Utah's DWR wants increase in antlerless permits
The mild winter may not have put down the snowpack, but it did make life easier on Utah's big game animals, which is both good and bad news.
The light winter means more animals survived, but it also means that in some areas of the state the animal population exceeds carrying capacity for the state's limited winter range.
This is reflected in the Division of Wildlife Resources' 2007 antlerless hunting recommendations for this fall.
Taking female animals is the main tool biologists have to keep big game animals from increasing past the number their habitat can sustain.
This year the DWR is asking for an increase in antlerless deer, elk and moose permits. Pronghorn antelope permits would decrease by about 250 permits.
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