Simpleton
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Below is the proposal that was shared with me a few months back. I now know for a fact that this proposal has been submitted to the MD Committee and other DWR officials as they've heard back directly from Dax. I'm simply sharing it with the MM community as I asked the group that wrote it if they minded, and they said to feel free to share it. Interestingly, it is pretty similar to what Vanilla recently posted on another thread. I am curious what the reactions will be, although, I have my own guesses.
There are two main topics (Deer Point Consolidation and Proposed Season Changes)
Forgive the formatting as pasting it into this box doesn't line everything up right, but I am sure you'll get the info all the same.
This part of the proposal is to transition Utah buck deer points from 3 separate classes into 1. Currently it is possible for single hunter to accrue points for limited entry, dedicated hunter and general season deer. We propose combining them into a single point system. In this there will be a couple of hurdles that must be accounted for:
Moving to a system that includes all buck deer hunts under one point system would remove the ability for a sportsman to “have their cake, and eat it too” with regard to deer. If an individual wants a high quality hunt, they can apply for a more coveted permit. If an individual wants to hunt deer more frequently, they can apply for a “lesser” general designated permit. What this stops is the ability for an individual to continue to hunt every season for deer while also pushing point creep to new heights by applying for LE tags. If an applicant obtains any buck deer tag (drawn, alternate award, or leftover purchase) they would spend their accumulated points. Having all deer points be deer points is more reflective of other western states, but still maintains Utah’s uniqueness by applying the Utah bonus point system to the draw where points are rewarded, but everyone still has a chance to draw out.
This proposal will simplify the system for hunters to understand. It will promote youth engagement as they will have more opportunity. This will also reduce point creep. Because of the sportsmen that are applying for 2 or 3 deer tags at one time, you will now have 25% less applications for the same number of deer tags. Over the long run as sportsmen weigh the option to hunt multiple tags in their lifetime vs. the once in a lifetime feel that the most coveted deer tags now realistically are. Overall, this proposal puts the choice in each sportsman’s hands based on whether they value hunting more frequently or higher quality areas less frequently.
We understand that the committee is only looking at deer at this point, but we do feel this would be even more effective if Elk followed suit. It would require General Season elk to be broken into units and to be in the draw system for any season with a limited quota.
Archery
Split into two seasons
Muzzleloader
Early ALW (where applicable)
Leave as is. – General Designation
ALW
Late Muzzleloader (LE) on General Season Units
Leave as is. – Limited Entry Designation
Multi-Season (LE) on General Season Units
Replaces Dedicated Hunter with a single year program – Limited Entry Designation (same number of tags as current dedicated hunter program)
Extended Archery
Create a hunt that covers all the Extended Archery Areas. This tag is unlimited and is the only tag that allows you to hunt the Extended Archery Areas. This season would start the day after Season 2 Archery ends and would go through the current dates of the Extended Archery Areas. Because this is unlimited, it would remove tag pressure from people who are applying for archery tags just to hunt the extended. These tags could be purchased OTC by anyone that was unsuccessful in the draw without impacting their points. This would be the only buck deer permit that we would recommend not taking points as it would be an additional opportunity for anyone who was unsuccessful in all the draws. – General Designation
There are two main topics (Deer Point Consolidation and Proposed Season Changes)
Forgive the formatting as pasting it into this box doesn't line everything up right, but I am sure you'll get the info all the same.
Deer Point Consolidation
This part of the proposal is to transition Utah buck deer points from 3 separate classes into 1. Currently it is possible for single hunter to accrue points for limited entry, dedicated hunter and general season deer. We propose combining them into a single point system. In this there will be a couple of hurdles that must be accounted for:
- Lifetime license holders
- This can be addressed by maintaining a general designation on hunts that are currently a part of the general season group. This still provides a space for lifetime license holders that is equivalent to the current system. Going forward the Division will have flexibility to add or remove the general designation as they see fit.
- Currently there are 3887 LL Holders. This is 7% of all current General Season Buck Deer Tags.
