The Utah Wildlife Board approved a decrease in the number of general-season permits for the 2021 deer hunt during their Thursday meeting. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists recommended the overall decrease in permit numbers to the Regional Advisory Councils and to the wildlife board. The current management plan includes an objective to have just over 400,000 deer across Utah and there are currently an estimated 314,850 deer. “We’ve had a few drought years in Utah recently, which has a significant impact on the survival rates of deer,” DWR Big Game Coordinator Covy Jones said. “In Utah, we have the longest range-trend study in the Western U.S., and we’ve seen that having suitable habitat is crucial for maintaining or growing wildlife populations.” For 2021, the wildlife board approved a total of 74,025 general-season deer hunting permits, a 5,650-permit decrease from the previous year. Of the 29 total deer hunting units across the state, 17 have decreased permit numbers from the previous year.
