 8 years old are now managed to keep the bulls at 5 and 6 years old. Units that had been managed for 5- to 6-year-old bulls are now managed for 4- to 5-year-old bulls.

The 15-person committee included representatives from conservation and sportsman's groups, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, the Utah Farm Bureau, land managing agencies, and Utah's Regional Advisory Councils and Wildlife Board. Jim Karpowitz, director of the DWR, was the committee's facilitator.