Show Historian vi views ws past deer hunts B Br Gar Workman Extension wildlife specialist Utah State University The deer hunt is here again The predictions on this years year's hunt in- in indicate indicate that the harvest of mule deer will willbe willbe be down from last year However this may not be so bad as last years year's hunt resulted result d in a very high number of deer being taken The deer In Utah were not always as abundant as they are now now For instance Father Escalante kept a diary during his travels to Utah in 1776 In this diary he indicated that deer were not present and that wildlife in the territory were very scarce In the early trappers did report seeing a few deer elk buffalo and antelope The deer ha haj began to change after 1847 when the pioneers reached the Salt Lake valley This was a result of the grazing by the introduction of domestic livestock on ranges the intermountain area As the domestic livestock grazed on the perennial grasses of the region sagebrush and other browse plants were provided op- op opp opportunity p to become more abundant The browse plants had little or no competition competition tion from grass when ranges were heavily heavily ly grazed In fact by 1932 overgrazing had resulted in the grazing capacity for domestic livestock becoming reduced to 75 40 percent of its former capacity This grazing actually proved to be good for deer It enabled the browse plants that they needed for food to begin to take over The first hunting license went on sale In 1907 Also at this time hunting for big game was closed for a period of five years In 1913 hunting for buck deer was permitted if the antlers were more than 5 inches in length During this first regulated hunt deer were taken By 1916 there were an estimated deer deerin deerin in Utah By 1930 the herds had grown to toan toan an estimated deer One of the major keys in deer management manage manage- management ment in Utah was the establishment of the Board of Big Game Control in 1933 This board still plays an important role in deer management It is composed of ofa ofa a representative from the Utah Cat Cat- Clemens Association the Utah Wool Growers Association the Utah Wildlife Federation a federal agency Bureau of of Land Management or US Forest Ser Ser- Service Service vice and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources This board reviews federal and state biological information and public input at meetings held throughout the state To establish hunts the board looks at a variety of pertinent information tion This includes the following data biological social weather animal counts trends previous harvest results and impacts on grazing By 1953 the deer herd had expanded in Utah to animals This proved to be too high under bad weather condi- condi conditions conditions During the winter of high loses were encountered when deep snow and cold temperatures again took many of Utah's deer |