As far as Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Mike Styler is concerned, the Utah Legislature has spoken and a money-generating bighorn sheep and mule deer hunt on Antelope Island will happen in 2011.

But a few members of the Utah State Parks Board were not convinced during a meeting Thursday in Salt Lake City, where the board deferred action on a controversial hunt that a 2007 survey showed was opposed by 74 percent of Utahns.

Meanwhile, Davis County tourism officials and business leaders vowed to fight the hunt, even if they have to try to get the 2011 Legislature to repeal intent language that Styler said all but forces a hunt.

The State Parks and Wildlife boards both have to approve the hunts, which would allow people to kill two mule deer and two bighorn sheep, probably over a weekend guided hunt late in 2011. The trophy hunts could generate over $200,000, which would then be invested back into the island.

Some hunting organizations and legislators have been trying to establish a hunt on Antelope Island other than the bison hunt for more a decade. This year, Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, inserted intent language into a huge budget appropriations bill mandating a hunt.

That came despite opposition from Davis County legislators who worked until the end of the last night in the Legislature to remove the language, failing by four votes in the House to stop it.

"Biology and science tells us that hunting is a healthy management tool that should be used, and the premier bighorn sheep biologist in the state says we need hunting on Antelope Island," said Styler. "In my mind, there is no fight. The decision has been made. It's best to implement the decision to cause the least amount of impact."

But Barbara Riddle, president and CEO of the Davis Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, vowed to continue fighting the proposal, including having a bill introduced in the 2011 Legislature to stop the hunt.

She argued that any time an actual bill on the issue has been filed -- as opposed to inserting language into a catch-all budget bill, as was the case this year -- it has failed.

Riddle cited a 2007 poll conducted by Utah State Parks saying that 74 percent of the public did not support a hunt. She argued that hunting animals that had never been pursued violated ethical fair chase hunting rules and pointed to a recent 2009 Antelope Island Resource Planning document that said hunting should be utilized only as a last resort.

Riddle was backed by officials from Friends of Antelope Island and the Weber County and Davis County chambers of commerce, and said the Davis County Commission unanimously opposed the hunt. Many were concerned hunting would take away watchable wildlife opportunities.

"It's all about the money," said Riddle.

Indeed, Utah State Parks faced major budget cuts last year with some legislators arguing that some parks or services needed to be privatized.

Some park board members seemed willing to risk the wrath of the Legislature by not approving the hunt.

"We get to a point where we are broker than we ever have been and somebody throws us a 20 dollar bill, we change all of our ideals and we're supposed to be happy about it?" said board chair Karl Bentley.

Board member Marty Ott, a former assistant director of the Department of Natural Resources, said that one of the reasons to have a policy-making board is to "minimize the gratuitous meddling of the Legislature du jour and offer some level of stability over time. One thing that concerns the board is the level of meddling and micromanaging."

But board members know that bucking the Legislature could cost state parks.

"You could get vindictive legislators that don't like the attitude of a policy board and change it to an advisory board," said board member Joe Hull, a former legislator.

Styler, who also served in the Legislature, said that as far as he was concerned, the Legislature was the ultimate policy board.