Have fun, see wild elk
Elk festival happens Dec. 8
Hyrum -- Another chance to ride a horse-drawn sleigh or wagon through the middle of hundreds of wild elk is almost here.
To celebrate the start of another elk-viewing season, staff at the Hardware Ranch Wildlife Management Area will hold the ranch’s annual Elk Festival on Dec. 8. Activities run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
As of Nov. 20, elk hadn’t entered the meadow through which the sleighs or wagons are pulled, but Hardware Ranch WMA Manager Brad Hunt says they’re nearby. “I can hear them talking in the evenings,” he says.
Except for a fee to ride through the elk herd ($5 for those 9 years of age or older, or $3 for those 4 to 8 years old), all of the festival activities are free.
You can reach Hardware Ranch by traveling 16 miles east of Hyrum on state Route 101.
Activities
In addition to riding a sleigh or wagon through the middle of the elk herd, several free activities will be held on Dec. 8. For example, children can learn how to make Christmas ornaments using sagebrush, bitterbrush and other plants found at the WMA. “Did you know pinecones make great bird feeders?” Hunt says. “They do, and we’ll show you how to make one.”
You can also learn how to call elk and then demonstrate your newly learned skills at an amateur elk-calling contest held during the last hour of the festival.
Hunt encourages you to bring some binoculars and to dress for all types of weather. “We’ll host the event,” he says, “even if it snows.”
On your way to the ranch, you can enjoy the scenic drive up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. Food is not available at the ranch, but you’re welcome to bring a picnic lunch and eat in the lunch area in the auxiliary building at the WMA.
Sleigh rides start Dec. 7
If you’re itching to take a ride sooner than Dec. 8, visit the ranch on Dec. 7. That’s the first day the visitor center will be open and rides through the elk herd will be offered.
From Dec. 7 through Feb. 11, the ranch’s visitor center will be open, and sleigh or wagon rides will be offered, during the following days and times:
Day Time
Friday noon to 4:30 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Monday noon to 4:30 p.m.
If you’d like to spend less time in line for a sleigh ride, visit the ranch on a Sunday or a Monday. “Fewer people visit the ranch on those days,” Hunt says, “so you can get on a sleigh faster.”
If you want to go on a sleigh ride or a wagon ride, you must buy your ticket at the visitor center by 4:30 p.m.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the sleigh rides will not be running, and the visitor center will not be open. You can still bring your binoculars and view the elk from a distance, though.
For more information, including holiday hours, visit www.hardwareranch.com. You can also call the ranch at 435-753-6206 or email Hunt at bradhunt@utah.gov.
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Snowshoe hare numbers likely down this year
Hare hunt runs until March 15
A lack of snow this past winter likely means fewer snowshoe hares to hunt in Utah this season.
Jason Robinson, upland game coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says deep snow provides hares with two things: a perch from which they can reach the vegetation they like to eat in the winter and snow melt that keeps their high-elevation vegetation lush through the summer.
“If adults have a difficult time reaching the needles and twigs they eat in the winter,” he says, “the does enter the breeding season in poor condition. And, if the vegetation doesn’t stay lush through the summer, the baby hares they give birth to don’t have the buds and shoots they need to survive.
“We don’t conduct formal surveys for snowshoe hares,” Robinson says, “but based on habitat conditions, I think the number of hares hunters find this season will be below average.”
You can see where snowshoe hares live in Utah, and learn more about them, on pages 38 and 49 of the 2018 – 2019 Utah Upland Game and Turkey Guidebook. The free guidebook is available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/guidebooks.
The snowshoe hare hunts runs until March 15, 2019.
Finding hares
While the number of snowshoe hares is likely down this year, Robinson says they’re still well worth pursuing. Snowshoe hares live in high-elevation stands of conifer and aspen trees. Stands of young pine trees—at least 8,000 to 9,000 feet in elevation—are especially attractive to hares. Stream corridors that run through a forest of conifer trees, such as spruce and pine trees, and subalpine fir, are another great place to look. “Snowshoe hares really key in on stream corridors that run through conifer forest,” he says.
In Utah, hares live along the Wasatch Plateau (the range of mountains that run north to south, through the center of the state) and east into the Uinta Mountains.
If you live along the Wasatch Front, a good area to look is the Uinta Mountains east of U.S. Highway 150 (also known as the Mirror Lake Highway). Logan Canyon is also an area worth checking out.
“Waiting for the first snowstorm of the year,” Robinson says, “and then looking for the hares’ unique footprint, is one of the best ways to find them. The print looks like a miniature snowshoe.”
Robinson says snowshoe hares don’t have a large home range. “If you find an area that has lots of tracks in it,” he says, “there’s a good chance a hare is hunkered down in some vegetation nearby.”
Snowshoes or snowmobiles are often required to hunt snowshoe hares after the snow falls.
