Complete Free Online Course before gathering Shed Antlers in Utah

Photo of a shed elk antler by Phil Douglass, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Late winter and early spring is the worst time of the year for elk, moose and especially deer in Utah.

Deep snow makes it harder for deer to move and find food in the winter. And cold temperatures sap the deers’ strength. By the time winter ends, deer are usually the weakest they’ll be all year.

Winter is also the time of year when male deer, elk and moose shed their antlers. The animals will be without antlers until this spring, when they’ll start to grow a new set.


Gathering shed antlers
Gathering antlers that drop off the heads of deer, elk and moose is an activity that’s grown in popularity across the country, including here in Utah. The challenge with shed-antler gathering is that it happens during the worst time of the year for the animals and the habitat they rely on in the winter.

“By the time winter ends, the animals are stressed,” says Mike Fowlks, Law Enforcement Section chief for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

“The habitat they rely on in the winter is also wet,” he says. “It’s easily damaged. Once the habitat is damaged, it can take years for it to recover.”

Fortunately, Fowlks says you can have fun gathering shed antlers without stressing the animals and damaging their habitat.

“A free course that’s available at our website will show you how,” he says. Fowlks says you must complete the DWR’s Antler Gathering Ethics course if you want to gather shed antlers in Utah between Feb. 1 and April 15.


Free course
The free course is available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/shedantler . After you finish the course, make sure you print a certificate that shows you’ve completed the course. “And make sure you carry your certificate with you,” Fowlks says. “By law, you must have your certificate with you while you’re gathering shed antlers.”

If you have young children, and you’ve completed the course, your children don’t need to complete it. As long as you’ve completed the course, your certificate will cover your kids too.

Fowlks says if you complete the course, you can gather antlers across Utah. “Please remember, though, that many of the state’s wildlife management areas are closed in the spring and the winter to protect wildlife,” he says.

You must complete the course if you want to gather shed antlers between Feb. 1 and April 15. If you wait until April 15 or later to gather antlers, you don’t need to complete the course.

For more information, call the nearest Division of Wildlife Resources office or the DWR’s Salt Lake City office at (801) 538-4700.

Officials ask--"Don’t Feed the Deer"

Photo by Ron Stewart, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Utah’s mule deer herds seem to be doing well as winter winds down.

As they do every winter, biologists with the Division of Wildlife Resources have been monitoring the deer closely. In addition to determining the condition of the deer as they entered the winter, the biologists have been watching for four additional things:

-The amount of food available to the deer
-How deep the snow is
-How cold the temperature is
-The amount of body fat they find on deer that have been killed along roads

If three or more of the five factors reach a critical point, biologists will consider feeding deer specially designed pellets. The pellets are formulated to fit the complex digestive system mule deer have.

Anis Aoude, big game coordinator for the DWR, says biologists came close to feeding deer in Rich County this winter.

“In December,” he says, “the snow was piling up. Then the cold temperatures froze the top of the snow. That made it difficult for the deer to paw through the snow to find their food.”

Then, in January, the conditions improved. “It didn’t snow as much,” Aoude says, “and the temperatures warmed up and started to melt the snow. We didn’t need to feed the deer after all.”

Aoude and other biologists were relieved that the deer didn’t need to be fed. While feeding deer can help the animals when winter conditions are severe, feeding can also put deer in circumstances that aren’t good for the deer or the plants the deer rely on.

Aoude says biologists will continue to monitor the winter conditions and the deer herds. If the deer need to be fed, the biologists will make sure the feeding is done in the right way, at the right time and with food that is best for the deer.


Don’t feed the deer
Aoude strongly advises you not to feed deer on your own. “You may not realize it,” he says, “but feeding deer actually harms the deer a lot more than it helps them.”

Aoude gives several reasons why feeding deer is a bad idea:
Deer have complex and delicate digestive systems. If you feed the wrong foods to them, the deer can actually die with stomachs that are full of food.

Feeding deer congregates them in a smaller area. And that can lead to all kinds of problems for the deer:

Congregating deer in a small area increases the chance that the deer will pass diseases to each other.

When deer congregate to feed, it’s “every deer for itself.” The larger deer push the smaller deer—the fawns—aside. Fawns often end up receiving less food than they would have received if you had left the deer alone and not fed them.

Feeding deer near a road increases the chance that deer will be killed by cars.

In addition to eating what you’re feeding them—which may or may not be good for them to eat—deer will also eat other vegetation in and near the feeding area. This can lead to deer over-browsing the area. That over-browsing can damage the plants in the area for years to come.

Even after winter is over, deer will often stay close to the area where you fed them.


Learn more
More information about why deer shouldn’t be fed is available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/deer-winter-feeding.html .

View Elk This Saturday In Springville

Photo Courtesy Scott Root, DWR

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is holding an elk viewing event this Saturday, February 5th at the DWR central region office located at 1115 North Main Street in Springville. The DWR will have spotting scopes and binoculars on hand to allow the public to view elk that are wintering above the valley floor on the mountains above Provo and Springville. The event will run from 9:00 a.m. until Noon.

