Utah DWR

[Schoolhousegrizz]

I just listened to a podcast with Brock McMillan. He's a research professor at BYU and knows a ton about elk and deer behavior. I will say, I am very very impressed with the Utah dwr and thankful that I am a resident of Utah. Just wanted to give Utah DWR shout out on here!

 

[Westhunt]

I just listened to a podcast with Brock McMillan. He's a research professor of BYU and knows a ton about elk and deer behavior. I will say, I am very very impressed with the Utah dwr and thankful that I am a resident of Utah. Just wanted to give Utah DWR shout out on here!

Glad to hear it! That was a great podcast. I agree Utah DWR Does a pretty good job.

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[MuleyFever]

This one?

GoHunt Mule Deer Podcast

I've been reading mule deer research for a long time. This is the best condensed mule deer information you can ever hope to find, it was excellent.

rokslide.com

 

[mtnrunner260]

Some really cool stuff coming out of the DWR/BYU partnership.
Thankfully lots of really good folks in the DWR who are passionate about the resource.

 

[Boone-In-Wall]

That was a good podcast, but I was disappointed that he didn't provide waypoints for big bucks. WTF!

 

[Renegade14]

Brock is a great guy, and the partnerships with him, other professors, and the DWR are very impressive. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how passionate people in the DWR are when our legislature has the WB by the balls and threatens to legislate what they want if the WB doesn't pass it, regardless of what the DWR or university biologists say.

 

[CorbLand]

Utah DWR is hamstrung by the wildlife board in my opinion.

 

[Westhunt]

Utah DWR is hamstrung by the wildlife board in my opinion.

Unfortunately, that's how it's designed. The DWR (for the most part) can only create recommendations. The wildlife board is appointed by the governor and granted limited rule making authority from the state legislature. The RAC and wildlife board "listens" to the recommendations of the DWR and vote to pass, fail, or modify a recommendation.

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[Travis Hobbs]

Both Brock and Randy and the entire crew at the BYU Ecology lab are some of the smartest minds in Mule Deer Research and the things they are doing are nothing short of incredible.

 

[CorbLand]

Both Brock and Randy and the entire crew at the BYU Ecology lab are some of the smartest minds in Mule Deer Research and the things they are doing are nothing short of incredible.

Are they working closely with The Montieth Shop?

 

[Travis Hobbs]

Are they working closely with The Montieth Shop?

They kind of do their own thing, but they definitely communicate and both “labs” participate and are part of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Mule Deer Working Group.

 

[CorbLand]

They kind of do their own thing, but they definitely communicate and both “labs” participate and are part of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Mule Deer Working Group.

Collaborate was the word I was looking for and couldn’t think of it last night. I was curious if they bounced ideas and information off each other.

 

[PLhunter]

Utah DWR is hamstrung by the wildlife board in my opinion.

That is the case for any state with a politically appointed board structure. Oregon as well.

 

[CorbLand]

Going to put this here as I feel its pretty relevant.

The DWR and Wildlife Board had their work session yesterday. A lot of good information regarding the DWR and why it manages things the way they do and where they would like to go. Pretty mule deer heavy (at least the DWR knowns the superior species) but they talk about everything.

It will take me a few days to get through it all but I listened to it yesterday.

 

[Timberline001]

Good to hear some positive attitude towards UDWR. Growing up in Washington and then moving to Idaho and now Utah chasing my wife’s schooling I have an outside prospective on the state. I always hear everyone up in arms here about wildlife management but from what I’ve seen and the meeting I’ve went to they really do a great job. Especially compared to Washington but that’s not difficult to beat. Spending a lot of time the last 10 years across the west I feel like there’s not many states that do a better job balancing quality and opportunity for deer.

 

[CorbLand]

Good to hear some positive attitude towards UDWR. Growing up in Washington and then moving to Idaho and now Utah chasing my wife’s schooling I have an outside prospective on the state. I always hear everyone up in arms here about wildlife management but from what I’ve seen and the meeting I’ve went to they really do a great job. Especially compared to Washington but that’s not difficult to beat. Spending a lot of time the last 10 years across the west I feel like there’s not many states that do a better job balancing quality and opportunity for deer.

A lot of people here dont really understand how it all works with legislature, DWR and the Wildlife Board. A lot of things get blamed on the wrong people. The DWR takes the brunt of it because most people think they are in control of more things than they really are.

Another big one is that the DWR has to try to manage to everyone's wants and they cant do that. Someone has their idea of how things should work, generally discussed in echo chambers. They submit their comment to the DWR and then when they dont get their wants, its DWRs fault.

The overall lack of understanding of who does what and what they have authority over is absolutely astonishing. I remember when Utah implemented the shed hunting closure last year and everyone took to social media fanning the anti DWR narrative. Yet the majority of the things they blamed them for or told them they should also do were outside of their authority.

I had one of the influencers tell me that the DWR had the authority to limit people from recreating on BLM and FS ground. The sad thing is how many people shared the video they put out and the amount of information in it that was just flat wrong.

 

[realunlucky]

Good to hear some positive attitude towards UDWR. Growing up in Washington and then moving to Idaho and now Utah chasing my wife’s schooling I have an outside prospective on the state. I always hear everyone up in arms here about wildlife management but from what I’ve seen and the meeting I’ve went to they really do a great job. Especially compared to Washington but that’s not difficult to beat. Spending a lot of time the last 10 years across the west I feel like there’s not many states that do a better job balancing quality and opportunity for deer.

Interesting that at the work shop Dax the big game coordinator noted Utah is really good at cutting permits but terrible at increasing them even when data supports it.

Some wildlife boards are simply terrible with a narrow viewpoint focused on thier special interests. Trying to get deer permits in the southern regions quickly comes to mind.

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[Timberline001]

Interesting that at the work shop Dax the big game coordinator noted Utah is really good at cutting permits but terrible at increasing them even when data supports it.

Some wildlife boards are simply terrible with a narrow viewpoint focused on thier special interests. Trying to get deer permits in the southern regions quickly comes to mind.

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They increased tags in the southern regions last year and my good friends in Panguitch and St George were pissed. I don’t think theres anyway to make everyone happy. The quality of the deer in those regions seem to reflect the lower tag numbers though.

 

[realunlucky]

They increased tags in the southern regions last year and my good friends in Panguitch and St George were pissed. I don’t think theres anyway to make everyone happy. The quality of the deer in those regions seem to reflect the lower tag numbers though.

Dax adressed this to, how general season is designed to be an opportunity hunt and if you want to hunt older age class bucks they are there (in fewer numbers) but just put in the work rather than whine about it.

Some units in the southern region is currently running at 24 bucks per 100 does way over what was agreed to in the mule deer management plan. Those numbers start to rival some the low tier limited entry units like Vernon and Bookcliffs

 

[CorbLand]

Southern Utah has its own unique challenges from a management aspect. The buck to doe ratio could be 100:100 and they wouldn’t be happy down there.

Did they increase tags down there last year? It was proposed but I thought the board shut it down and left them alone.

I got a chuckle at the last Epic podcast when Jason said he doesn’t understand why the DWR keeps trying to raise tags so drastically. I thought to myself “maybe because every time they try, it gets shut down so the management plan is getting out of whack and they are trying to bring it back into balance?”

Utah is terrible at managing to the plan. They set numbers then just flat ignore them. The Cache is over the ratio and no tag increase proposed. The Nebo is over by the exact same amount. ~10% increase proposed.