Attend DWR open house

[rperkins]

Attend a deer open house

Proposals that wildlife biologists will put together soon will affect the number of deer hunting permits that will be available in Utah this fall.
Mule deer
How many bucks per 100 does do you want to see the deer-hunting units in your region managed for?
But before they put their recommendations together, the biologists want to know how many bucks per 100 does you'd like to see the units in your region managed for.
To gather your thoughts, Division of Wildlife Resources biologists are holding a series of open houses across the state. The open house for the Northern Region was held Feb. 13. Here's where and when open houses will be held across the rest of Utah:

Southern Region
Feb. 15 ? DWR field office in Washington County (451 N. SR-318 at Quail Creek Reservoir), from 5 to 7 p.m.
Feb. 22 ? Sevier County Administration Building in Richfield (250 N. Main St), from 5 to 7 p.m.

Northeastern Region
Feb. 15 ? The Bingham Entrepreneurship and Energy Research Center in Vernal (320 N. 2000 W., on the USU campus), from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Southeastern Region
Feb. 16 ? DWR office in Price (319 N. Carbonville Road), from 6 to 8 p.m.
Feb. 21 ? Grand Center in Moab (182 N. 500 W.), from 6 to 8 p.m.

Central Region
Feb. 23 ? DWR office in Salt Lake City (1594 W. North Temple), from 6 to 8 p.m.
Feb. 28 ? DWR office in Springville (1115 N. Main St., in the Conference Center), from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Email

If you can't attend an open house, or the open house you want to attend has already been held, you have until Feb. 29 to send your comments via email to the following DWR staff:

Northern Region
Send ideas and comments to [email protected]his e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Wildlife Manager Randy Wood at [email protected]his e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This region oversees the following units:

* Unit #1 ? Box Elder
* Unit #2 ? Cache
* Unit #3 ? Ogden
* Unit #4/5/6 ? Chalk Creek/East Canyon/Morgan-South Rich
* Unit #7 ? Kamas
* Unit #8 ? North Slope (management shared with the Northeastern Regional Office)

Northeastern Region
Send ideas and comments to Wildlife Manager Charles Greenwood at [email protected]his e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This region oversees the following units:

* Unit #8 ? North Slope (management shared with the Northern Regional Office)
* Unit #9A ? South Slope, Yellowstone
* Unit #9B/9D ? South Slope, Bonanza/Vernal
* Unit #17B/17C ? Wasatch Mtns, Avintaquin/Currant Creek
* Unit #11 ? Nine Mile (management shared with the Southeastern Regional Office)

Southeastern Region
Send ideas and comments to Wildlife Manager Justin Shannon at [email protected]his e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This region oversees the following units:

* Unit #11 ? North Slope (management shared with the Northeastern Region)
* Unit #12/16B/16C ? Central Mtns, Manti/San Rafael
* Unit #13A ? La Sal, La Sal Mtns
* Unit #14A ? San Juan, Abajo Mtns

Central Region
Send ideas and comments to Wildlife Manager Craig Clyde at [email protected]his e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This region oversees the following units:

* Unit #16A ? Central Mtns, Nebo
* Unit #17A ? Wasatch Mtns, West
* Unit #18 ? Oquirrh-Stansbury
* Unit #19A ? West Desert, West
* Unit #19C ? West Desert, Tintic

Southern Region
Send ideas and comments to Wildlife Manager Teresa Griffin at [email protected]his e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This region oversees the following units:

* Unit #20 ? Southwest Desert
* Unit #21A ? Fillmore, Oak Creek
* Unit #21B ? Fillmore, Pahvant
* Unit #22 ? Beaver
* Unit #23 ? Monroe
* Unit #24 ? Mt Dutton
* Unit #25A ? Plateau, Fishlake
* Unit #25B ? Plateau, Thousand Lakes
* Unit #25C/26 ? Plateau, Boulder/Kaiparowits
* Unit #28 ? Panguitch Lake
* Unit #29 ? Zion
* Unit #30 ? Pine Valley

Bucks per 100 does
The number of bucks per 100 does that you'd like to see on each unit in your region is the major item DWR biologists want to know about.
The number of bucks per 100 does is called a buck-to-doe ratio. Each of Utah's 30 deer hunting units will have one. This ratio is important because it determines two things: the number of bucks per 100 does that will be available on that unit and the number of permits that can be offered to hunt the unit.
The best way to increase the number of bucks per 100 does is to limit the number of bucks that are taken during the hunting season.

