Antelope island anyone hear

[boneaddict]

THis one would be a conspiracy theory in the making on Huntwa.    According to the gossip, the hunt was open for like two days prior to the kid even knowing he drew the tag.   Lots of rumors of course but apparently the UDWR made a mistake and the kid didnt get his hunt packet until the hunt had been going a couple days.   It will be interesting when all the deets come out

[jackelope]

THis one would be a conspiracy theory in the making on Huntwa.    According to the gossip, the hunt was open for like two days prior to the kid even knowing he drew the tag.   Lots of rumors of course but apparently the UDWR made a mistake and the kid didnt get his hunt packet until the hunt had been going a couple days.   It will be interesting when all the deets come out

That’s what the post I saw on FB indicated as well. Some outfitters pulled through and helped the kid last minute.

[boneaddict]

They were probably wondering where the kid was when Jimmie was out there. LOL    I'm not sure how the outfitters "get the island" for the year, if its hunters choice or what.   Lots of changes to Utah law this year as well which toned that way down out there.  I'd think theyd be after whoever drew something fierce.   

[JakeLand]

They were probably wondering where the kid was when Jimmie was out there. LOL    I'm not sure how the outfitters "get the island" for the year, if its hunters choice or what.   Lots of changes to Utah law this year as well which toned that way down out there.  I'd think theyd be after whoever drew something fierce.   

do you have to have a outfitter or can you do it solo ?

[boneaddict]

I believe you can solo it.

[baldopepper]

Utah big game regs are very heavily influenced by sfw and they are not the friend of the basic hunter.  They compare big game hunting to logging and mineral rights on public ground.  The rights to logging or mineral exploratuion go.to the highest bidder, and the rights to hunt big game in specific units should also go to the highest bidder.  Hunters flock to their big convention and wish they had the money to participate in auctions or throw money at the various lotteries and only encourage them to pressure game departments to restrict more areas for limted hunting. A close look at areas they've poured money into and you'll see most of it went to areas benefiting the various cwmu"s and restricted units. Imagine if they can get $$500,000 for the right to shoot one deer in an area what it would be like if they could establish several such units.  It's big.money if you get 10% of the pie. They've managed to get pretty much all deer hunting to draw permit only and, if you notice. Every year they push for fewer and fewer permits. Finance pressured game departments are hard pressed to turn down their donations in trade for their influence on decision making. I'm to old for it to effect me, but younger hunters should take a hard look at the direction we're going.

[boneaddict]

I wonder if that had anything to do with the gimmick of relocating deer off the island to enhance genetics in other Utah units.   

[baldopepper]

I wonder if that had anything to do with the gimmick of relocating deer off the island to enhance genetics in other Utah units.

Certainly.wouldnt surprise me.  They brag about cwmu units opening over 2 million acres to public hunting, yet only 384 total public tags were available on these units.  Much of this acreage used to be open to hunting or required a fairly reasonable trespass fee. We saw an example of sfws enhancement work. Used to hunt a large tracts of school trust land wedged between 3 large cwmu units. Perfect deer and elk habitat.  Under the guise of habitat improvement they completely cleared most of it, leaving the areas only good habitat on the cwmu"s.

[LDennis24]

I believe baldopepper really has a point here. Paying big money for exclusive rights to hunt an area is going to help push out public OTC hunting because the WDFW will get revenue from drawings and auction tags. Antis will even buy tags just so a hunter can't have them. It's coming to a state VERY near you I believe... somewhere near the grizzly habitat to the Okanogan River and South to lake Chelan is my guess. Millions would be payed to be one of a handful of hunters I'm sure.

[idaho guy]

wow great buck! I would love to have that tag even if its not a "real" hunt.(i have no idea if it is or not) Just to be able to look over bucks like that with a rifle in hand would be awesome. I would probaby short out and shoot a dink for the area ha ha.