swbuckmaster
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 5,004
DWR don't mess with success!
There is a unit in the state of Utah that has no winter range, has tons of construction, millions of people and is hunted exteremly hard. But this area is the best area in the state for public hunting with an over the counter $35 tag period.
It should be a model for the DWR!
I used to be a big riffle hunter and got sick of every area I hunted I would see millions of orange dots on every ridge and never see a decent buck all season. I now only hunt with a bow and have hunted the Wasatch Front for almost 10 years and this unit has gotten better every year. Why has it gotten better? It isn't because of less hunters. This unit is hunted extremely hard from Aug thru end of Nov. Some days it is down right frustrating! But I will still hike those mountains and put up with the crowds of people because of the LE size of deer that roam those hills.
The reasons this unit has gotten better is archer hunters that hunt this unit are not as successful as rifle hunters or they are holding of on their trigger!
It is my personal opinion that if the rest of Utah wants to have a better hunting experience they need to cut the number of the more successful hunters down meaning "Riffle and smoke gun hunters". I will put smoke gun hunters in this category because these guns in the average person hands are down right accurate.
This would be my goal and it would need a few years to perfect.
It would be a state wide draw with micro managed units with three short four or five day riffle or smoke gun seasons. This would help the deer out by not running into other hunters when being pursued. It might also take you 2 to 4 years to draw but when you do draw you might be able to kill 160 to 180 class or better deer. This would turn the whole state into a kind of limited entry unit but with more opportunity then the current LE units offer. The other draw back to my solution is you might have to raise the price of the tags also.
But if you still wanted to hunt every year and you didn't draw a tag you could still buy an over the counter $35 archery permit and hunt those same units with a longer season modeled after the Wasatch extended unit only because it is working.
This would improve the deer being harvested as well as satisfy the people that would still like to have the opportunity to hunt every year. Win Win
Fire away I am open to suggestions.
There is a unit in the state of Utah that has no winter range, has tons of construction, millions of people and is hunted exteremly hard. But this area is the best area in the state for public hunting with an over the counter $35 tag period.
It should be a model for the DWR!
I used to be a big riffle hunter and got sick of every area I hunted I would see millions of orange dots on every ridge and never see a decent buck all season. I now only hunt with a bow and have hunted the Wasatch Front for almost 10 years and this unit has gotten better every year. Why has it gotten better? It isn't because of less hunters. This unit is hunted extremely hard from Aug thru end of Nov. Some days it is down right frustrating! But I will still hike those mountains and put up with the crowds of people because of the LE size of deer that roam those hills.
The reasons this unit has gotten better is archer hunters that hunt this unit are not as successful as rifle hunters or they are holding of on their trigger!
It is my personal opinion that if the rest of Utah wants to have a better hunting experience they need to cut the number of the more successful hunters down meaning "Riffle and smoke gun hunters". I will put smoke gun hunters in this category because these guns in the average person hands are down right accurate.
This would be my goal and it would need a few years to perfect.
It would be a state wide draw with micro managed units with three short four or five day riffle or smoke gun seasons. This would help the deer out by not running into other hunters when being pursued. It might also take you 2 to 4 years to draw but when you do draw you might be able to kill 160 to 180 class or better deer. This would turn the whole state into a kind of limited entry unit but with more opportunity then the current LE units offer. The other draw back to my solution is you might have to raise the price of the tags also.
But if you still wanted to hunt every year and you didn't draw a tag you could still buy an over the counter $35 archery permit and hunt those same units with a longer season modeled after the Wasatch extended unit only because it is working.
This would improve the deer being harvested as well as satisfy the people that would still like to have the opportunity to hunt every year. Win Win
Fire away I am open to suggestions.