DWR recommends increase in big-game hunting permits

There could be more permits available for this fall's big-game hunts.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will be recommending some increases for most species to the Utah Wildlife Board. All of the DWR's big-game proposals are available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings.

A series of Regional Advisory Council meetings was held recently throughout the state, and input from those meetings will be presented to the wildlife board on April 2. Public comments can still be given to council members via e-mail. Addresses can be found at www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings. The group that each Regional Advisory Council member represents is listed under each person's e-mail address.

Looking at the proposals, Anis Aoude, big-game coordinator for the DWR, noted, "Most of Utah's big-game animals are doing well. And that's great news for sportsmen. It means more permits can be offered this fall."

The number of permits the state can offer for Utah's general buck deer hunts each fall is decided by two factors:

One is the state's permit cap. The cap does not allow more than 97,000 general buck deer permits to be offered each year.

The other is a requirement that deer herds have at least 15 bucks per 100 does.

A few years ago, the wildlife board decreased buck deer permits by 1,000 in both the Central and Northeastern regions. The board lowered the number of permits because the three-year buck-to-doe average in each region fell below the minimum of 15 bucks per 100 does.

Since then, the number of bucks has improved. Over the past three years, biologists have found an average of 16 bucks per 100 does in the Central Region. In the Northeastern Region, the herds have averaged 16 bucks per 100 does.

"Both regions have good numbers of bucks," Aoude said. "We'd like to give more hunters a chance to hunt these bucks by returning 1,000 permits to each of the two regions."

One region biologists do not want to add permits back to is the Northern Region.

"A lot of deer died in the Northern Region during the winter of 2007-08," Aoude said. "Even though the three-year buck-to-doe average across the region is good, the average on two of the units — the Cache and Ogden units — is down to about 10 bucks per 100 does.

"We'd like to maintain the current number of permits to help the deer in those two units rebound faster."