UT 30 unit pressure difference?

littlebighorn

Long Time Member
Messages
5,303
I know it will vary from unit to unit, but I would love to hear from others what they think the change to 30 deer units has done to hunting pressure in the areas you hunt?
Up? Down? Same?
 
waaaay up! its been unreal!!!!

buck1.gif
 
The pressure is way up, saw way more ATV hunters than the past years, deer were push away from roads, once away from trails and roads a quarter of mile it got better. Saw a lot less bucks this year. I'm guessing I saw twice as many hunters as last year and four times the number on ATVs.
 
I've seen a little of both. Last year on the rifle deer hunt it was insane how many people there was! It was literally the first time I've been scared while out hunting haha but on saturday I went archery hunting in an area that is usually pounded by people. But there is lots of elk in there so if you play the people then you usually do very well. So like every year, that's what we did. Turns out there was absolutely no one on this hillside. I don't know if that was because of the unit changes or if everyone got sick of dealing with crowds and decided to quit all at the same time. Either way, it blew my mind! haha we did end up getting into the elk, just couldn't ever get a shot I was comfortable with taking! Still got a while though so I'm not worried.
 
Terrible, especially when they took the leftover archery licenses we had and let them convert to muzzleloader and then to rifle...way too much pressure. We ending up w/ more rifle hunters than ever.
 
Less on the Muzzle. Way more on the rifle. Almost as bad as a Saturday afternoon flyfishing on the Provo. The pumpkin hatch was in full force just in one draw.
 
We hunted the Wasatch unit 17A. We are up American Fork Canyon. We pack 4 miles from the closest road and 2000 feet in elevation. We usually see 10 total other hunters tops and we thought that was bad. In 2012 we saw 14 hunters in one basin, 11 in the other, and 16 on the saddle for a TOTAL OF 41 !!!!

It was crazy and there was pressure every day we were there. I have never seen anything like it.

Perhaps 8000 tags for unit 17A was a little more than they should have issued.

Every buck we saw hit the dirt....every two point, every spike, every everything....hit the dirt.

I would like to thank the State of Utah for being so careful to not overdo it the first year. Whoops!

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
 
Less pressure on my muzzleloader unit. I would have disclosed the unit, but after reading the previous comments, I'll keep it to myself.

The DWR didn't do a very good job of mirroring historical demand. There should probably be some shift between proportions of archery/muzz/rifle tags. I heard from numerous sources that rifle Panguitch was very crowded.

Its interesting how the DWR can keep cutting tags and everyone keeps reporting more pressure than ever.

We should just go back to 5 units.
 
My genral rifle hunt last year was a joke. I have hunted the same unit for the past 3 years and last season was horrific. I could not believe how many hunters I saw. Everywhere I looked. I would guess that I saw twice as many hunters last season as I had seen on that unit the previous two seasons. Ive made some changes of my own to hopefully make this year alittle less crowded on the mountain. Time will tell if it was a good decision.

I'm ok with the move to the 30 units but I'm NOT ok with left over tags switching to other weapons.

I wish everyone good luck on their upcoming hunts!



Theodore Roosevelt's guidance concerning
conservation...
"The movement for the conservation of wildlife,
and the conservation of all our natural resources,
are essentially democratic in spirit,purpose and
method."

"We do not intend that our natural resources shall
be exploited by the few against the interests of the
majority. Our aim is to preserve our natural
resources for the public as a whole, for the
average man and the average woman who make
up the body of the American people."

"It is in our power...to preserve game..and to give
reasonable opportunities for the exercise of the
skill of the hunter,whether he is or is not a man of
means."
 
Last Fall/Season I seen a few less Hunters!

But most of them had the Attitude:I'm taking a Buck/PISSCUTTER this year,it might be a few years before I pull another Tag,so a lot of DINKS Died,most Bucks in the Area/Unit were Taken out of the Herd without a Chance to Mature!

So?

Are the 30 Units Helping?

If 80-90% of the Bucks are still being Slaughtered,I highly Doubt more Units are Helping much?

But BY GAWD,most people got their PISSCUTTER/Deer!



Founder just Banned My Signature!
Hang in there!
I'm working on another one!:D
 
Much more pressure on the archery hunt, hunters seem to be getting dumber and less respectful. Had two stalks blown by the same guy on a 4wheeler cutting cross country with no road, just blazing his own path. Complete disregard for anybody else on the mountain. Getting harder and harder to get away from dweebs it seems....
 
I had a rifle tag last year and thought the hunting pressure was about the same as other years, maybe a little better. There are a lot of people I know that didn't get tags this year for the same unit so I am hopeful the hunting pressure is getting better.
 