* Units that have a high buck-to-doe ratio provide hunters with more bucks but fewer opportunities to hunt.
* Units that have lower buck-to-doe-ratios provide fewer bucks per 100 does but more opportunities to hunt.

The Utah Wildlife Board has given DWR biologists some flexibility. Anis Aoude, big game coordinator for the DWR, says not every unit has to have an objective of 18 to 25 bucks per 100 does. "Having a lower buck-to-doe ratio on some units means more hunters can hunt those units," he says.

 

[cantkillathing]

These meetings are a waste of time, it is a way to try and continue to miss manage the deer herds, if we can convince you that it is ok to have very few bucks then we can continue to have poor deer herds.

I for one dont believe the populatin numbers,

So why would the buck to doe ratio count be any closer,

I think we need to have higher buck to doe ratio, atleast it will start to show more deer, Yes I know bucks don't make up the herd population, But having ten 2 points doing the breeding isn't going to help either.

I bet back in the glory days of hunting that there was a high number of bucks, that is why they could shoot 2 or 3 bucks per tag. I bet we had 30-40 bucks per hundred does back then.

 

[rperkins]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-19-12 AT 07:33PM (MST)[p]Your right I was one of those hunters, that started in the 50's, I hunted Beaver Mt and Mt Dutton, where we ran cattle and you can't belive the deer herd we had back then. Your right poor management, let's make our voice be heard, email the RAC and the Big Game Board, more hunters that do this the more we will be heard, I hope every hunter will make a statement, 18 to 25 bucks to 100 doe's, like the board in Dec 2010 voted in.

 

[cantkillathing]

rperkins in your recollection how many bucks per 100 does do you think we had back in those days. I sure wish I was around then.

If you take the shed antler course it talks about how crucial mule deer need their winter fat to survive, So If a few bucks have to use all that energy to run miles and miles to service does because of the few bucks, then are they not burning the crucial winter fat that they need to survive.

fewer bucks mean more energy spent to do the job, More bucks are necessary to help service all the does.

 

[rperkins]

Back then their was so many deer, nobody even thought about shooting a 2 or small 3 or 4 point, at rut time you could see on the dog valley flats 200 to 300 does and bucks all over the place fighting for the does, I would say 50 plus per 100 does.

 

[one_dryboot]

And if the buck to doe ratio is too low are they just going to issue doe tags until we reach the objective? If they will truly manage each unit for its own needs then we might get somewhere. But im sure as always the DWR will continue to issue too many tags and shuffle them around just to make some $$$ and then make poor excuses as to why were not seeing the deer. Like.... Because of this warm weather all the deer are up high making it hard to find them and so on and so on.

 

[cannonball]

I hunted the Glory Days and if you counted 1/2 of the fawns as being buck you would probably hit 30 buck per 100 doe. A lot of the hunters shot the smaller buck because their taste was not as game'y. After the hunt a person could see spike to four point horns in the trash pile (now call the sanitation depot or land fill). Until the archery hunt came along, ten days and you were through hunting and a lot of the big buck made it through the season. The big reason most shot their buck was that the base herds huge, way above the critical stage. There were deer everywhere.

 

[cannonball]

should read Were huge

 

[rperkins]

we as sportsman have to put pressure on the Big Game Board, to increase our deer herd, more bucks, stop killing does, make a better deer count in units, relocate problem deer, instead just shooting them. How do we do this, get involved, email, go to meeting, make your self heard.