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SALT LAKE CITY — This year's "shed hunting" season, where thousands of people go out into Utah's wilderness to look for antlers that deer, elk and moose naturally lose ahead of spring, finally began this week after a statewide emergency closure for any shed hunting on public or private land expired Sunday.
As people get out to look for any remaining antlers, Utah wildlife officials are offering a new smartphone application to facilitate the reporting of "deadheads," which are horns or antlers that are still attached to the skull of an animal that has died. Deadheads typically lead to a lot of calls and tips that result in a "significant amount of time investigating" to determine whether the animal died as a result of natural causes or illegal poaching, said Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Capt. Wade Hovinga, who oversees investigations.
"Often, these animals are difficult to access and it takes time to get to the area and to obtain the location details from the reporting party," he said.
That's why the division unveiled its new app that specifically focuses on reporting deadheads. The Utah Deadhead Reporter app allows people to report any deadhead they come across and provide a GPS location of the skull, any photos of the carcass or surrounding scene, as well as any other information that might be of value to state conservation officers.
The app will ask for a customer ID number, which is the number on any Utah Division of Wildlife Resources license issued to an individual. People can even fill out a report in areas without cellphone service, once it is downloaded on their phone.
The information is forwarded to state conservation officers, who can process the case and determine more quickly whether it is a poaching case, Hovinga says.
"This new app will help people quickly report these deadheads and include all the necessary information, which will make it more efficient to investigate these cases," he said.
Deadheads are illegal to collect without a possession license; however, the division usually lets the person who reported a case keep the antlers, if the animal died of natural causes or anything other than poaching.
The new product follows a similar app that the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources released late last year, in coordination with the Utah Department of Transportation, that focuses on roadkill. State wildlife officials said that app is being used to better understand wildlife migration patterns and how they interact with transportation as the state grows.
