elkhunterUT
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 2,904
Lots of discussion about addressing technology, including the Wildlife Board working session next week. My take is that we are trying to address a serious biological issue (herd decline) with supposed social and emotional solutions.
As an example, If the DWR, using sound data, determines we can kill 100 deer in a given unit, why does it matter how they are killed or what tools are used to kill them if done legally? We should focus instead on how to keep our herds healthy so those 100 tags can be increased to 200 tags if the landscape allows, while also looking to maximize the # of people that want an experience or opportunity to harvest those 200 deer.
I believe we should place A LOT more focus & energy on the following specific things rather than on technologies, and methods of hunting:
Thoughts??
As an example, If the DWR, using sound data, determines we can kill 100 deer in a given unit, why does it matter how they are killed or what tools are used to kill them if done legally? We should focus instead on how to keep our herds healthy so those 100 tags can be increased to 200 tags if the landscape allows, while also looking to maximize the # of people that want an experience or opportunity to harvest those 200 deer.
I believe we should place A LOT more focus & energy on the following specific things rather than on technologies, and methods of hunting:
- WHEN people hunt not necessarily HOW they hunt
- Let's address season dates based on weapon type to maximize hunter opportunity while being mindful of success rates (e.g., move the most successful weapon out of the rut for elk). People can still hunt with their gadgets and tech if they want, but they will have a much harder time drawing a tag with higher success rates. More primitive weapons have a higher # of tags and opportunity. This is how every state BUT Utah does it for the most part. Time for us to get with the program!
- HOW DWR Biologists manage herds
- Move to bull to cow ratio rather than age objective for elk; consider other alternatives to manage deer herds
- Aggressive effort to get more reliable data - MANDATORY harvest reporting for ALL tags (General season included along with LE/OIL)
- More frequent and consistent herd counts and classification of herds
- Allow biologists to set tag #'s based on actual data and not social/economic pressures
- HOW animals survive
- Build more fences on roadways to cut down collisions
- Focused habitat restoration
- Guzzler's and access to water or other creative solutions to minimize drought impact
- Serious predator control with incentives (bounty, shoot a cougar w/ deer tag, etc.)
- Continued and focused collar studies on fawns, does, and bucks to understand mortality and improve survival (primarily for fawns/does)
Thoughts??