Estimated read time: 2-3 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
Sam Penrod reportingThousands of deer hunters hit the hills early this morning for the opening day of Utah's deer hunt.
From what we are hearing statewide, hunters are finding some good success in the first day of the hunt.
David Fagg, Deer Hunter: "Just walked up and in a matter of about 20 minutes...saw the deer and took a couple of shots and got it, it was a pretty short hunt"
Hunters were out before dawn today, trying to get into their favorite spots as the hunt officially opened. Some had to deal with a lot of snow.
At a game checking station in Spanish Fork Canyon, several hunters brought in their deer before noon and report finding deer from the high elevations to the foothills.
It was the first hunt for 14 year old Dylan Holmes who was with his dad Robert.
Robert Holmes Jr./Deer Hunter: "This morning was a little slow, we started out in the very top snow to the knees, 11 o clock we decided to come down from there, we didn't see anything. But this afternoon their luck suddenly changed and both of them bagged a buck."
Dylan Holmes/Deer Hunter: "The adrenaline rush, looking at the deer I saw spikes and I shot."
Overall wildlife biologists say the deer look healthy and they say for the most part most deer they have seen are young, although they are somewhat surprised to see a lot of mature bucks too.
Craig Clyde, DWR Wildlife Biologist: "They are seeing a lot of young bucks and we expected that this year, last year a good fawn crop survival during the winter and so we expected a lot of young deer out there and the hunters are seeing them, they are taking a lot of young deer, we usually see 60 percent younger deer and the rest older deer"
While hunters are mostly seeing young deer, they are also reporting seeing a lot of does out there. Utah's deer population has been going up the last couple of years, after deer herds suffered somewhat during the drought years here in Utah.
Better deer numbers will help hunting traditions for families to continue.
Robert Holmes Jr./Deer Hunter: "It's just so much fun to be out here with my son, my daughter, my brother in law, my son in law.. It's awesome I wouldn't trade it for the world."
