SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 22, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — With the fall hunting season just underway, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has published a plethora of tips and info for the state’s estimated 80,000 deer hunters.
The state’s deer population, by far the largest quarry, is estimated at 305,700, according to the DWR.
Other highlights in the posting last week include a reminder that earlier this year, the Utah Wildlife Board voted to ban the use of trail cameras in the scouting of big game locations or their use “in the take or aid in the take of big game” from July 31 through Dec. 31.
“If you are hoping to harvest a deer or elk this fall, make sure you are hunting in areas away from the road,” the DWR says.
Particularly when it come to elk.
“Elk are smart and know how to avoid hunting pressure,” according to the DWR. “They avoid roads, so especially when you are hunting elk, get off the road.”
The first big game hunts of the fall season, according to the posting, are the general-season buck deer archery hunt and the general spike and any bull archery hunts, which began Saturday. The end of those hunts vary by location and dates can be found on other DWR website postings, plus detail of more limited hunts, such as bear, moose and cougar.
The general-season spike and any bull elk hunt with any legal weapon runs Oct. 8 through 20. The general-season buck deer hunt with any legal weapon runs Oct. 22 through 30.
Other DWR postings and those on other big game web sites count the state’s second-largest big game population, elk, at roughly 80,000.
Deer are by far the big draw with DWR reports counting the number of deer hunters afield in a fall hunt season as numbering as high as 200,000-plus during the 1990s.
Currently the figure is closer to 80,000 with a success rate in either era of up to one-third.
