More Antlerless Hunting Permits

Wildlife Board approves more deer, elk and pronghorn permits

Salt Lake City -- More cow elk, doe deer and doe pronghorn permits will
be available for hunts in Utah this fall.

Members of the Utah Wildlife Board raised the number of permits at
their May 7 meeting in Salt Lake City. Their goal is to balance the
number of elk, deer and pronghorn on various units in the state with the
amount of habitat that’s available for the animals on those units.

The following chart shows the number of permits that were available in
2008 and the number that will be available in 2009:

2008 2009

Cow elk 10,569 11,146

Doe deer 1,170 1,775

Doe pronghorn 727 1,107

Cow moose 109 30

You can apply for an antlerless big game permit starting June 1.
You’ll know by July 14 whether you drew one.

Deer

The DWR has conducted range trend surveys across Utah for decades.
Those surveys show that the habitat on most of the state’s deer units
is in poor shape.

Four units in southern Utah -- the Panguitch Lake, Paunsaugunt, Pine
Valley and Zion -- face an additional challenge: the number of deer on
the units is over the population objective.

Those two factors -- poor habitat and too many deer -- could lead to a
future decline in the number of deer on the units.

“We look at several factors when we set population goals for the
state’s deer units,” Aoude says. “One of those factors is the
amount of habitat that’s available. We also look at the condition of
the habitat.

“If the number of deer on a unit gets too large, the deer can damage
the habitat, especially if the habitat is already in bad shape.”

This chart shows the population goal for the four units. It also shows
the number of deer that biologists estimate were on the units after the
2008 hunts:

Plan population Population
estimate
objective after 2008
hunts

Panguitch Lake 8,500 10,000

Paunsaugunt 5,200 6,000

Pine Valley 12,800 13,400

Zion 9,000 9,500

The board approved a total of 1,775 doe deer permits for Utah’s 35
deer units and subunits.

DWR biologists recommended 500 more permits than the board approved.

Elk

The number of elk in Utah continues to grow.

“Each winter, our biologists fly over different elk units to estimate
how many elk are in the herds,” says Anis Aoude, big game coordinator
for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

“After flights this past winter, we estimate Utah’s elk population
at 67,805 animals,” Aoude says. “That’s up about 2,000 elk from
the 65,880 elk we estimated during the winter of 2008.”

Aoude says the elk herds on the some of the state’s units are at or
above their population goal.

Pronghorn

Just like the elk herds on many of the state’s units, the pronghorn
population on the Plateau unit in southwestern Utah is also above its
population objective.

After surveys this past winter, DWR biologists estimate the unit’s
pronghorn population at 2,700 animals.

The goal for the unit is 1,500 pronghorn.

“The habitat on this unit can actually support more pronghorn than
the population objective for the unit allows it to,” Aoude says.
“That’s why this unit is always over objective.”

The board approved a total of 1,107 pronghorn permits for Utah’s 12
pronghorn units and subunits.

Moose

Concerns about the public’s safety and damage to habitat are among
the reasons the DWR has tried to reduce the number of moose in Utah.

Those efforts, and the harsh winter of 2007 - 2008, appear to have
worked. Because moose are close to their population goal, the board
approved fewer cow moose permits this year.

“We’ve offered more cow moose hunting permits over the past few
years,” Aoude says. “We also worked with the Colorado Division of
Wildlife to move 60 moose from the Ogden Valley to Colorado over the
last few years.

“Surveys our biologists flew this winter show these efforts
worked.”

For more information, call the nearest Division of Wildlife Resources
office or the DWR’s Salt Lake City office at (801) 538-4700