Statewide Draw For 2000 General Buck Deer Permits Approved By Utah Wildlife Board SALT LAKE CITY - The days of camping out for general buck deer permits and buck deer being impacted through the overselling of permits are over in Utah, at least in 2000. At a Nov. 17 meeting in Salt Lake City, the Utah Wildlife Board approved the state's first statewide draw for general buck deer permits since 1994. A youth deer hunting opportunity opportu-nity also was approved by the board. Rules for Utah's 2000 big game seasons may be found in the state's 2000 Big Game Proclamation, which will be available in late December. De-cember. Statewide Draw For General Gen-eral Buck Deer Permits The overselling of general buck deer hunting permits in Utah since 1995 (the number of permits was capped at 97,000 in 1994) was among reasons the board approved a statewide draw at its Nov. i7 meeting. meet-ing. Judi Tutorow, wildlife licensing coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources, said the draw will prevent the overselling of permits, per-mits, which has contributed to buck deer in various areas of the state not reaching the numbers called for in deer management plans. The draw also will prevent hunters from having to camp out and stand in line for permits. Instead, In-stead, they can apply from the convenience con-venience of their home, without having to take time off from work and other activities. The ability to apply in groups of up to 10 will allow families and friends to apply and draw together, Tutorow said. The 2000 general season buck Jeer application period will be May 1 - 22, with applications available by May 1 from Division offices and hunting license agents statewide. Results of the draw will be posted by July 3. Any permits not allocated in the draw will be avail able through the mail and from Division offices only, over-the-counter on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning July 10. A preference point system also is included as part of the draw. The system allows a hunter, who applies ap-plies but doesn't obtain a permit through the draw, the first chance at a permit in 2001. Hunters also may choose to apply for a preference point only in 2000 (and not apply for a hunt), thereby allowing them first chance at a 2001 permit. Hunters are cautioned that preference pref-erence points are only awarded if they apply for one or if they're unsuccessful un-successful at obtaining a permit in the draw. If a hunter draws a permit, they don't receive a preference point. For example, if a hunter's first choice is the Southern Region and they don't draw a Southern Region Re-gion permit, but they do draw a permit for their second, third, fourth or fifth choice, they won't receive a preference point. Tutorow advises hunters who really want to hunt a specific region to only list that region on their application. If they're unsuccessful at drawing a permit for that region they're guaranteed a preference point for 2001 and may still purchase a 2000 permit for a different region over-the-counter, if permits for other regions remain available after the draw. Tutorow said a system in place since 1995, where permits were issued over- the-counter, on a first-come, first-come, first-served basis, wasn't preventing permits from overselling in all of the Division's regions. Statistics for 1999 aren't available yet. Statistics for 1995 through 1998 are available and show that permits oversold by almost 9,000 in 1995, by more than 12,200 in 1996, by more than 18,900 in 1997, and by more than 14,900 in 1998. . Most of the overselling was in the Division's popular Southern Region, but almost all the regions oversold each of the four years. The sheer volume of license agents (there were 265 in 1999) contributed to the overselling problems, prob-lems, Tutorow said She said it was often difficult for the Division to reach each license li-cense agent by telephone when it was determined that Southern Region Re-gion permit sales needed to close within hours of going on sale; that agents sometimes didn't receive or read memos indicating when the sale of permits for other regions needed to close, and continued selling sell-ing the permits; and that there were some scattered problems with agents selling permits before permit sales opened, and purposely selling them after sales closed. The. board didn't approve suggestions sugges-tions to preprint 97,000 deer permits per-mits and distribute them to license agents, and didn't go with a point of sale system computer system. Printing 97,000 permits would not prevent agents from preselling permits, would not prevent hunters from having to camp out and wait in long lines, and would result in many who didn't get a permit racing to other license vendors in hopes of finding one, Tutorow said. A point of sale computer system sys-tem is expensive and complicated, and would still result in hunters camping out and standing in long lines, she said. Youth Deer Hunting Op-portunity Op-portunity Tutorow said a draw is the way to go and that the Division's experience expe-rience with a draw in 1994 shows it can work. "The Division did not oversell with a drawing and issuing the remaining permits at Division offices in 1994," Tutorow said. "Ultimately, it was a lot of hard work, but it worked." Two things that will be different from 1994 is the ability to apply as a group of up to 10 people, and the' ability to exchange a general season permit if permits for other regions remain available, options that weren't available in 1994, she said. Youths who will be 18 or younger on Aug. 19, 2000, the start of Utah's 2000 general archery buck deer hunt, may buy a general buck deer permit and hunt Utah's archery, muzzleloader and general (rifle) buck deer seasons next year. The opportunity tp hunt will end as soon as a youth takes a deer, though, as youths may not take more than one buck deer in 2000. Recruiting youths into the hunting hunt-ing ranks is the reason for the new youth deer hunting opportunity, said Alan Clark, Wildlife Section chief for the Division of Wildlife Resources. Restricting youths to one of three season limits the number of weekends they can hunt, and the possibility of recruiting them as big game hunters. "Limiting teenagers to one season sea-son doesn't provide them much of an opportunity to hunt, with school activities and all of the other things youths that age have going on," Clark said. (See DRAW on page 2-A) DRAW (From Front Page) Permit Cap The board voted to keep Utah's general buck deer permit cap at 97,000. A total of 30,000 permits will be available for the Northern Region; 15,500 for the Central; 15,900 for the Northeastern; 15,700 for the Southeastern; and 19,900 for the Southern. Other Items Other big game items approved by the board for 2000 included the following: the application period for Utah's limited entry, Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit and Once-in-a-Lifetime hunts will be Jan. 3 - 31, 2000. Draw results will be posted by April 28. a total of 250 limited entry any bull archery elk permits will be available in 2000. The permits allow archers to take branch antlered bulls on specific spike only general season units, specific limited entry units, and on all any bull general season units. to try and improve buck to doe ratios on the LaSal, LaSal Mountains and San Juan, Abajo Mountains units in the Southeastern Southeast-ern Region, the general buck deer season on the units will run only five days, from Oct. 21 - 25. The season also will run Oct. 21-25 on (he Pine Valley, West unit in the Southern Region. Throughout the rest of Utah, the general buck deer season will run Oct. 21 - Oct. 29. Utah's general archery buck deer hunt will be held Aug. 19 -Sept. 8 through most of the state. The state's general muzzleloader buck deer hunt will run Sept. 27 -Oct. 5. the Henry Mountains unit in (See DRAW on page 4-A) DRAW (From Page 2-A) southeast Utah, and the Vernon unit in west-central Utah, will reopen to buck deer hunting in 2000. Both units will reopen as limited entry units, with hunters who draw a permit for them allowed to hunt them. the Book Cliffs unit in southeast south-east Utah will remain a limited entry buck deer unit in 2000. because of poor buck to doe ratios and low hunter success, the Pine Valley, Browse and Pine Valley, Val-ley, Commanche limited entry units in southwest Utah will be closed to hunting in 2000. Utah's general archery bull elk hunt will be held Aug. 24 - Sept. 8 through most of the state. Except in closed areas, the state's general bull elk hunt will run Oct. 7-19 and its general muzzleloader bull elk hunt will run Nov. 4-12. a preference point system for Utah's general muzzleloader elk (ML300) hunt was established for 2000. April 1 is the deadline for joining Utah's Dedicated Hunter . program in 2000. the gathering of antlers shed by big game animals may not take pTace prior to May 1. Not allowing people to gather antlers prior to May 1 should help reduce the harassment har-assment of big gamelinTmals during dur-ing the first few months of 2000.