The impacts are obvious, especially in units where low numbers of permits are issued (which in Utah’s case is about 65% of them) and you have a few hunters harvesting 4-5 year old bulls. One hunter might be happy with any bull, and another is looking for the largest bull they can find. Hunting in general is different for everyone and trying to manage toward a certain age class is tough when age is a difficult thing to judge on the hoof. However, this style of management is not without fault. This allows them to monitor the age of each animal harvested and increase or decrease tags if the average age is under or over the age management goal for that specific unit. Utah has mandatory harvest reporting on all limited-entry big game species across the weapon types. Go on More Hunts with Better Information, Join Huntin' Fool Today! One thing is for certain, with these new changes and new hunts for elk, applicants are going to want to pay attention this year as these changes could and will impact draws across the board. This new elk management plan shook things up quite a bit with new hunts, added hunts, additional opportunities, shifting season dates, and shifting age class objectives in most units across the state. Utah renews each big game species management plan periodically, around every five to seven years, and 2023 marks the beginning of the new elk management plan. During November, Utah’s five Regional Advisory Councils will meet and those meetings may be attended by the public either in person or electronically.If there is one thing that has remained the same in Utah throughout the years, it is change. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources welcomes and relies upon public comment for any proposed changes. To move more maximum-point applicants through the drawing system, the DWR said it would recommend increasing the percentage offered to maximum-point applicants to 60%. The DWR will propose a change to the permit allocation for maximum-point applicants. Maximum-point permit allocation recommendation Stringham said they will make recommendations using the most liberal options for bag limits made available by the US Fish and Wildlife Service Blair Stringham, Migratory Game Bird Program Coordinator, explained that while COVID-19 did impact the agency’s ability to survey some waterfowl populations in 2020, those numbers generally remain steady from year to year. The DWR said it will request another three-year recommendation cycle for waterfowl hunting regulations. The public recommended those changes, which DWR approved last year for a two-year period. The Utah DWR wants to leave in place recommendations for a five-day extension on the archery any-bull elk hunt. Then, we will recommend a long-term solution in 2022.” “We will also work with the statewide elk committee to improve the permit process. “We will assess the pros and cons of the current system compared to including the permits in the big game drawing,” Varney said. Varney said that in a way, this new proposal is an experiment. This would replace selling the permits online or over the counter, the typical way hunters obtain these permits. But in the interim, they want to include the general-season “any bull elk and spike elk” permits in the big game drawing. Varney said that they’ve asked for an update to the database that expands its capabilities. “Our current contracted sales system does well during the rest of the year, but these ‘sales days’ for the elk permits causes a buying rush that overloads the system a few days a year.” Elk hunt permit changes address demand, technical issues “The increased demand for these permits has caused an overload to the license sales system for the past two years,” said DWR Wildlife Licensing Coordinator Lindy Varney in a statement, “which has led to slower processing times and a frustrating customer experience. The reason? Increasing demand for a Utah elk hunt permit and the technical problems caused by the demand. They want to add general-season elk permits to the big game drawing, for one year only. SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources wants to change the process to get an elk hunt permit in Utah.
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