Hunting tips
Small-caliber rifles and shotguns are great firearms to use. Move slowly through the hares’ habitat, watching for the outline of a hare and its dark black eyes. Kicking brush piles can also cause hares that are hiding to flush into the open.
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New bear hunts, three-year hunting rules
DWR proposes bear hunting rules for 2019 – 2021 seasons
More spot-and-stalk hunts—and keeping Utah’s black bear hunting rules the same for the next three seasons—are among bear hunting proposals Division of Wildlife Resources biologists will share at an upcoming series of public meetings.
Darren DeBloois, game mammals coordinator for the DWR, says the changes would help bears and hunters.
“The number of bears doesn’t fluctuate much from year to year,” he says, “so it makes sense to keep the rules consistent and not change them every year. If we leave the rules in place for three years, we’ll end up with a better, long-term picture of how the state’s bear population is responding to the hunting rules.”
Adding more spot-and-stalk hunts will give more hunters a chance to hunt bears while increasing the number of bears taken only slightly. “The success rate on spot-and-stalk hunts is similar to archery hunting for deer,” DeBloois says. “We can offer more opportunities to spot-and-stalk because the number of bears taken with spot-and-stalk is lower than other types of hunting.”
You can see all of the biologists’ black bear hunting proposals, as well as unit plans that will guide the management of moose and pronghorn in Utah, at www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings.
Learn more, share your ideas
After you’ve reviewed the proposals and plans at www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings, you can let your Regional Advisory Council members know your thoughts by attending your upcoming RAC meeting or by sending an email to them.
RAC chairmen will share the input they receive with members of the Utah Wildlife Board. The board will meet in Salt Lake City on Jan. 10 to approve the unit plans and rules for Utah’s black bear hunts.
Dates, times and locations for the RAC meetings are as follows:
Central Region
Dec. 4
6:30 p.m.
Springville Civic Center
110 S. Main St.
Springville
Northern Region
Dec. 5
6 p.m.
Brigham City Community Center
24 N. 300 W.
Brigham City
Southern Region
Dec. 11
7 p.m.
Cedar Middle School
2215 W. Royal Hunte Dr.
Cedar City
Southeastern Region
Dec. 12
6:30 p.m.
John Wesley Powell Museum
1765 E. Main St.
Green River
Northeastern Region
Dec. 13
6:30 p.m.
DWR Northeastern Region Office
318 N. Vernal Ave.
Vernal
Email
You can also provide your comments to your RAC via email. Email addresses for your RAC members are available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/rac-members.html.
The group each RAC member represents (sportsman, non-consumptive, etc.) is listed under each person’s email address. You should direct your email to the people on the RAC who represent your interest.
Spot-and-stalk hunts
The number of people who want to hunt bears in Utah has far outpaced the number of bear hunting permits that are available. To give more people a chance to hunt bears, DWR biologists are recommending more spot-and-stalk hunts.
So far, spot-and-stalk hunts have been held mostly on the LaSal and San Juan units in southeastern Utah. These units have the highest density of bears in the state. “Despite the high bear numbers,” DeBloois says, “only 10 to 15% of those who spot-and-stalk on the units take a bear. The success rate is similar to archery big game hunting. And those two units have a lot of bears. The success rate might be lower on units with fewer bears.”
DWR biologists recommend holding spot-and-stalk hunts on 11 units. On three of the units, an unlimited number of permits would be sold, but the hunt would end as soon as three bears are taken on each of the units. On the remaining units, a limited number of permits—a total of 205—would be offered. Based on a 10% success rate, DWR biologists estimate that less than 25 bears would be taken during the spot-and-stalk hunts.
(During spot-and-stalk hunts, you can’t pursue bears with hounds or use bait to lure bears in. Instead, you walk through the forest, hoping to spot a bear that you can stalk and take.)
Keeping hunting rules the same
Not changing the hunting rules every year would help biologists better determine the effect the rules are having on the bear population.
DeBloois says bears live for a relatively long period of time, have fairly low reproductive rates and aren’t affected much by severe changes in weather. Because the number of bears doesn’t fluctuate much, DeBloois says changing the hunting rules every year can actually be counterproductive to managing black bears effectively.
“A better way to determine how hunting rules are affecting a bear population is to leave the rules in place for a longer period of time,” he says. “Keeping the hunting rules and permit numbers consistent will provide us with a better, long-term picture of how the rules are affecting the population. That, in turn, will give us better long-term data that will help us draft the recommendations we present in 2021.”
If something out of the ordinary happens to the bear population before the three-year period is over, a couple of ‘safety valves’ are in place that allow immediate changes to be made.
“One is to meet with the Wildlife Board, explain the situation and ask the board to make some changes,” DeBloois says. “If we’re facing a critical situation, the director of the DWR has the authority to close hunts down. So, not changing the rules for three years doesn’t mean changes can’t be made if something drastic happens to the population.”
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Fishing reports - available at http://wildlife.utah.gov/hotspots .
