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Show Davis County 79 Deer Hunt About Average From early reports that have been received by the Division of Wildlife Resources, the Davis County deer hunt was about average as compared with previous years. Many hunters got their buck and several that had antlerless permits also got ' their doe in addition. j THE FIRST couple of days of the hunt deer seemed to be evenly spread on the mountain moun-tain side even though an early j snow storm dropped several inches of snow on the mountains moun-tains east of the valley and j hampered access in the upper elevations. By mid-week following the opener practically all hunters had access to Farmington Lake and Francis Peak to hunt deer and many deer were being taken from the top of the skyline and even onto the Morgan side of the moun-tains. moun-tains. Several nice five to eight point bucks were checked by officers at roadblocks at Farmington Canyon and above the Bountiful Boun-tiful "B" THE HUNT began to slow in success as hunters stopped combing the brush and continued con-tinued to hunt the higher elevations instead of dropping lower on the mountain. In Davis County the deer seem to move down the mountain to approximately the half-way point after the first couple of days because of the pressure from the bottom and top from hunters. The half-way point on the mountain is very inaccessible to hunters due to the rugged-ness rugged-ness of the terrain and only those hunters with horses or individuals in excellent condition con-dition got to where the deer were hanging out. Almost without exception these in- dividuals got their bucks because they hunted where the deer were. MANY HUNTERS failed to realize that as they walked up j from the bottom of the moun- ! tain they were passing by many nice bucks and does. On several occasions during the hunt, four point bucks and does were seen at night in orchards all along the foothills by landowners and Division of Wildlife Resources personnel. Thickness Thick-ness of the scrub oak prevents hunters from sighting deer or attempting to walk through the brush to push deer out in the areas adjacent to U.S. 89 in Layton. As the hunt progressed it seems that deer in the county come half-way down the mountain or into the houses to escape from hunters and this is one of the problems faced in harvesting the needed amount of deer in the county in order to prevent damage to residential plants and orchards later in the year when the bulk of the deer herd winters on the foothills as it has traditionally in the past EACH YEAR several nice bucks are taken along the Davis County face which place well into several of the big buck contests through the state. These deer are examples of old deer which have eluded hunters for several seasons because of the area in which they live. The terrain is one of the reasons why Davis County continues to produce many trophy bucks each year. This year leaves stayed on oak and trees longer which seemed to compound the problem of hunters locating deer. THUS FAR one fatality was reported during the deer hunt and it occurred in the Roosevelt area so from all indications in-dications the local hunt was quite safe. Many local hunters got a treat by sighting a bull moose that occasionally moves into the county during the hunt each year. From reports the moose is a young bull and hunters were careful not to mistake him for a deer. For the most part hunters observed regulations of wearing wear-ing hunter orange, correctly tagging their deer at time and place of kill, and unloaded rifles before getting into vehicles and it is believed that these law-abiding acts helped to make the hunt safer and more enjoyable for all. IF NOTHING else, the Davis County deer huntercan ' boast of a good bit of exercise as he hunted the mountains in the county and many many hunters will be enjoying venison through the coming winter. Along with one of the highest success rates, Utah hunters also enjoy the lowest deer hunting license fee of any of the 11 western states. Fees vary from a high of $20 in Nevada to a low of $7 in Utah. |