- Options for LL Holders
- Option A - Allowed to put in for LE Designated Permits, if they draw they lose their Buck Deer Points, if they don’t draw they have the option to select a General Designated Permit and keep their Buck Deer Points, but not gain an additional point or choose to not select a General Designation permit and gain an additional point. – We believe this is the best option as it doesn’t take away the LL Holder’s ability to choose a General Permit each year, but it also doesn’t provide an added bonus to LL Holders over everyone else in building points.
- Option B – Allowed to put in for LE Designated Permits, if they draw they lose their Buck Deer Points, if they don’t draw they have the option to select a General Designated Permit and spend their Buck Deer Points
- Option C - Allowed to put in for LE Designated Permits, if they draw they lose their Buck Deer Points, if they don’t draw they have the option to select a General Designated Permit and keep their Buck Deer Points, and gain an additional point.
- Individuals holding points in multiple deer categories
- The option that we see having the least resistance from the public would be to add all current deer points per sportsman to give them a new buck deer point total. This option eliminates any push back or issues from someone “losing” something that they purchased. An average could do the same without the "look" of having excessively high point totals.
- The committee could come up with an alternate solution to this as well.
- Multiple species application
- Currently if someone applies for an LE Deer Permit, they are not allowed to apply for either LE Elk or LE Antelope.
- Option A – Leave this rule as is and follow the designation of Limited Entry Deer Hunts. If an applicant applies for a buck deer permit with a LE Designation, they would not be allowed to apply for a LE Elk or Antelope Permit – We believe this is the best option to not impact point creep of Elk and Antelope in a negative fashion.
- Option B - Make a designation that allows someone who chooses to put in for any Deer Hunt to be allowed to put in for either LE Elk or LE Antelope – This has potential to increase point creep for Elk and Antelope.
- Option C – Allow residents to apply for all 3 species as non-residents already can. – This will certainly increase point creep for Elk and Antelope.
- Option D – Residents would have to choose to apply for 1 of the three (Elk, Deer, or Antelope) – This would have the largest impact on point creep, but is likely to have the highest degree of pushback from the public.
- Dedicated Hunter Program
- Our proposal would be to eliminate the program, but we believe there is middle ground to be found where you could do a single year, multi-season hunt on current “general season” units. This hunt would include either the additional requirement to purchase hours for a year of dedicated hunter hours or the option to work project hours (12 hours).
- This tag would cost the same as a LE Buck Deer Tag currently costs. This would increase revenue from this program due to enrolling the total quota annually as well as application fees each year. It would also increase the annual hours worked/hours purchased from an average of 10.67 to 12 per successful applicant per year.
- This “Multi-Season” hunt would be designated as a Limited Entry Permit, but would only be valid for the hunts within a specific unit that have a General Designation. This would be to ensure that Lifetime License Holders would not be able to select this permit, but they could still apply for it. This is the same as how the Dedicated Hunter Program currently treats Lifetime License Holders.
- Let sportsman that are currently in the dedicated hunter program finish their remaining term as is.
- Tag allocation for this permit would be calculated as follows on a unit by unit basis:
- Total Tag Allocation = Current Dedicated Hunter Permits
- Year 1 – Multi-season Tag Allocation = Total Tag Allocation – #DHs currently in Year 2 – #DHs currently in Year 3
- Year 2 – Multi-season Tag Allocation = Total Tag Allocation – #DHs currently in Year 3
- Year 3 – Multi-season Tag Allocation= Total Tag Allocation
- Youth Opportunity
- For hunts with the general designation, provide 15% of these tags to youth only, at the time of drawing. If this limit is not fulfilled, the balance of the tags will be added into the regular draw. If the limit is fulfilled, any unsuccessful youth applicant is moved into the regular draw for another chance at a tag. This provides added opportunity for youth to draw a deer tag without impacting the LE style hunts.
