Utah Convention Tags Issue Comments

I received the below e-mail today from Dave Clemens of LaGrande, Oregon, concerning the upcoming Hunting Expo to be held in Utah and the allotted hunting tags that have been set aside for this event. Although I agree with some of the points in Dave's e-mail, I also see the benefits of this event and would welcome YOUR comments on the topic. Please read Dave's e-mail.

To Utah,

Utah residents should have equal claim to the wildlife that roam the public lands of their state. The opportunities to receive a tag should be equal and not stacked against money or accumulated preference points. Young hunters just reaching the age of application will most likely never receive a quality tag as the max pool is so heavily filled with their seniors. The only state that still offers a fair opportunity for all is Idaho. Hurray for them! No person or organized governing body has the right to sell our wildlife. It should be managed to provide a quality (not necessarily trophy opportunity) for the largest amount of hunters, at the most reasonable price possible, without exhausting the quality of the resource. I do not have a problem with limited tags to provide a mature animal harvest or even some trophy opportunities, but the chance to draw each year should be equal for all. Convention tags, governors tags, lottery tags, auction tags, or whatever you want to call them should be abolished and all tags then are brought to the public through an equal draw system. Non residents should be allowed to compete for a small portion of the tags but here again on an equal basis with no stacking the odds with money or points. All we hear about is "how government mismanages money." The lame idea that wildlife programs have to be funded through high priced tag sales is just another admittance that they still can't manage. Utah evaluate your morals, pull your heads out, place a value on people not money, and bring back what made hunting one of the most wholesome activities we have.

Sincerely, Dave Clemens

LaGrande, Oregon

Utah faces some very difficult challenges on managing the wildlife that I do not personally feel the impact has been felt in other States such as urban sprawl eating up winter range and habitat faster than animals can adjust, heavy winter kills in past years and devastation of sagebrush habitat that traditionally the deer and other wildlife thrived on, among many others. I feel the Utah DWR has done a good job of managing the wildlife in Utah and although I hate to see these tags going out through this event in some ways, I hope the promises that have been made by the Utah DWR on what will be done with this money prove to be true, as they have in the past on similar tags raised funds.

This event will hopefully be a spring board to groups like the RMEF and MDF, Duck Unlimited, NTF and others to bind together and work towards more common goals, and the fund generated will hit the ground running for the wildlife in Utah.

I welcome your comments.

The ATK Mule Deer - True Trophy Mule Deer!

This mule deer, often called the ATK buck for where he spent most of his life (Alliant Tech (ATK) on the west side of the Salt Lake City valley gave me a rare opportunity to capture a few minutes of video. This awesome buck was watched for years by many hunters but I do not believe the buck was ever hunted as he spent his life on private property where hunting is not allowed. He was recently killed (Nov. 11, 2006) by a car as he left the property and crossed a busy highway. He was rough scored by a guy from Sportmen's Warehouse at a screaming scored of 225! He was recovered by the Utah DWR and his antlers as currently in the evidence room of the DWR. Let's hope he got a few does during the rut and spread a few of his great genes!

Trail Master Outdoors Waterfowl Hunting

An afternoon of duck hunting along the Bear River Bird Refuge in Northern Utah. Cris Draper, the Trail Master, and his Son take a trip with friends, Bill, Billy and Shane doing a little duck hunting in Northern Utah.