2012 deer unit boundaries are up,,30 units,see maps

Goofy what's your thoughts on the proposals?

I've got to be honest I think this whole thing BLOWS! :>/

But hope I'm wrong, maybe I'm selfish in my thinking, if this helps deer herds rebound and improve them I'm all for it.

I hunt 7 out of those Southern Units, now I can't walk across the Highway and hunt the other side of the road.

I just renewed for Dedicated Hunter this year, only reason was to have a tag...don't think it's worth it anymore though. But I'll enjoy the time I do get outside and quit gripping cause that won't change a thing. :thumb

I'm 100% for all of it....

Been pushing it for years.

Wish it would have gone some were when we tried to get opt 2 the first time around
6 years ago. Are deer herds would be in far better shape now.

Lets all hope so and I hope your right! :thumb

I'm all for it too but I wished they would have waited one more year to go back to the 9 day season. I'm affraid during the second weekend, Washington Countys winter range will be flowing with blood from many big bucks.

So are the Plateau, Thousand Lakes and Fillmore, Oak Creek units are no longer limited entry? Have they been “downgraded” to general units? I see them listed on the general units list… I know there has been some talk about doing this in the past. Would the state ever completely dissolve the difference between preference & bonus points for deer and make the entire state limited entry? Not that they haven’t already.

That’s about how I thought it would shake out with the boundaries. I’m not sure what to think about the changes… I'm hoping that it won’t affect me much because the unit I’ll hunt is primarily private property & tags have been pretty easy to come by before… so why wouldn’t they be going forward. No doubt that some of the more popular units in the southern portion of the state will be as difficult to draw as a limited entry unit. I’ll be interested to see the application data next year to see the number of preference points it'll take to draw some of the southern units.

IMO… the Dedicated Hunter program is not for me. Again, hunting the old Northern region I’ve been able to walk up to the Wal-Mart Sporting Goods counter and purchase my tag for $35. No doubt that will change and I’ll be playing the drawing game like everybody else (good thing I’ve got me a handful of Preference Points). It hasn’t made much sense for me to apply for Dedicated Hunter when I could just go get a tag and I have a very limited amount of time that I can take away from family & work. I’ve watched friends get into the program and end up spending a lot of $$$ to buy their service hours & then they only get out and hunt for a couple days. For now, I’m ok with picking my weapon & being able to harvest every year. Maybe down the road the Dedicated Hunter program would be something that I would consider, but right now… no chance.

I have to agree with Brett.......I'm not a fan of these new units. One thing that really sucks is that the 2 areas where I bow hunt are now split. Not sure why they had to split the archery hunt into 30 units. The success rate is so low to begin with why not just leave it statewide? Or at least 5 regions. And one thing I have never understood is why non-residents can put in for ALL limited hunts for deer, elk, antelope and ALL once in a lifetime hunts and get points building. While us residents can only go for one. It sucks cause by the time you finally have enough points to draw a OIAL tag then you might be able to get one more in before your hunting years are over. Guess I just don't understand it.

"firefighterbraun" wrote: And one thing I have never understood is why non-residents can put in for ALL limited hunts for deer, elk, antelope and ALL once in a lifetime hunts and get points building. While us residents can only go for one. It sucks cause by the time you finally have enough points to draw a OIAL tag then you might be able to get one more in before your hunting years are over. Guess I just don't understand it.

I’m considering buying non-resident licenses even though I’m a resident (have been my whole life & have no intention of leaving). There is only a $50 difference for a combo license & I go fishing enough each year to make that difference negligible. If I can buy up a point for all three limited entry species PLUS each of the five OIAL species for a period of 5-10 years, I would be saving 6 years with every application by doing so (over a 10 year period I’d be 60 years ahead of the guy that applies as a resident). Once I have a fair number of points… I buy me a resident license and apply again as a resident.
It’s totally working the system (whether it’s ethical or not I’m still trying to think that through)… but it’s something that I’m seriously considering. I have two friends that are both moving out of state with the intent to move back in 10-15 years & they are pumped to rack up the points while they are away. The only drawback I can see is that I’d have to pay non-resident prices for the general tag ($263 vs. $35)… and my pockets don’t go that deep! Although I am considering buying a non-resident deer tag in Washington @ $400 to hunt a buddies property… so in comparison the non-resident Utah general tag is cheap.

I'm not a big fan of this program. I know a lot of folks think that this will save mule deer, but I think the reality is it will only serve as a tool to decrease opportunity. If the DWR would eliminate either the preference point pool or the bonus point pool, I might at least find the proposal pallitable. Just more games. If killing fewer buck were the answer, we should have seen explosions in deer numbers on the LE units, but the reality is we haven't.

Oh, btw. In answer the the original post. These boundaries make a lot more sense than what was first being talked about.

"MuleyMadness" wrote:I hunt 7 out of those Southern Units, now I can't walk across the Highway and hunt the other side of the road.

I agree completely. The area I have been hunting is split right down the middle. That makes it tough, especially for us bowhunters.

I'm not a fan of the 30 units!!! I'm not a fan on the tag cuts either

Wonder how this will play out in 2-3 years

"9er" wrote: Wonder how this will play out in 2-3 years

To me it's Occam's razor : "the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one."

MONEY!

When they were coming up with the plan they admitted it will not increase the population.

But in 2-3 years it will be a piece of cake for them to shut down many of the units and open them as LE later on. More in, and out of state money.

I hope I'm wrong, but when was the last time a gov organization did something that made things better and not worse, at the same time lightening your pocketbook for you?

Just playing the devils advocate her...... wait, that's my real opinion. :)

Not a fan at all for the micro units. As some folks on here said, this new management plan will NOT help our deer herds, just as the dwr has said on numerous occasions. It was a knee jerk reaction by the wildlife board to do "something". However, there was a lot of pressure by certain lobbying orgs, one in particular that had/has the boards ear.

The ONLY benefit I can see coming out of this deal is the dwr's ability to micro manage "hunters" on units that may require reductions of hunters due to low fawn/doe ratios. That can't be accomplished as easily on regional units, but that's about it folks. Like someone else said here, it won't be long until some of these micro unites are turned into bonafied LE units with very few tags avaliable. Once the buck/doe ration drops below 18/100, it goes up to 25/100! Only way to achieve that goal is to reduce tags even further! When was the last time the WB voted to take an LE unit back to general? Yeah, exactly!

Until this State begins to manage our wildlife to "grow" herds and not maintain them, and use scientific biology instead of social and political biology, we will continue to lose opportunity and our herds will suffer. It is a down right shame the direction our hunting heritage has gone.

How will this affect the extended archery areas? Do you have to get a permit in order to hunt the extended period or are they just doing away with it all together?? I sure hope thats not the case!

I haven't heard that the extended areas will be affected by the change. I'm not sure that a final decision has been made in regard to archery hunting in general.