ESPN Hunting

PROVO, Utah — After several years of drought and a killer winter in 2003, Utah deer finally have enjoyed a prosperous few seasons, and this month's bowhunters should be afield to enjoy the abundance.

Deer managers are calling this a "rebuilding" year across much of the Beehive State, with good numbers of young deer but relatively few older bucks. Expect to find numbers of younger bucks in Utah's Central Region, where deer will be widely scattered.

This region, which extends from the southern Wasatch west into the Tintic, Stansbury, Deep Creek and Oquirrh mountain ranges of the Great Basin, is scattered with plentiful water and forage.

Utah's archery deer season opened Aug. 20 and extends through Sept. 16.

"Initial postwinter deer counts indicate excellent fawn production on the mountainous eastern half of the region, which will benefit the region's deer herd in the future," said Scott Root, the Division of Wildlife Re-sources' Central Region information officer.

"Winter storms were generally spaced far enough apart and temperatures remained relatively mild despite heavy snow, which kept food sources available for wintering deer," said Root.

"Biologists report that the deer in the region are in very good condition, which can be attributed to the abundance of vegetation and water sources that are currently available to them."

Big bucks in west

The western mountains should be the region's best big-buck destinations, but Root notes that overall the Central Region's buck-to-doe ratio is somewhat under the 15-per-100 objective. Better buck numbers will be in the eastern mountains.

"The desert terrain located west of I-15 has fewer deer, and I'd strongly recommend prehunt scouting trips," said Root.

"Stalking deer with archery equipment in the desert can be very difficult."

Better hunting conditions and more bucks await archers in the Wasatch, but deer will be widely scattered because of the abundant habitat, and archers who hunt near Salt Lake City must be familiar with land ownership patterns and fairly complex hunting regulations.

They should also expect some use restrictions because of fire danger, said Root.

Plan to contact either the Bureau of Land Management (the management agency for much of the western portion of the region) or the U.S. Forest Service in the eastern third.

In early August most of the public land was in Stage 1 fire restrictions, which prohibit campfires and smoking.

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