Ten years ago, there weren't enough mule deer on southern Utah's remote Henry Mountains to allow a hunt. But during an auction Saturday at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City, three people paid a combined $382,000 for the right to hunt the Henry Mountains this fall.

Vernal resident Robert Kay spent $205,000 on the statewide mule deer tag, which allows him to hunt anywhere, including the Henry Mountains, and is a record amount for any statewide big game permit. Two Henry Mountain-specific tags sold for $90,000 and $87,500 in the annual conservation hunting permit auction.

"I bid only because the mule deer need help and that is exactly what this permit does," said Kay, 54, a lifelong Utah resident. "I hunt every year, but I haven't shot a deer in five years. I love to see the animals; the record books don't mean anything to me."

The mule deer tag wasn't the only record set Saturday night. Species records were also set for the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep ($110,000) and moose ($27,000) statewide permits.

The statewide conservation permits are auctioned annually and allow the winning bidder to hunt any open unit in Utah for that species. The program has raised more than $17 million in the past 10 years, 90 percent of which goes back to the state's wildlife agency for future conservation efforts.

Miles Moretti, president and CEO of the Utah-based Mule Deer Foundation, said he was only somewhat surprised by the high bid.

"Right now, the mule deer is the trophy of the day. People are really interested because [mule deer] tags are getting harder and harder to get as populations decline," he said. "The Henry Mountains have a reputation for quality big bucks; Utah has the focus of the hunting world."

That focus was partly prompted by Dennis Austad, of Idaho, who made a winning bid of $150,000 on the statewide Rocky Mountain elk tag last year and then took the new Boone and Crockett world record last fall with his giant "spider elk." Despite his success, the statewide conservation elk tag for 2009 went for $110,000.

Saturday's auction capped what organizers are calling a wildly successful show that saw more than 30,000 people file through the doors to visit with exhibitors and attend seminars. More than 10,000 people applied for 200 hunting permits ranging from bison and black bear to wild turkey. Results of the drawing for those permits will be posted later this week at www.huntexpo.com.

"Considering the economy, we had an unbelievable show," said Don Peay, founder of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife.

Other Western states (Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, Wyoming, Montana, California and Nebraska) also provided select permits for the auction. Organizers say more than $1.5 million was raised through auctions during the show. The highest price paid was $230,000 for a special bighorn permit in Alberta, Canada.

The next Western Hunting and Conservation Expo is scheduled for Feb. 11-14, 2010.