bowhunt
Long Time Member
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LAST EDITED ON May-27-08 AT 04:50PM (MST)[p]Here is what needs done to allow for more bucks, and bucks of higher quality in the State of Utah. I am only speaking of the General Units, and not LE Units.
This plan would allow for all types of hunters to benefit.
1: Eliminate Doe tags for 3 years.
2: After 3 years evaluate herd numbers, buck harvest rates and determine if Doe hunting on a much smaller scale can resume.
3: Keep current buck tag quota of ~97,000 in place.
Information to support this plan:
In 1913 the state enacted a NO DOE hunting plan, this plan stayed in place until 1934, and then VERY few does were harvested.
Herd numbers exploded and doe hunts began to increase by 1960 there were 132,000 deer harvested in Utah. By the early 70s it became evident that deer were now on the decline, and in 1975 (you guessed it) the state went back to a Buck only hunt.
Deer herds once again swelled and by 1985 82,853 bucks were harvested in that year. (can you imagine today if 97,000 hunters harvested 82,852 bucks?) WOW!
Also about that time hunter numbers peaked at 228,907.
Well you guessed it, with all of those deer the State had to start shooting does again...and that leads us to today.
Granted we have had: Range change, habitat change, some bad winters, etc. But by and large it is the hunting of does that have over and over again led to the demise of our deer herd.
So once again my plan:
1: Eliminate Doe tags for 3 years.
2: After 3 years evaluate herd numbers, buck harvest rates, number of does, etc, and determine if Doe hunting on a much smaller scale can resume.
3: Keep current buck tag quota of ~97,000 in place.
The increase number of does will lead to far greater number of bucks coming into the deer pool, and significantly increase our opportunity for deer, or at least get the overall herd back to objective.
This plan would allow for all types of hunters to benefit.
1: Eliminate Doe tags for 3 years.
2: After 3 years evaluate herd numbers, buck harvest rates and determine if Doe hunting on a much smaller scale can resume.
3: Keep current buck tag quota of ~97,000 in place.
Information to support this plan:
In 1913 the state enacted a NO DOE hunting plan, this plan stayed in place until 1934, and then VERY few does were harvested.
Herd numbers exploded and doe hunts began to increase by 1960 there were 132,000 deer harvested in Utah. By the early 70s it became evident that deer were now on the decline, and in 1975 (you guessed it) the state went back to a Buck only hunt.
Deer herds once again swelled and by 1985 82,853 bucks were harvested in that year. (can you imagine today if 97,000 hunters harvested 82,852 bucks?) WOW!
Also about that time hunter numbers peaked at 228,907.
Well you guessed it, with all of those deer the State had to start shooting does again...and that leads us to today.
Granted we have had: Range change, habitat change, some bad winters, etc. But by and large it is the hunting of does that have over and over again led to the demise of our deer herd.
So once again my plan:
1: Eliminate Doe tags for 3 years.
2: After 3 years evaluate herd numbers, buck harvest rates, number of does, etc, and determine if Doe hunting on a much smaller scale can resume.
3: Keep current buck tag quota of ~97,000 in place.
The increase number of does will lead to far greater number of bucks coming into the deer pool, and significantly increase our opportunity for deer, or at least get the overall herd back to objective.