Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS — In an effort to reduce crowds and give hunters more opportunities, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is proposing several changes for the 2018 hunting season.
The wildlife agency is proposing several changes for the big game hunts, as well as some for the waterfowl hunts.
Early season rifle hunt
An early season rifle hunt has been proposed for 10 general deer hunting units throughout the state. This would be in addition to the regular general rifle buck deer hunt and would take place in mid-October, according to DWR officials.
The hunt would run Oct. 10-14 on the Kamas, Chalk Creek, East Canyon and Morgan/South Rich units in northern Utah, the Nine Mile Unit in southeastern Utah, and the Fillmore, Fishlake, Panguitch Lake, Pine Valley and Zion units in south-central and southwestern Utah, DWR said.
DWR big game coordinator Covy Jones said these additional hunts would help manage buck-to-doe ratio objectives on the units and help reduce hunter crowding.
“Hunter crowding is one of the major challenges general deer hunters face,” he said in a news release. “Holding an early hunt would shift some of the hunters out of the regular hunt and into the earlier hunt. And that means fewer hunters would be in the field during the regular hunt.”
Late-season limited-entry muzzleloader buck deer hunt
In 2016, the chance to hunt buck deer with a muzzleloader — after the general rifle hunt — was offered on a few units. In 2017, the opportunity was expanded to 15 units. Starting in 2018, biologists would like to offer the opportunity on all of Utah's general season deer hunting units.
In the past, a late-season muzzleloader hunt could not be held on a unit unless the number of bucks per 100 does was over the minimum objective of either 15 to 17 bucks per 100 does, or 18 to 20 bucks per 100 does, depending on the unit, according to DWR. And because all of the units in Utah are currently meeting that objective, DWR said it wants to extend the muzzleloader hunt. A limited number of permits would be offered for the late-season muzzleloader hunt.
Hunt all three elk seasons
With a statewide population of more than 80,000 animals, Utah has plenty of elk. However, hunter success rates for elk is fairly low in Utah, DWR said. For those reasons, biologists would like to allow general-season bull elk hunters a chance to hunt all three general elk seasons — archery, rifle and muzzleloader.
If approved, those who bought a permit for all three seasons would first choose whether they wanted to hunt on spike-only units or any-bull units. Then, after buying their over-the-counter permit, they could hunt during the archery season on any general season bull elk unit in the state. During the rifle and muzzleloader hunts, they’d have to hunt on the type of unit for which they bought a permit. Their permit would allow them to take only one elk, so their elk hunt would end for the year as soon as they took an elk.
'Cactus buck' hunt
With one exception, “cactus bucks” — buck deer that typically can’t reproduce — are found in very few places in Utah.
The one exception is the famed Paunsaugunt premium limited entry unit in southwestern Utah. There, a small population of cactus bucks is found, and biologists would like to give more hunters a chance to hunt them. Cactus bucks are easy to distinguish because they still have velvet on their antlers late into the fall.
Jones said those who draw a permit for the Paunsaugunt unit can take a cactus buck now, but most don’t, opting instead to take one of the massive bucks on the unit.
“Offering a cactus buck-only hunt would allow more people to hunt this amazing unit and take bucks hunters aren’t currently taking,” Jones said. “Cactus bucks typically can’t reproduce, so taking these bucks would not have a negative effect on the population.”
The agency would like feedback from the public on these proposals. Residents can either attend a Regional Advisory Council public meeting or can email feedback to the council member in their area.
Editor's note: The content of this article was taken from a press release sent out by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. This is not information gathered by KSL.com reporters.
