This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The more deer there are in Utah, the state's Deer Management Plan stipulates, the more that can be killed in hunts.
Accordingly, the Utah Wildlife Board approved Thursday a recommendation from the state wildlife agency to increase the number of deer hunting permits by 1,995 (1,748 buck tags and 215 doe) for the 2015 season.
The number of general season buck mule deer tags climbed to 86,550 for this fall, compared to 84,800 last year.
Big game biologists with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) say deer are doing better than they have since 1990.
Beyond increasing the number of general permits, the board increased youth and bull elk permits from 300 to 500 and buck pronghorn and doe pronghorn by about 90 permits. At the same time, they cut cow elk permits from 16,715 to 15,335, bull moose from 67 to 65 and bison from 91 to 80. The board approved one more desert bighorn sheep permit, but trimmed one permit each from Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and mountain goat.
DWR officials estimated a current statewide population of 355,600 mule deer in Utah after the 2014 hunts — up from 332,900 after the 2013 season.
Biologists say wet falls, mild winters, habitat and predator control projects are the reason for the increases.
Twitter: @BrettPrettyman