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Overhaul of deer regulations called a victory for elite hunters
By brett prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
Published Dec 20, 2010 08:05AM
Updated 40 minutes ago Updated Dec 20, 2010 08:04AM
The moment, critics say, represents everything that's wrong with the way Utah sets its wildlife management policy.
Byron Bateman, president of the powerful lobbying group Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, had just finished speaking before the Utah Wildlife Board as it pondered the state's most dramatic changes to its deer-hunting laws in two decades. Bateman then walked up to Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and handed him a check for $391,000.
Later that day, the board passed the sweeping overhaul, regulations that were largely crafted and promoted by Bateman's SFW. The changes, which go into effect in 2012, will reduce the number of deer-hunting permits by at least 13,000 annually and dramatically increase the cost of a general-season hunting tag in Utah.
Critics charge that opportunity for the average hunter is being lost at the expense of the well-heeled, who are more interested in trophy animals and believe these new laws are the best way to produce more. And everyone, beginning with the DWR's top big-game biologist, agrees the changes do nothing to address the plight of the state's dwindling deer herds.
The money Bateman paid Karpowitz was the state's share of money that SFW collected auctioning conservation hunting tags, and groups commonly do present checks at Wildlife Board meetings. Nevertheless, for many hunters watching the handover, it was validation that special-interest groups have the Wildlife Board's undivided attention and not always for the right reasons.
"That didn't do much to help public perception," acknowledged Rick Woodard, chairman of the Utah Wildlife Board. "But it was money due to the DWR and had nothing to do with the vote. It was done in poor judgment."
"It doesn't matter what the money was for," said Bart Hansen, a representative of the group Utah Wildlife Cooperative, which opposed the changes SFW promoted. "The timing was intentional."
The new regulations, which passed the board by a 4-to-2 vote, not only restrict the number of permits but change the way the state is divided for hunting from the five current regions into 29 smaller units. The buck-to-doe ratio that biologists target as they manage the herds was changed as well, from 15 per 100 to 18 per 100.
That means hunters may see more bucks, according to Anis Aoude, DWR's big-game coordinator. "But it won't help the population overall," he said.
"We did what was best for the resource, for the deer," Bateman said. "The DWR manages every aspect of the deer but the number of people hunting on each unit. We can't expect the hunters to spread out evenly over five regions. This won't fix the herds, but it could be a good start."
Bateman is proud of the work SFW does on behalf of wildlife conservation and said he is unsure how the latest discussion became an opportunity-vs.-trophy debate.
"People always attack what we try to do," he said, noting the check presentation was done to demonstrate SFW was fulfilling its commitment under the conservation permit program and, acknowledging the timing, said he had a flight to catch later.
"We are an easy group to target, and we get accused of a lot of things," Bateman said. "We stand up for the resource; that is our mission."
The Utah Wildlife Cooperative's Hansen has a different take, saying the new regulations risk discouraging existing hunters and make it difficult for youth to get involved in the sport.
"There isn't one anti-hunting group out there that could come up with a way to eliminate 13,000 permits like SFW just did," Hansen said.
Dennis Austin, a retired 30-year DWR biologist and author of Mule Deer: A Handbook for Utah Hunters and Landowners , said the current system does indeed give special-interest groups a lot of power.
By brett prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
Published Dec 20, 2010 08:05AM
Updated 40 minutes ago Updated Dec 20, 2010 08:04AM
The moment, critics say, represents everything that's wrong with the way Utah sets its wildlife management policy.
Byron Bateman, president of the powerful lobbying group Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, had just finished speaking before the Utah Wildlife Board as it pondered the state's most dramatic changes to its deer-hunting laws in two decades. Bateman then walked up to Jim Karpowitz, director of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and handed him a check for $391,000.
Later that day, the board passed the sweeping overhaul, regulations that were largely crafted and promoted by Bateman's SFW. The changes, which go into effect in 2012, will reduce the number of deer-hunting permits by at least 13,000 annually and dramatically increase the cost of a general-season hunting tag in Utah.
Critics charge that opportunity for the average hunter is being lost at the expense of the well-heeled, who are more interested in trophy animals and believe these new laws are the best way to produce more. And everyone, beginning with the DWR's top big-game biologist, agrees the changes do nothing to address the plight of the state's dwindling deer herds.
The money Bateman paid Karpowitz was the state's share of money that SFW collected auctioning conservation hunting tags, and groups commonly do present checks at Wildlife Board meetings. Nevertheless, for many hunters watching the handover, it was validation that special-interest groups have the Wildlife Board's undivided attention and not always for the right reasons.
"That didn't do much to help public perception," acknowledged Rick Woodard, chairman of the Utah Wildlife Board. "But it was money due to the DWR and had nothing to do with the vote. It was done in poor judgment."
"It doesn't matter what the money was for," said Bart Hansen, a representative of the group Utah Wildlife Cooperative, which opposed the changes SFW promoted. "The timing was intentional."
The new regulations, which passed the board by a 4-to-2 vote, not only restrict the number of permits but change the way the state is divided for hunting from the five current regions into 29 smaller units. The buck-to-doe ratio that biologists target as they manage the herds was changed as well, from 15 per 100 to 18 per 100.
That means hunters may see more bucks, according to Anis Aoude, DWR's big-game coordinator. "But it won't help the population overall," he said.
"We did what was best for the resource, for the deer," Bateman said. "The DWR manages every aspect of the deer but the number of people hunting on each unit. We can't expect the hunters to spread out evenly over five regions. This won't fix the herds, but it could be a good start."
Bateman is proud of the work SFW does on behalf of wildlife conservation and said he is unsure how the latest discussion became an opportunity-vs.-trophy debate.
"People always attack what we try to do," he said, noting the check presentation was done to demonstrate SFW was fulfilling its commitment under the conservation permit program and, acknowledging the timing, said he had a flight to catch later.
"We are an easy group to target, and we get accused of a lot of things," Bateman said. "We stand up for the resource; that is our mission."
The Utah Wildlife Cooperative's Hansen has a different take, saying the new regulations risk discouraging existing hunters and make it difficult for youth to get involved in the sport.
"There isn't one anti-hunting group out there that could come up with a way to eliminate 13,000 permits like SFW just did," Hansen said.
Dennis Austin, a retired 30-year DWR biologist and author of Mule Deer: A Handbook for Utah Hunters and Landowners , said the current system does indeed give special-interest groups a lot of power.