- Waiting Period
- We propose the removal of waiting periods following the draw of any Limited Entry Buck Deer Permit
- Fees and Revenue
- We know that this change will impact application numbers. It would be up to the DWR or the committee to dictate what changes would need to be made to account for this. In our calculations this would be a reduction of $411,000 in tag applications. An application increase of $3.67 would cover this gap. It would be even less if the cost savings of the 2 draws that wouldn’t take place was accounted for. We do not know what this cost is.
Moving to a system that includes all buck deer hunts under one point system would remove the ability for a sportsman to “have their cake, and eat it too” with regard to deer. If an individual wants a high quality hunt, they can apply for a more coveted permit. If an individual wants to hunt deer more frequently, they can apply for a “lesser” general designated permit. What this stops is the ability for an individual to continue to hunt every season for deer while also pushing point creep to new heights by applying for LE tags. If an applicant obtains any buck deer tag (drawn, alternate award, or leftover purchase) they would spend their accumulated points. Having all deer points be deer points is more reflective of other western states, but still maintains Utah’s uniqueness by applying the Utah bonus point system to the draw where points are rewarded, but everyone still has a chance to draw out.
This proposal will simplify the system for hunters to understand. It will promote youth engagement as they will have more opportunity. This will also reduce point creep. Because of the sportsmen that are applying for 2 or 3 deer tags at one time, you will now have 25% less applications for the same number of deer tags. Over the long run as sportsmen weigh the option to hunt multiple tags in their lifetime vs. the once in a lifetime feel that the most coveted deer tags now realistically are. Overall, this proposal puts the choice in each sportsman’s hands based on whether they value hunting more frequently or higher quality areas less frequently.
We understand that the committee is only looking at deer at this point, but we do feel this would be even more effective if Elk followed suit. It would require General Season elk to be broken into units and to be in the draw system for any season with a limited quota.
Proposed Hunting Seasons
One of the topics that is a point of frustration for many hunters we speak with is crowding. We understand that tag numbers and economic factors play a large part in how everything works. We are not proposing a tag increase or decrease. We are simply proposing to split up the existing seasons to have less hunters afield at the same time. This would require more hunts, with shorter season dates. This proposal is pertaining to general season deer units. This split, if paired with the proposal above, would also create a spread of options from very desirable to less desirable which would make a landing spot for people who are currently in the middle of “no-man’s land” in terms of points.Archery
Split into two seasons
- Season 1 – General Designation – First two weeks of current archery season – 45% of current tags
- Season 2 – General Designation – Second two weeks of current archery season - 53% of current tags
- Season 3 - Limited Entry Designation - Starts the first Saturday after the Late Muzzleloader ends. Runs for 7 days. – 2% of current tags (Due to LE Designation, these permits would also increase revenue)
Muzzleloader
- Split into two seasons
- Season 1 – General Designation – First 5 days of the current Muzzleloader – 40%
- Season 2 – General Designation – Starts the day after season 1 ends and goes for the same amount of days. – 60%
Early ALW (where applicable)
Leave as is. – General Designation
ALW
- Split into two season
- Season 1 – General Designation – First 5 days of current dates – 60%
- Season 2 – General Designation – Starts day after season 1 ends and goes for the same amount of days. – 40%
Late Muzzleloader (LE) on General Season Units
Leave as is. – Limited Entry Designation
Multi-Season (LE) on General Season Units
Replaces Dedicated Hunter with a single year program – Limited Entry Designation (same number of tags as current dedicated hunter program)
Extended Archery
Create a hunt that covers all the Extended Archery Areas. This tag is unlimited and is the only tag that allows you to hunt the Extended Archery Areas. This season would start the day after Season 2 Archery ends and would go through the current dates of the Extended Archery Areas. Because this is unlimited, it would remove tag pressure from people who are applying for archery tags just to hunt the extended. These tags could be purchased OTC by anyone that was unsuccessful in the draw without impacting their points. This would be the only buck deer permit that we would recommend not taking points as it would be an additional opportunity for anyone who was unsuccessful in all the draws. – General Designation