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Old December 5, 2009, 06:04 PM   #1
UtahHunting
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Bad news for Utah 2010 Deer Season

It was announced today the general deer season has been reduced to 5 days starting in 2010. This is shortened from the normal 9 days it usually runs.
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Old December 5, 2009, 06:15 PM   #2
Daryl
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What was the stated reason for shortening the season?

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Old December 5, 2009, 06:45 PM   #3
Don H
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Quote:
The Utah Wildlife Board gave big game hunters a little bit of everything Thursday when it met to approve rule changes for the 2010 seasons.

The board approved a new hunt for a thought-to-be-lost desert bighorn herd next to Zion National Park, reduced the statewide general season any weapon deer hunt to five days and expanded the archery-only hunting area in Salt Lake County to include Emigration and City Creek canyons.

And as if that wasn't enough, there are so many changes slated for the 2011 big game hunting seasons that the board felt compelled to spend the first half of the day discussing those before getting to next year.

More than 70,000 deer hunters participate in the general season each October. They will have four fewer days to fill their tag in 2010. The board, acting on a proposal not from the Division of Wildlife Resources but the group Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife, approved the shorter season. Five-day seasons have been used in the southern and southeastern region of Utah in recent years to help herds recover from low numbers.

State wildlife biologists say there is no indication that going from a nine-day to a five-day season reduces the number of animals taken. "Who is being asked to sacrifice with this proposal?" asked Wildlife board member Ernie Perkins, who voted against it. "It's the general-season hunters and I'm not comfortable with that," Perkins said.

Perkins feels that other hunters, such as archers and muzzleloaders, should have to make the same sacrifice.

Board members Del Brady and Tom Hatch voted for the shortened season, but warned that the length of all seasons will be revisited during the 2011 regulation meetings. The board did approve a proposal to allow youth 17 and under to continue to hunt for nine days.

Ryan Foutz with the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep asked for a hunt to be allowed on the rediscovered Zion bighorn herd even though the idea had not been presented to the public.

"What a nice surprise. Many of us work so hard for wildlife and its nice to find the sheep and to find them flourishing," Foutz said.

Anis Aoude, big game coordinator for the DWR, said the herd was released in Zion National Park in the 1970s and then disappeared from view. Recent sightings led to an aerial survey, which showed about 240 animals split between the national park and surrounding lands.

"It is a positive story, which is rarely the case with sheep," Aoude said. "You usually see the opposite happen, so it was a pleasant surprise."

The number of permits for the Zion desert bighorn hunt, which will take place outside of the national park, will be set next spring. Aoude said it could be between five and seven tags for rams.

Responding to concerns from residents of Emigration Canyon about hunting with rifles, the board extended the current archery-only hunting area in Salt Lake County to encompass not only Emigration Canyon, but also City Creek Canyon.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13921749?IADID
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Old December 5, 2009, 11:57 PM   #4
Fat White Boy
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The reason the Big Horns are doing well is that the Biologists aren't around to "Manage" them.
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Old December 5, 2009, 11:58 PM   #5
Fat White Boy
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70,000 hunters all in the field at the same time for 5 days? That's gonna make Fallujah look like a picnic...
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Old December 6, 2009, 03:32 AM   #6
FrankenMauser
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Board members Del Brady and Tom Hatch voted for the shortened season
Dig around in the archives. Tom Hatch isn't necessarily a hunter's friend. Sometimes I wonder if he only sticks around to tighten the noose on hunting.

However... The Utah "General Season" Deer hunt is absolutely moronic (Yes, I'm a Utah hunter, but I have started to avoid Deer seasons, like the plague). You have what seems to be 50% of the population of the state concentrated in a few areas, all armed, barely passing the state's hunters' safety course, having only shot the rifle they carry the day before - for the entire year, and not actually knowing the boundaries of the unit they are hunting.

It doesn't hurt my feelings to see the season shortened. I saw some serious poaching problems in Florida (HogDogs might attest to that, if he reads this), but the absolute destruction and waste of wildlife associated with our General Deer season is horrid. Then, of course, comes the tremendous amount of littering, destruction of roads (or creation of unauthorized roads), unapproved campsites, possession of firearms while intoxicated, and absolute disregard of courtesy to other hunters. They can make it a 0 day season, for all I care... at least until the average IQ of our hunters hits something greater than 50. I'd rather not hunt, than hunt with our 'general hunter population'.

No offense intended, toward other hunters on this board. I just have absolutely no respect for the general attitude I see during the Utah General Deer season.
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Old December 6, 2009, 03:56 AM   #7
UtahHunting
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FM, you seem to stereotype all hunters into one class. I am not sure where you are hunting, but I do not see what you see. Yes, it can get somewhat crowded hunting in Utah (especially northern) because of the limited amount of public land, but to make a blanket statement that hunters during the general deer season have low IQ's is moronic.

There are always going to be those who don't follow the rules, litter, etc. That is going to happen everywhere regardless of how long the season is. Shutting down deer season all together will not change that.

I hunt every year at one of the most croweded places in Northern Utah. It looks like a small city on opening weekend there are so many trailers. The MAJORITY of these campers/hunters clean up to the point when I pull out of camp the day after closing you would have to look hard to find a single piece of trash. Just my .02 cents.
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Old December 6, 2009, 04:26 AM   #8
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70,000 hunters all in the field at the same time for 5 days? That's gonna make Fallujah look like a picnic...
That's nothing. PA has about 900,000 hunters hit the woods and fields.
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