Stick
you shoot the arrow right in the bullseye.
The Utah general season is a joke, more hunters than deer. So, why are so many hunters opposed to doing what 40% of teh hunters want, have a quality hunt - meaning more game, less hunters ?
The CWMU operators kill very small percentage of the game on their places, a few hunters, high sucess, uncrowded conditions.
Utah's limited entry hunts are the equivalent.
The problem is there are far to few limited entry hunts, far to many hunters want them so the draw options are once in a lifetime, or so as you point out.
If 40% of Utah's deer herds were manged for "limited entry" and 60% were managed for general season, this would match the hunters desires, per the UDWR survey.
60 % of hunters say they want to hunt every year, don't care about crowding, don't care about big or little bucks. Fine, let them do that.
40% of hunters want to hunt "quality" once every 3-4 years. Fine, let them do that.
I predict over time, more and more hunters would shift and say i would rather hunt less and have a better experience when i do get to go.
Why not manage Utah's deer hunts the way hunters want it, not just keep it all the same, which as you point out, mostly sucks ?
OUr family is done buying general season deer tags and so are thousands of others.
For those who claim better management elimanates hunters, perhaps more hunters quit because the experience is not worth the time and money to go out and see more hunters than deer.