UBA RAC Proposal
proutdoors
10/22/07 10:54am
"Archery Elk season to open on the third Saturday of August with a 5 day extended Limited Entry Bull Elk Archery hunt period, and a 12 day extended Any Bull Archery Elk hunt period"
(Proclamation Section R657-5-43)
The Utah Bowmen's Association would like to propose the following:
1)That the General Archery Elk Hunt and Limited Entry Elk archery hunts opening day be moved forward and open on the third Saturday of Aigust. This would then open on the same day as the General Archery Buck Deer hunt.
2)That the General Archery "Spike Bull Units" elk hunt (archery elk hunts on spike bull only units) would be a 23 day hunt period (same as current hunt period) which would then close on the 4th Sunday after opening day.
3)That the Limited Entry Archery Bull Elk unit periods be extended by 5 days to become 28 day hunt periods closing on the 4th Friday after the opening day. This would end the same day as the General Archery Buck Deer Hunt.
4)The same rules and restrictions will apply on elk harvest according to Spike Bull Units and Any Bull Units.
This proposal has no significant down side for any management group. The overall success rate for Archery Elk hunters remains relatively low. By moving the opening of the Archery Elk hunt to coincide with the Archery Buck Deer hunt opening, the general bowhunter intending to hunt both species will realize a more enjoyable hunt opportunity. The (12) day extension for Any Bull units and the (5) day extension for Archery Limited Entry bull units would greatly improve the hunt enjoyment and overall satisfaction of these hunters by eliminating the Spike bull and antlerless hunter conflicts during the last 5 days of the Limited Entry Bull Elk archery units and by allowing the Any Bull Elk hunters to hunt closer to the rut. Due to relatively low historical archery success rates, these additional days of hunting opportunity may only slightly increase the mature bull archery success rates, which would be insignificant in total. Neither of these changes would create any new conflicts in existing General season rifle, spike, muzzle loader, or any Limited Entry any weapon or muzzle loader seasons.
PRO
(Proclamation Section R657-5-43)
The Utah Bowmen's Association would like to propose the following:
1)That the General Archery Elk Hunt and Limited Entry Elk archery hunts opening day be moved forward and open on the third Saturday of Aigust. This would then open on the same day as the General Archery Buck Deer hunt.
2)That the General Archery "Spike Bull Units" elk hunt (archery elk hunts on spike bull only units) would be a 23 day hunt period (same as current hunt period) which would then close on the 4th Sunday after opening day.
3)That the Limited Entry Archery Bull Elk unit periods be extended by 5 days to become 28 day hunt periods closing on the 4th Friday after the opening day. This would end the same day as the General Archery Buck Deer Hunt.
4)The same rules and restrictions will apply on elk harvest according to Spike Bull Units and Any Bull Units.
This proposal has no significant down side for any management group. The overall success rate for Archery Elk hunters remains relatively low. By moving the opening of the Archery Elk hunt to coincide with the Archery Buck Deer hunt opening, the general bowhunter intending to hunt both species will realize a more enjoyable hunt opportunity. The (12) day extension for Any Bull units and the (5) day extension for Archery Limited Entry bull units would greatly improve the hunt enjoyment and overall satisfaction of these hunters by eliminating the Spike bull and antlerless hunter conflicts during the last 5 days of the Limited Entry Bull Elk archery units and by allowing the Any Bull Elk hunters to hunt closer to the rut. Due to relatively low historical archery success rates, these additional days of hunting opportunity may only slightly increase the mature bull archery success rates, which would be insignificant in total. Neither of these changes would create any new conflicts in existing General season rifle, spike, muzzle loader, or any Limited Entry any weapon or muzzle loader seasons.
PRO
5,714
:thumb [-o<
PRO
what that says(if im reading it right) is the general archery any bull will end around the 20th or sometime around there? am i correct or am i wrong?
does the extension of 5 days go towards all LE units or just those with "spike" tags?
I must be a little slow, i had to read that post about 15 times real real slow to understand it, but im still a bit confused, so to help me out can ya just post the dates(approximate are fine) of the elk hunts to eliminate me from racking my brain anymore!
9er
I support Archers, Muzzleloaders, and Rifle, but my main concern isn't the number of days in field...my main concern is the quality and quantity of the Mule Deer herds.
I believe the herds in some areas have and are starting to rebound and improve in quality and size of mature bucks. In some areas, our overall quota for quantity is still low IMO.
I'm not to worried about Elk at this point, they seem to be doing and likely will do better than deer in the future.
So I am concerned about the number of Archery days 'in field' to pound at the deer herds in the state. More days, means more opportunity YES...but not necessarily what is best for the overall state of the deer herd.
More days in field means more chances, more shots, more shots fired, more deer hit, more deer wounded, etc.
I don't have 1 story of wounded deer from just this year in Utah alone, I don't have 2 stories, I have multiple/several stories and it turns my stomach in knots to hear them. And these are just from the hunters I know which will admit it.
The numbers AREN'T small IMO, they are actually quite big and can hurt the quality and quantity of our deer.
Unfortunately not all BOW hunters are GOOD or put in the time to practice and take ethical shots. It seems any shot is good enough if the deer is big enough.
(???)
Archery any-bull, spike/antlerless, and LE elk hunts would start the same day as the Archery deer hunt (third Saturday in August) August 18th.
The spike/antlerless archery elk hunt would end on Sunday September 9th.
The LE archery bull elk hunt would end Friday September 14th.
The any-bull archery elk hunt would end September 21st.
The spike/antlerless elk hunt would remain a 23 day hunt, the LE bull elk hunt would get an additional 5 days to hunt w/o pressure from archery spike/antlerless elk hunters, the any-bull areas would get an additional 12 days to hunt elk. Those hunting the any-bull areas the final week would be required to wear orange since there will be a limited number of youth elk hunters in the field during that time.
Brett, I am completely lost/confused by your last two posts. This proposal does NOT affect the archery deer hunt days in ANY way. (???) This is strictly a proposal to give the LE archery elk hunters FIVE days w/o competing with spike/antlerless elk hunters.
PRO
that cleared it up alot for me,
and so far I like the idea! sure makes the LE archery more "appealing", which isnt good for us that will be starting over soon with waiting periods being over! wonder how many will switch over and apply for archery tags that have been applying for rifle or muzz?
Are they presenting it to the RAC in Nov.?
9er
PRO
Yes my bad, I went off on deer. My mistake, I don't have a problem with the proposal. Like I said, Elk are doing better than deer and can handle weather conditions much better so this shouldn't impact the Elk herds to much IMO.
I'd say give it a try.
:thumb
PRO