Deer hunt opening weekend

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The weather played a major role in the success hunters found during the first weekend of Utah’s general rifle buck deer hunt. Utah’s most popular hunt opened Oct. 17.
In some areas, heavy rain kept hunters in camp. Those who did venture out found muddy roads and deer that were bedded down and hard to find.
In areas that received less rain-or no rain-hunters found much better success. One example is *south-central and southwestern Utah*. In some areas, rain poured down. But, in many areas in Utah’s Dixie, rainfall was spotty. Hunters in these areas found bucks-and not just small bucks either.
Teresa Griffin, wildlife manager for the Division of Wildlife Resources in south-central and southwestern Utah, worked over the weekend at a check station between the town of Monroe and Fish Lake. By 2 p.m. on opening day, she and her fellow biologists had checked 12 bucks. Griffin was surprised at the age composition of the deer. Typically, yearlings (deer that are 1½ years old) make up the bulk of the deer taken on opening day. Not this year. The 12 bucks included only two yearlings. Two of the 12 deer were 2½ years old-a nice-sized 3-point and a nice-sized 4-point. The remaining eight deer were all mature animals-at least 3½ years of age.
By the end of the weekend, biologists had checked 92 deer at the check station. Plenty of deer came through check stations in other areas in south-central and southwestern Utah too.
“The deer herds are doing really well,” Griffin says. “It’s exciting to see. And it was fun talking with hunters and hearing about the great experiences they had.”
The experience Covy Jones had is an example of the other side of the coin. Those who faced the tough conditions he did can relate to his experience.
Jones, the DWR’s wildlife manager in *north-central Utah*, took the opening weekend off from work, to hunt deer with his son. He says he and his son worked hard to get into an area they had scouted ahead of time and found plenty of deer. But the rough weather pushed them back out.
“It’s been a tough, tough hunt,” Jones says of the hunt in north-central Utah. “The weather is just starting to push deer in north-central Utah to
their winter ranges. During that transition period, deer can be tough to find. The trees also have lots of leaves on them, and there’s plenty of cover for the deer to hide in.”
The DWR operates three check stations in north-central Utah. The number of deer brought through the check station in Spanish Fork Canyon was down 100 deer from 2014. (In 2014, a total of 250 deer came through the check
station during the opening weekend of the hunt. This year, a total of 150 came through.)
The rifle hunt runs until Oct. 25. As Jones looked at the weather forecast, he became more optimistic. “The second weekend might be really good,” he says. “Plenty of deer are out there. They’ve just been tough to find.”
In addition to the reports for north-central, south-central and southwestern Utah above, DWR regional wildlife managers report the following for the remaining regions in the state:
East-central and southeastern Utah
In east-central and southeastern Utah, DWR Wildlife Manager Guy Wallace says the number of deer checked was similar to last fall. At the check station in Wellington, the number of deer checked was down slightly from
last year. At the check station at LaSal Junction, the number of deer checked was up slightly. “Put that together,” he says, “and the overall number of deer checked was similar to last fall.”
The age composition of the deer was also similar to what biologists usually see during the opening weekend: most of the deer were yearlings.
Wallace says the weather played a big role in how the weekend turned out. “The weather was rough across the region,” he says. “There was lots of rain and fog. That made it difficult to see the deer. And many of the roads were muddy.”
As the conditions improve, Wallace hopes hunting will too. “The mountains are still receiving rain,” he said on Oct. 19, “but the skies are starting to open up. If the weather improves, hunting during the second weekend could be really good.”