Each year, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources captures big game animals to perform important health assessments and to place GPS collars on the animals and this year a record number of assessments were performed. According to the DWR press release, this winter there was a record 1,901 big game animals captured, providing important data about big game herds across the state. “When we do capture work, we make a concerted effort to minimize chase times and to keep all capture-related stress to a minimum,” shares DWR Big Game Projects Coordinator Kent Hersey. “It’s a short one-time event for those animaIs and doesn’t have the same impacts as repeated disturbances that cause them to use up important fat reserves. The information our biologists get from capturing a relatively small sample of deer provides very valuable data that is used to manage the entire deer population.” During the 2024-25 winter, the following animals were captured, assessed and released: 107 Bighorn sheep, 1,130 Deer, 195 Elk, 52 Moose, 54 Mountain goats, and 363 Pronghorn. Learn more at wildlife.utah.gov.
