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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Wildlife Board has approved some new hunts for the upcoming black bear seasons.
Starting in the 2019 season, spot-and-stalk black bear hunts will be held on 11 units in Utah, whereas in the past they were mainly held on the LaSal and San Juan units in southeastern Utah, according to a Utah Division of Wildlife Resources news release.
“On three of the units, an unlimited number of permits will be sold, but the hunt will end as soon as three bears are taken on each of the units,” the DWR news release stated. “On the remaining units, a limited number of permits — a total of 205 — will be offered.”
Spot-and-stalk hunts are much harder because hunters can’t use bait to lure in bears or pursue bears with hounds. Because of that, wildlife officials said they don’t believe these additional hunts will impact the black bear populations in Utah and that less than 25 bears will be taken during the spot-and-stalk hunts.
The new hunts were approved during a Jan. 10 meeting and, in a new change, will now be in place for the next three hunting seasons, rather than changing after a year, DWR officials said. The board approved keeping these changes from 2019-21 instead of making changes every year because the number of bears doesn’t fluctuate much and changing the hunting rules every year “can actually be counterproductive to managing black bears effectively,” DWR game mammals coordinator Darren DeBloois said in the news release.
However, if something unusual happens with the bear population before the three-year period is over, there are some protocols in place to allow immediate changes to be made.
“If we’re facing a critical situation, the director of the DWR has the authority to close hunts down,” DeBloois said. “So, not changing the rules for three years doesn’t mean changes can’t be made if something drastic happens to the population.”
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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.
