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Fund-raisers: The Mule Deer Foundation causes a stir by making more aggressive bids this year
By Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah's lucrative conservation hunting permit program raises more than $1 million annually by allowing high-value tags to be auctioned at sporting group fund-raisers.
Hunting groups participating in the program have fallen into a pecking order over the years, but that all changed this year when the nonprofit Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) requested nearly five times as many permits as it was awarded last year.
"They have performed well with a lower number of permits and decided to be a bit more aggressive this time," said Alan Clark, who oversees the conservation permit program for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). "Things were in a bit of an uproar."
The move to boost the group's presence in the program came when Tony Abbott, who had been working for Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (SFW), joined the Mule Deer Foundation front office in July. Abbott had been in charge of handling the conservation bidding process for SFW and used his know-how to persuade MDF to place high bids on 196 of the state's 341 permits. A program rule prevents any group from getting more than double the permits from the previous year, so MDF was limited to 82 tags.
"My ultimate goal is to help the Mule Deer Foundation become another formidable conservation group in Utah," said Abbott, who says he has no ill feelings after severing his ties with the most recognized hunting group in the state. "The group that controls the permits controls the fund-raisers. . . . In the end, we all have a common goal to help wildlife, and it pays to have several strong groups rather than one dominant one."
SFW bid $575,225 for its 181 permits for 2005, down from the more than $800,000 the group raised in 2004. MDF bid $474,025 for its 82 permits, substantially more than the $126,045 it raised in 2004.
The conservation permit program began in 1991 with one permit auctioned for a desert bighorn sheep sold for $20,000. The DWR now allows groups to make bids for 341 permits on species ranging from mule deer to bison to turkey. The biggest money-drawing permits are tags that allow the winning bidders to hunt deer, elk and two species of bighorn sheep anywhere in the state. An Illinois hunter paid $81,000, the current conservation permit record in Utah, to hunt mule deer this year.
DWR officials review bids from the groups and then award the permits based on performance in previous years. Hunting groups then auction the permits at fund-raisers in Utah and across the nation. Some of the medium-value tags are also offered as raffle prizes to get hunters who can't afford statewide permits to the fund-raisers.
The groups are allowed to keep 70 percent of the money, but 60 percent must be used for conservation projects within Utah, which must be approved by the state. The other 30 percent goes back to the DWR and is used for research, transplants and habitat restoration projects.
The Utah Wildlife Board must approve the DWR's recommendations for awarding the permits and encouraged the groups to work out a deal by the end of the month.
"They worked together for a resolution and presented it to the board, which approved it unanimously," Clark said.
MDF came away with statewide permits for deer, moose and mountain goat. Abbott said the bulk of the conservation permits will be auctioned at a joint fund-raiser with Brigham Young University's athletic department in March.
He also made a prediction.
"The deer tag will go for an all-time high - more than $80,000," Abbott said.
From one permit in 1991 to 341 permits in 2004. It won't be long before we'll all need high payin jobs to hunt!
Wes
By Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah's lucrative conservation hunting permit program raises more than $1 million annually by allowing high-value tags to be auctioned at sporting group fund-raisers.
Hunting groups participating in the program have fallen into a pecking order over the years, but that all changed this year when the nonprofit Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) requested nearly five times as many permits as it was awarded last year.
"They have performed well with a lower number of permits and decided to be a bit more aggressive this time," said Alan Clark, who oversees the conservation permit program for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). "Things were in a bit of an uproar."
The move to boost the group's presence in the program came when Tony Abbott, who had been working for Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (SFW), joined the Mule Deer Foundation front office in July. Abbott had been in charge of handling the conservation bidding process for SFW and used his know-how to persuade MDF to place high bids on 196 of the state's 341 permits. A program rule prevents any group from getting more than double the permits from the previous year, so MDF was limited to 82 tags.
"My ultimate goal is to help the Mule Deer Foundation become another formidable conservation group in Utah," said Abbott, who says he has no ill feelings after severing his ties with the most recognized hunting group in the state. "The group that controls the permits controls the fund-raisers. . . . In the end, we all have a common goal to help wildlife, and it pays to have several strong groups rather than one dominant one."
SFW bid $575,225 for its 181 permits for 2005, down from the more than $800,000 the group raised in 2004. MDF bid $474,025 for its 82 permits, substantially more than the $126,045 it raised in 2004.
The conservation permit program began in 1991 with one permit auctioned for a desert bighorn sheep sold for $20,000. The DWR now allows groups to make bids for 341 permits on species ranging from mule deer to bison to turkey. The biggest money-drawing permits are tags that allow the winning bidders to hunt deer, elk and two species of bighorn sheep anywhere in the state. An Illinois hunter paid $81,000, the current conservation permit record in Utah, to hunt mule deer this year.
DWR officials review bids from the groups and then award the permits based on performance in previous years. Hunting groups then auction the permits at fund-raisers in Utah and across the nation. Some of the medium-value tags are also offered as raffle prizes to get hunters who can't afford statewide permits to the fund-raisers.
The groups are allowed to keep 70 percent of the money, but 60 percent must be used for conservation projects within Utah, which must be approved by the state. The other 30 percent goes back to the DWR and is used for research, transplants and habitat restoration projects.
The Utah Wildlife Board must approve the DWR's recommendations for awarding the permits and encouraged the groups to work out a deal by the end of the month.
"They worked together for a resolution and presented it to the board, which approved it unanimously," Clark said.
MDF came away with statewide permits for deer, moose and mountain goat. Abbott said the bulk of the conservation permits will be auctioned at a joint fund-raiser with Brigham Young University's athletic department in March.
He also made a prediction.
"The deer tag will go for an all-time high - more than $80,000," Abbott said.
From one permit in 1991 to 341 permits in 2004. It won't be long before we'll all need high payin jobs to hunt!
Wes