utah400elk Report post Posted March 26, 2012 Just for fun I ran the Utah elk numbers for the last few years. Let’s see what the great Expo has done for Utah tags… Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 difference between 2009 and 2012. Unit Beaver 75 72 48 45 30 tag reduction = 40% reduction in tags Book Cliffs (Road less) 75 76 69 57 18 tag reduction = 24% reduction in tags Fillmore, Pahvant 111 112 85 71 40 tag reduction = 36% reduction in tags Monroe* 95 89 52 35 60 tag reduction = 63 % reduction in tags Plateau, Bou/Kaip 96 99 85 85 11 tag reduction = 11% reduction in tags San Juan 95 95 80 75 20 tag reduction = 21% reduction in tags Book Cliffs 148 152 155 153 5 tag increase = 3% increase in tags Central Mount, Nebo 144 144 108 100 44 tag reduction = 30% reduction in tags South Slope, D Mnt 82 72 64 52 30 tag reduction = 36 % reduction in tags Southwest Desert 89 143 133 133 44 tag increase = 40 % increase in tags Box Elder, P Mnt 4 3 3 3 1 tag decrease = 25% reduction Central Mnt, Manti 360 395 452 482 122 tag increase = 33% increase in tags La Sal, D Tri 3 3 3 5 2 tag increase = 66 % increase La Sal, La Sal Mnt 62 71 82 95 33 tag increase = 53 % increase in tags Mt. Dutton 175 185 164 147 28 tag decrease = 16 % decrease in tags Nine Mile Anthro 28 25 21 21 7 tag decrease = 25 % decrease in tags North Slope, Three C 43 42 40 36 7 tag decrease = 16 % decrease in tags Oquirrh-Stansbury 39 42 39 37 2 tag decrease = 5 % decrease in tags Panguitch Lake 105 104 103 85 20 tag decrease = 19 % decrease in tags Plat/ Fish-Thou Lake 157 180 201 180 23 tag increase = 14 % increase in tags Wasatch Mountains 432 509 603 652 220 tag increase = 50 % increase West Desert, D Crk 34 41 46 36 2 tag increase = 5% increase in tags Box Elder, Gr Crk 2 3 2 2 0 increase Cache, Meadowville 28 36 44 56 28 tag increase = 100% increase Cache, North 79 82 87 88 9 tag increase = 11 % increase Cache, South 67 93 111 129 62 tag increase = 92% increase in tags Fillmore, Oak Crk 55 47 39 39 16 tag decrease = 30 % reduction in tags Paunsaugunt 39 46 52 56 17 tag increase = 43 % increase in tags 15 units had a decrease, 12 had an increase and one stayed the same. Not the windfall that SFW would have you believe. However, it does show a 218 tag increase or about 7% increase. Look a little further and since 2010 there is actually a 21 tag decrease or less than 1% decrease in total tags. To achieve the 218 tag increase Utah took about 500 + (conservation and convention) tags A YEAR from the average sportsman/sportswomen. That 218 increase came at the cost of 2000 + tags and then current trend is down. Utah is recommending 86,500 general season deer permits. That number is down from 220,000 when SFW started. A total loss of about 133500 tags or about a 60% reduction in total tags. SFW does not deserve all the blame for the current Utah deer herd but at the same time they don’t deserve all the credit for the growth in the other species. A few other points of interest... The world famous Henry Mountains tags were previously general units where the average Joe could hunt. Now they are a once in a lifetime if you started building points for deer in the beginning. A .04 % chance if you are just starting out as a resident .01 % as a nonresident. The book cliffs were once a general tag. Now a .9% chance as a resident just starting the point game and .3% as a nonresident. Please note that prior to these units becoming LE they were open to anybody. Now just the wealthy can hunt these areas every year. Another interesting note is that these tags were taken from the general units and are now counted as a gain in the LE category. How can SFW take tags from the general hunts, not take credit for the loss of tags but claim the increase in LE tags. This information is from the Utah DWR and can be looked at @ http://wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings/info/2012-04_packet.pdf Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red Rabbit Report post Posted March 26, 2012 I thought that on MM.com there was a post showing that about half of the sheep permits in Utah were either via auction or raffle. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
utah400elk Report post Posted March 27, 2012 They get a number of tags. The report shows a few tags are up. The buffalo looks good until you take into account that a few years ago they slashed the tags to start a new herd. I think they get 15% ( I could be wrong) of all OIL tags by statute but if you do the math they are over 15% on several hunts. They claim it's the states fault they were given too many tags. And if you question Don Peay he will tell you to join PETA. The funny thing is that I could do wonders with the Utah deer herd in one year (on paper). First I would stop all general season hunts. I would then add 11000 LE tags to the new 30 units. I could then spin that to say that I took the Utah deer hunting from 1105 permits (recommended in 2012 by Utah wildlife board for LE hunts) and increase that number to 12,000 permits. I would be viewed as a savior of Utah deer hunting by politicians because they saw a huge increase in LE hunting. The only problem is that it would come on the backs of the average Joe. If AZSFW gets these tags they will do something along those lines. If they get these tags they will argue to raise the bull to cow ratio on several units. Just before the expo comes up for review they will lower the bull to cow ratio and claim the increase in tags is a direct result of the expo. That is what SFW did in Utah and I don't see any reason they won't do that in AZ. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