This year on the archery hunt, I had a tag but for the Zion unit. My brother in law drewan LE archery elk tag. SO I decided to focus on helping him. We all split up and went to different areas to glass up some good bulls. I took my oldest boy out on his 1st archery hunt, only 8 years old. We took off from camp and saw tons of camps and very few hunters. We got off the road and walked 1/4 mile or so, maybe a 1/2 at most. At 1st light at 100 yards we had 6 bucks, 2 of which were mature 4x4's and as big as the 175 buck I have on the wall. Made me sick to think that I had that opportunity. We practiced our stalking skills and got with in 50 yards and then decided to back out incase another hunter in our group might want to come hunt. went back and saw 4 more bucks and 1 that was a toad. Opening morning before 8 am, "OFF THE ROADS" I saw 0 hunters, 11 bucks, 14 bulls. Pretty good #'s. Ended the day with 15 bucks and about 20 bulls.
All the people I saw were road hunting. Never saw a soul in the field, just riding the roads, but there really weren't that many road hunters either. LESS PRESSURE i think.
 
The perceived over population of hunters are family and friends along for the ride. Which is really what the hunt is all about. The availability of unlimited archery Elk tags don't help matters this time of year. Every Joe hunter who doesn't have a deer permit will buy an archery elk tag.

But I agree with the above post. Stay away from the opening weekend. Get off the machine and walk into the trees. You will have it all to yourself.
 
Agreed 150%... Last year I had the 17A rifle tag as well. I was hunting a little south of american fork. THe area I hunted was an absolute zoooooooooooooo. I could not believe how many people we saw, and we were 3 to 4 miles from any road. We would be getting to one of my spots only to find two other hunting groups already there. This happened with three different spots. For comparison... I hunted the same exact area two years ago when it was part of the central region tag.... We did not see a single hunter in those three areas two years ago. We saw one other hunting group in the 3 days that we were packed in 3 to 4 miles from the road.

They are given out WAY to many tags in 17a... WAY WAY TO MANY. I was so turned off last year that I decided to switch units even though that place has been a tradition. Until they drop the tag numbers I will not be back there.
 
All I can say I won't do dedicated unit 30 again the pressure is insane I thought these areas were going to cut tags not turn the blue light special on. Big bucks will be very rare, 20" 4X4 will be dead thanks DWR for killing our deer!
 
>We hunted the Wasatch unit 17A.
> We are up
>American Fork Canyon.
>We pack 4 miles from
>the closest road and 2000
>feet in elevation.
>We usually see 10 total
>other hunters tops and we
>thought that was bad.
> In 2012 we saw
>14 hunters in one basin,
>11 in the other, and
>16 on the saddle for
>a TOTAL OF 41 !!!!
>
>
>It was crazy and there was
>pressure every day we were
>there. I have
>never seen anything like it.
>
>
>Perhaps 8000 tags for unit 17A
>was a little more than
>they should have issued.
>
>Every buck we saw hit the
>dirt....every two point, every spike,
>every everything....hit the dirt.
>
>I would like to thank the
>State of Utah for being
>so careful to not overdo
>it the first year.
> Whoops!
>
>"The penalty good men pay for
>indifference to public affairs is
>to be ruled by evil
>men." - Plato


+100000 saw the same thing

avatar_2528.jpg


who farted?
 
I don't understand how every single unit can be way more crowded this year when tag numbers in general are the same state wide? I didn't see any more people in the field this year than I did 2 years ago when it was a state wide tag. Maybe even less.

Hindquarters
 
It's simple ^^^^^^ when the DWR starts allowing left over tags to switch to different weapon types so they can make their quota....it's simple....all those who didn't draw, simply pick up a different weapon for either the same unit or a different unit.

It needs to stop!



Theodore Roosevelt's guidance concerning
conservation...
"The movement for the conservation of wildlife,
and the conservation of all our natural resources,
are essentially democratic in spirit,purpose and
method."

"We do not intend that our natural resources shall
be exploited by the few against the interests of the
majority. Our aim is to preserve our natural
resources for the public as a whole, for the
average man and the average woman who make
up the body of the American people."

"It is in our power...to preserve game..and to give
reasonable opportunities for the exercise of the
skill of the hunter,whether he is or is not a man of
means."
 
Hunted unit 21b last weekend and everywhere you went there were people.....seemed like the pressure was way up this year on this unit....at least where we were!
 
>I don't understand how every single
>unit can be way more
>crowded this year when tag
>numbers in general are the
>same state wide? I didn't
>see any more people in
>the field this year than
>I did 2 years ago
>when it was a state
>wide tag. Maybe even less.
>
>
>Hindquarters

There could be several reasons, especially for the archery hunt.

1) Archery elk and antelope hunts are happening at the same time and some of those hunters who didn't draw a deer tag are there just for archery elk, maybe for the first time.

2) Smaller units have fewer hotspots and camping spots to choose from and much more scouting and finding is taking place.

3) Hunters are forced to change their traditional hunting areas and they're now finding your secret honey holes in that unfamiliar second or third or fourth choice area.

4) We simply may be taking notice of the numbers more now that there are quotas.

5) More and more people are using ATV's which are more noticable.

6) The rollover tags increase the numbers in a FEW units and your unit happens to be one of them.

There may be other possibilities that I haven't thought of, but there are always unintended consequenses attached to changes.
 

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