Fishing and hunting licenses are great gifts for the angler or hunter on your Christmas list. Please see the annual reminder below!
Fishing and hunting licenses make great Christmas gifts
Ice fishing season will begin soon
Looking for that perfect gift for the angler or hunter on your Christmas list? If so, a Utah fishing or hunting license might be the answer. These licenses make great Christmas gifts. And they’re easy to buy.
And winter is the perfect time to give one as a gift. Lindy Varney, wildlife licensing coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says some of the state’s fishing waters should be covered with ice soon. “Ice fishing is a fun activity that’s growing in popularity in Utah,” she says. “Once the ice is safe to walk on, another ice fishing season will be underway.”
Hunting opportunities are also available in the winter. Several hunting seasons, including the cottontail rabbit, chukar partridge and snowshoe hare seasons, run through most of the winter.
Where to get one
Buying a license at the DWR’s website (wildlife.utah.gov) is the easiest way to get one. You can also buy a license at DWR offices and from more than 260 fishing and hunting license agents across Utah.
Combination licenses—which allow the license holder to fish and hunt small game—are also available at the same locations and at the website.
To buy a license for someone, all you need is the person’s name, their approximate height and weight, their eye color, hair color, date of birth, address and phone number. “Once you have that information,” Varney says, “you’re good to go.”
Order early
If you buy a license at the website (wildlife.utah.gov), you can have it mailed to you (so you can wrap it and give it as a gift). Or, the license can be mailed directly to the person you’re buying it for.
It usually takes about seven days for a license to arrive in the mail.
In addition to enjoying the outdoors in 2019, the person you give the license to will receive an added bonus: they won’t have to wait until Jan. 1 to use it. The license is valid starting the day you buy it. So, the person for whom you buy the license can start using it the day they receive it.
Annual Utah fishing and hunting licenses are 365-day licenses. That means they’re good for 365 days from the day you buy one.
Costs
Utah resident license and permit costs are as follows:
Combination license (ages 14 - 17) $20
Combination license (ages 18 - 64) $38
Combination license (age 65 and older) $29
Fishing license (ages 12 - 13) $5
Fishing license (ages 14 - 17) $16
Fishing license (ages 18 - 64) $34
Fishing license (age 65 and older) $25
Hunting license (age 13 and under) $11
Hunting license (ages 14 - 17) $16
Hunting license (ages 18 - 64) $34
Hunting license (age 65 and older) $25
Two options
In addition to buying a 365-day license, if the person you’re buying the license for is 18 years of age or older, you have two additional options:
- Instead of buying a 365-day license, you can buy a license that’s valid for two, three, four or even five years.
- If the person you’re buying for already has a license, you can extend the period of time when their current license is valid. For example, if the person you’d like to buy for has a license that will expire next April, you can buy a license extension for them now. The extension will keep their license valid for one, two, three, four or five years from the day the license was supposed to expire.
Please be aware, however, that a license extension may be bought only for a license that will expire within six months from the day you buy the extension. For example, if a license doesn’t expire until November 2019, the soonest you can buy an extension for it is June 2019, six months before it expires.
(One note: hunting and combination licenses do not include a deer or elk permit and do not allow someone to hunt deer or elk. Hunters can apply for a 2019 general buck deer permit starting in late January. General elk permits will be available, on a first-come, first-served basis, starting July 18.)
For more information about Utah fishing and hunting licenses, call the nearest Division of Wildlife Resources office or the DWR’s Salt Lake City office at 801-538-4700.
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Forest grouse hunt isn’t over yet
Once the snow hits, a few small changes can help you find and take birds
December can be a great month to hunt forest grouse in Utah.
As the state’s big game hunts wind down, upland game hunters have more of the mountains to themselves. For forest grouse hunters, that means more time in higher elevations during the last month of the hunt.
Utah’s forest grouse hunt ends Dec. 31. As the hunt enters its final month, Jason Robinson, upland game coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says reports he’s received, plus what he’s seen while hunting forest grouse this year, indicates the number of ruffed grouse in Utah is slightly above average this fall.
“Dusky grouse are found higher in elevation,” he says. “It appears their numbers are average to slightly above average.”
Robinson likes hunting forest grouse because the birds’ habitat is in small pockets, which hunters can easily focus on. Once you know where to look, you won’t have to spend energy covering large expanses of land—even if you don’t have a dog.
Target a species
Robinson says some hunters may not know that the two different species, dusky grouse and ruffed grouse, split up in the winter.
Earlier in the season, you can find both birds in areas that have mixed stands of aspen and pine trees. Later in the season, you should target one bird or the other.
In the winter, forest grouse don’t have to stay near a water source. This means their top priorities are food and shelter. While most wildlife migrate to lower elevations in the winter, dusky grouse do just the opposite—they move up the mountain. To find dusky grouse, look for ridgelines that have spruce and fir trees on them.
Ruffed grouse, on the other hand, stay near aspen tree stands that have a mix of both young and mature trees.
Although the birds move for the winter, they don’t travel very far. “They have small home ranges,” Robinson says. “In the winter, you’ll find them in the same general area you found them earlier in the season.”
Time the hunt right
Hunting early in the morning was important when the season started, but you can wait until midmorning or mid-afternoon now. When winter hits, it takes the grouse longer to start moving.
Robinson encourages you not to pursue birds late into the afternoon, though. Hunting later in the day pushes the grouse away from their roost site. As the group tries to make its way back to its roost site before darkness falls, the birds don’t have enough time to settle in for the night and calm down after a day of being disturbed.
Use the right tools
When pursuing forest grouse, hunters usually shoot No. 6 shot out of a 12- to 28-gauge shotgun. Because most of the shots will be fairly close, Robinson suggests using an open choke.
Stay safe
While looking for forest grouse, it’s not unusual to be in elevations higher than 7,000 feet. Make sure your boots have good traction, wear warm clothes and take plenty of water.
“Know where you’re going,” Robinson says, “and be prepared for the conditions there.”
Free guidebook
More information about forest grouse in Utah, including a distribution map that gives a general idea where dusky and ruffed grouse are found in the state, is available on page 33 of the 2018 – 2019 Utah Upland Game and Turkey Guidebook. You can get the free guidebook at www.wildlife.utah.gov/guidebooks.
General information about forest grouse is found on page 44.
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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:
Southern Region
Dec. 11
6 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 .
