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If you’re a poacher, you should think twice before pulling the trigger on a mule deer in Utah.

Utah DWR officer Josh Carver shows what wildlife officers and volunteers are trying to stop this winter: The illegal killing of mule deer in Utah. This 6x5 buck was shot in Iron County in November.

Utah Division of Natural Resources

Utah --(Ammoland.com)-  This winter, Division of Wildlife Resources conservation officers and members of sportsman’s groups are carrying out the largest winter range patrols ever conducted in the state.

“As Utahns celebrate the holidays and usher in a new year, our officers will be busy protecting the state’s mule deer herds from poachers—thieves who steal wildlife from present and future generations of ethical sportsmen,” says Mike Fowlks, chief of the DWR’s Law Enforcement Section.

“We won’t tolerate deer poaching in Utah,” Fowlks says. “We’re pulling out all the stops and using all the means we have to protect Utah’s deer herds.”

The following are among the things the DWR is doing:

• Patrolling winter ranges at night. Officers are conducting these patrols on land and from the air.
• Conducting saturation patrols that put several DWR officers on the same piece of winter range at the same time.
• Enlisting volunteers from sportsman groups to serve as additional ‘eyes and ears.’

The volunteers patrol the winter ranges. They have the means needed to report what they see and hear directly to the nearest DWR officer.

Patrols are underway across Utah. The patrols will continue through the winter.

Fowlks says most of the on-the-ground and aerial patrolling is focused on areas where deer are most at risk.

“But those aren’t the only areas our officers and volunteers are watching,” Fowlks says. “Far from it. We’re watching winter ranges across the state.”

Fowlks says five areas in Utah are receiving special attention:

• The desert areas on the western side of Utah
• The southwestern corner of the state
• The Paunsaugunt deer unit in southern Utah
• The Henry Mountains unit in southeastern Utah
• The Book Cliffs unit in eastern Utah

Turn-In-a-Poacher hotline
As you travel through Utah’s backcountry this winter, Fowlks encourages you to keep your eyes and ears open. “You don’t have to be part of this patrol effort to make a difference,” Fowlks says. “If you see something suspicious, let us know as soon as possible.”

Utah’s Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline is the most efficient way to contact a DWR officer. The UTiP number is 1-800-662-3337. The hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Winter a critical time
Much of the deer poaching that happens in Utah happens in the winter. And for good reason—winter is the time of year when mule deer are concentrated on their lower elevation winter ranges. The bucks are also less wary because the breeding season is underway or it just finished.

Fowlks says poachers usually target the biggest bucks they can find. In addition to stealing opportunity from legal hunters, taking the bucks can also result in too many deer being taken during hunts that upcoming fall.

Fowlks says DWR biologists count the number of bucks per 100 does in December.

“In December, the deer are bunched together on lower elevation areas where it’s easier to get an accurate count,” he says. “But if poachers kill bucks after the biologists have counted them, the data that’s used to set permit numbers in the spring won’t be correct—it will show more bucks than there actually are. And that can lead to too many hunting permits being issued.”

Poachers take a big toll
So far in 2011, wildlife officers have investigated the illegal killing of 189 mule deer in Utah.

Most of the deer were bucks. The antlers on 22 of the bucks were big enough to place the deer in a trophy category.

“Hunters would haven been thrilled to take any of these bucks,” Fowlks says.

The monetary value of the animals to Utah’s citizens is $242,800.

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Grassland restoration projects, educational efforts garner national attention.

Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

PRATT, KS -–(Ammoland.com)- The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) — the organization that represents North America’s fish and wildlife agencies — has honored the Alexander Ranch of Barber County with the 2011 National Private Lands Fish and Wildlife Stewardship Award.

The award recognizes an individual- or family-run farm, ranch, or forest operation that has incorporated proactive conservation and environmental protection measures into its operation. The Alexander Ranch is owned and operated by Ted, Brian, and Mona Alexander.

The Alexander Ranch became eligible for the national award by winning the 2011 Kansas Wildlife Habitat Conservation Award. The national award program receives one nomination from each of the 56 states and territories represented by AFWA.

“The Alexanders’ decades of dedication to the improvement of native grasslands in an area once over-grazed and degraded by the encroachment of eastern redcedar deserves statewide recognition,” said Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) wildlife biologist Chris Berens, who nominated the Alexander Ranch for the award. “Their management efforts created a diverse grassland that benefits livestock and a wide variety of wildlife species.”

The ranch covers more than 7,000 acres and has flourished as a custom grazing operation for the past 27 years. Partnering with several agencies, the Alexanders have leveraged resources to optimize the land’s environmental capabilities. Through these partnerships, the ranch operated on a rotational grazing system with three grazing cells, each split into many smaller paddocks, allowing 40-45 days post-grazing recovery time for the grass in each paddock. However, in the past two years, the Alexander Ranch experimented with a higher stocking rate, higher stock density, and herd impact along with a shorter grazing seasons — resulting in longer periods of grass recovery — which seems to be a success.

Additionally, a cooperative effort with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and KDWPT was key to many of the accomplishments on the ranch, which is home to several wildlife and aquatic species considered at-risk or in need of conservation. This partnership helped the Alexanders interseed forbs on old cropland acres previously converted to native grass, enhance water developments, restore riparian areas, and expand the grazing system.

The ranch has also entered into a “Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances” with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. This voluntary agreement guarantees to address the conservation needs of a species before they become listed as endangered or threatened by specifying actions that will remove or reduce threats to the species.

“Any number of landowners could have won the National Private Lands Fish and Wildlife Stewardship Award based solely on habitat enhancements and other stewardship accomplishments on their ranches,” said Berens. “However, it’s the off-the-ranch activities that make the Alexanders stand out.”

One of the most notable is their willingness to share what they have learned throughout the years with other ranchers, either through one-on-one mentoring or through one of the many conservation organizations to which Ted and Brian belong or serve on the boards. Additionally, they have opened their ranch to training opportunities for public, state, and federal agency staff and have allowed many university students to conduct wildlife research, including the interaction of wildlife and grazing practices.

“The Alexander Ranch is a great example of how excellent ecosystem management can benefit both the producer and Kansas wildlife,” Berens added. “Congratulations and many thanks to the Alexander Ranch for their contributions to promoting wise working-land practices in Kansas.”

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