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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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Possible Utah Bear Hunting Changes
A new plan means new opportunities for Utah bear hunters.

Utah Division of Natural Resources

Utah --(Ammoland.com)- If you like to hunt bears, you might have opportunities in 2012 that you’ve never had before in Utah.

A new bear management plan is making the new opportunities possible. The Utah Wildlife Board approved the plan earlier this year.

John Shivik, game mammals coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says the plan has opened the door to some new hunting options.

“At the same time,” Shivik says, “the plan provides some important safeguards to keep the state’s bear populations healthy and safe.”

All of the changes the DWR is recommending for Utah’s 2012 bear hunts are available online. The following are some highlights:

Currently, most of the bears that are hunted in Utah are tracked by hounds and ran up trees. A few hunters hunt over bait using a bow and arrow. But starting in 2012, biologists are recommending that spot-and-stalk-only hunts be held in some areas in Utah.

Hunters may not use hounds or bait during spot-and-stalk hunts. Currently, all of Utah’s bear hunting areas are limited-entry areas. Only those who draw a permit for a limited-entry area can hunt on it.

Starting in 2012, biologists would like to offer some harvest-objective hunts too.

The number of hunters who can hunt on a harvest-objective area isn’t limited, so switching an area to harvest objective gives more people a chance to hunt the area. Letting more hunters hunt an area increases the chance that more bears will be taken.

Black bear hunters might have some new opportunities in Utah in 2012. Photo by Lynn Chamberlain

As soon as a predetermined number of bears are taken (called the area’s quota), the hunt on the area will end for the season.

The spring hunts on some of Utah’s bear hunting units might run a little longer in 2012. Having longer spring seasons allows biologists to put more pressure on bears in areas where bears often kill livestock and raid campgrounds.

Protecting the bears
In addition to opening the door to some new hunting opportunities, the new plan provides bears with some important safeguards:

In the past, Shivik says biologists have used three factors to determine the health of Utah’s bear population—the percentage of bears taken by hunters that are female, the average age of the bears taken and the number of adult bears that survive in Utah from year to year.

You won’t find those three factors in the new plan. Instead, biologists will focus on two key factors: the amount of female bears and the amount of adult males taken by hunters.

(An adult male bear is a bear that’s five years of age or older.)

Shivik says the number of females and the number of adult males that hunters take gives important information about how a bear population is doing: The number of females hunters take is important because females give birth to cubs and then care for the cubs after they’re born.

“But the number of adult males hunters take is the best early indicator we have about the health of a bear population,” Shivik says.

Shivik says adult males wander more than the other age groups. Because they wander more, adult males are the bears hunters usually encounter and take.

If biologists see that the number of adult males hunters are taking is going down—and the number of females is going up—they know the bear population in the area is in decline.

“Once hunters start finding females, instead of the males they normally encounter first,” Shivik says, “we know the population is declining in number.”

In addition to the number of female bears and adult male bears hunters take, biologists are also using two important bear studies to determine the health of Utah’s bear population:

One study involves snagging hair from bears at sites across Utah. After the hair is snagged, DNA tests are used to determine how often the bears that left the snagged hair are visiting the sites. This study is helping biologists measure how fast or slow the state’s bear populations are growing.

In the second study, biologists visit bear dens in the winter to see how many cubs are in the dens and to assess the health of the cubs and their mothers.

This study is giving biologists important information about the number of bears that are being brought into Utah’s population each year.

Learn more, share your ideas
After you’ve reviewed the DWR’s ideas, you can let your Regional Advisory Council members know your thoughts by attending your upcoming RAC meeting or by sending an email to them.

RAC chairmen will share the input they receive with members of the Utah Wildlife Board. The board will meet in Salt Lake City on Jan. 12 to approve rules for Utah’s 2012 bear hunting and pursuit seasons.

Dates, times and locations for the RAC meetings are as follows:

• Southern Region

Dec. 6, 7 p.m.
Beaver High School
195 E Center Street, Beaver

• Southeastern Region

Dec. 7, 6:30 p.m.
John Wesley Powell Museum
1765 E Main Street, Green River

• Northeastern Region

Dec. 8, 6:30 p.m.
Bingham Entrepreneurship and Energy Research Center
320 N Aggie Blvd (2000 W), Vernal

• Central Region

Dec. 13, 6:30 p.m.
Central Region Conference Center
1115 N Main Street, Springville

• Northern Region

Dec. 14, 6 p.m.
Weber State University, Shepherd Union Building, Rooms 404A and 404B
3848 Harrison Blvd, Ogden

Email
You can also provide your comments to your RAC via email. Email addresses for your RAC members are available online.

The group each RAC member represents (sportsman, non-consumptive, etc.) is listed under each person’s email address. You should direct your email to the people on the RAC who represent your interest.

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