Ok I am ready to be slammed for this but I feel that due to the amounts of private property in Northern utah that it makes it impossible to manage big game.
Case in point all those elk dieing around Echo-Henifer! Those elk are mostly on large CWMU's that have not been killing the numbers of elk that the biologists have been wanting them to kill mostly cows but also the mo ey is in the size and they ain't killing but there top end stuff.
Even when the cow hunts kick in the elk run back to private property and it impossible to get onto private due to some private is in CWMU program and it's not legal to hunt with anything bit a CWMU's tag and then smaller private owners don't allow access and I don't really blame them but the DNR has been saying for years we need to kill more elk!!
Yes this winter was one for the record books but the simple fact is there is not enough winter range for the nu.ber of animals on it.
When elk turn from grazers to browsers the deer are doomed!!
Those south facing slopes stayed open most of the winter and no mater how much snow they got on top of Alta the fact is the Henifer WMA can not hold that many elk and deer for that long.
Even Deseret who feeds elk every year over on there property is feeding what I've been told 2250 elk right now and that's a lot of elk even for them!
I know of several private property owners feeding wildlife but sadly not all are doing it correctly and some have asked for help from the DNR and in many cases there getting that help.
Funny how every year I hear how the DNR is killing to many cows and screwing up are elk herds but the truth is they was trying to get elk numbers down for a reason and that reason showed itself in 2022 2023.
Now I'm not saying that I would be doing anything different if I owned 10k acres around lost creek or next to Deseret but that herd has overgrown its winter range and something needs to change.
Case in point all those elk dieing around Echo-Henifer! Those elk are mostly on large CWMU's that have not been killing the numbers of elk that the biologists have been wanting them to kill mostly cows but also the mo ey is in the size and they ain't killing but there top end stuff.
Even when the cow hunts kick in the elk run back to private property and it impossible to get onto private due to some private is in CWMU program and it's not legal to hunt with anything bit a CWMU's tag and then smaller private owners don't allow access and I don't really blame them but the DNR has been saying for years we need to kill more elk!!
Yes this winter was one for the record books but the simple fact is there is not enough winter range for the nu.ber of animals on it.
When elk turn from grazers to browsers the deer are doomed!!
Those south facing slopes stayed open most of the winter and no mater how much snow they got on top of Alta the fact is the Henifer WMA can not hold that many elk and deer for that long.
Even Deseret who feeds elk every year over on there property is feeding what I've been told 2250 elk right now and that's a lot of elk even for them!
I know of several private property owners feeding wildlife but sadly not all are doing it correctly and some have asked for help from the DNR and in many cases there getting that help.
Funny how every year I hear how the DNR is killing to many cows and screwing up are elk herds but the truth is they was trying to get elk numbers down for a reason and that reason showed itself in 2022 2023.
Now I'm not saying that I would be doing anything different if I owned 10k acres around lost creek or next to Deseret but that herd has overgrown its winter range and something needs to change.