DWR Conservation Outreach Manager Scott Root states “I have been watching over 100 elk and many deer east of Springville and Provo for the past month. Elk and deer utilize these critical winter range areas above the valley floor because the sun burns off the snow and exposes much needed vegetation. Many people have no idea that herds of these magnificent big game animals can often be viewed right from their homes. Within a month or so as the temperatures rise and the snow melts, the elk will climb up and over the mountain and be out of view again.”

Elk are the second largest member of the deer family and are easy to identify in the field. Mature males, called bulls, may weigh up to 700 pounds, stand five feet at the shoulder and measure eight feet from nose to rump. Their antlers can weigh approximately 50 pounds. Mature females, called cows, may weigh up to 500 pounds, stand four and a half feet at the shoulder and measure six and a half feet from nose to rump. For questions about the event, contact Root at (801) 491-5656.

The DWR also offers a closer view of elk at Hardware Ranch near the town of Hyrum in northern Utah. For more information on seeing elk at Hardware Ranch visit the DWR’s website at: http://wildlife.utah.gov/hardwareranch/  or call (435) 753-6206.

Winter storms and deer crossing highways--a fatal mix

Most of Utah’s major roads pass through or travel along ranges deer and elk use in the winter. During the winter, deer and elk can be active throughout the day. But they’re most active near dawn and dusk—exactly when visibility is at its worst.

Add in the winter storms passing through Utah, and you end up with a potentially fatal mix for motorists and wildlife. In fact, studies have shown that in some high-use winter range areas, the number of deer killed by cars might be equal to or greater than the number of deer taken by hunters in those same areas during the hunting season!


Travel tips
To lessen the chance that you hit a deer or elk this winter:
Slow down and travel at a speed that’s safe for the condition of the road you’re traveling. Just because a highway sign says the legal limit is 65 miles per hour doesn’t mean it’s safe to travel that speed when there’s ice or snow on the road. In icy or snowy conditions, it’s likely that you should be driving between 30 and 50 miles per hour—maybe even slower.

Pay attention to the highway signs that have the symbol of a deer on them. These signs indicate areas where deer, elk and other wildlife frequently cross the road. And remember that the area where deer and elk might cross the road isn’t just the local area where the sign has been placed—the area extends 10 to 20 miles past the sign.

A recent deer mortality study conducted along 70 miles of U.S. Highway 40 in northeastern Utah gives a snapshot of the number of deer that are killed by vehicles.

The study found that in 12 sites—each site being one mile in length—more than 40 deer carcasses were removed each year over a five-year period. There were only eight one-mile sites along the 70-mile stretch where workers removed less than 10 deer carcasses per mile.
And this study focused only on the number of carcasses removed—it did not consider how many deer were hit by vehicles and then wandered away from the road before they died.

Using studies like this one, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources works closely with the Utah Department of Transportation to determine where to place signs and where to build fences, escape ramps, crossings and other enhancements to help make Utah’s roads safer.


Watch for movement.
In addition to slowing down when you see a deer crossing sign or when snow, ice or rain has deteriorated the road conditions, watch for movement. Often the first sign that a deer or an elk is near the road is when a roadside reflector suddenly “blinks.” If a deer or elk walks between the reflector and your headlights, it gives the appearance that the light has gone out.

Again, slow down— the road the animal sees in front of it is the clearest place for it to run. It’s likely the animal will jump in front of your car as you approach it. And remember, deer and elk often travel in herds—if you see one, it’s likely more animals are in the area.

Be safe this winter. Slow down and watch for deer and elk. It’s better to arrive at your destination a few minutes late than not to arrive at all.

New Deer Management Program in Bountiful

Bountiful -- A program is now in place to manage deer in the city of Bountiful.

The city and the Division of Wildlife Resources joined together to develop the program. The program includes the following:

A website will be developed to educate Bountiful residents about things they can do to keep deer from damaging their property. The website will also explain why people should not feed deer.

A list of property owners who have expressed a willingness to allow their property to be used to access deer within the city limits will also be developed.

A pilot program will be developed to evaluate the effectiveness of managing the deer population by selectively thinning some of the deer on public property in the city. Deer would also be thinned on private property where the property owner has given permission for deer to be thinned.

In addition to getting information from the city’s website, the following Web pages provide information about mule deer and how to keep the animals from damaging your yard or garden:
http://go.usa.gov/ajE
http://go.usa.gov/ajm

Goal of the program
“The goal of the program is to effectively manage the wildlife population within the corporate limits of the city of Bountiful,” says Bountiful Mayor Joe Johnson. “What we are trying to do is develop a program where we tolerate a certain number of deer within the city limits, but manage that number so that they do not become a health, public safety or nuisance threat to our residents.”

Johnson was quick to point out that the goal of the program is not to eliminate the deer population within the city limits.

“We have always had deer within the city limits,” Johnson says, “and from time to time the deer population has been thinned. This thinning is simply an extension of an existing policy that has been utilized when the need has arisen.”

Bountiful is working with the DWR to share the costs of the program. DWR biologists and city managers will evaluate the program several months after it’s implemented. Additionally, the city will work with the DWR to develop educational materials the city can disseminate through its website and through the city’s newsletter.

“This program attempts to balance the desires of those who enjoy the deer as part of the experience of living in Bountiful,” says City Manager Tom Hardy, “and those who wish to use their property for raising gardens, flowers, shrubs and other plants in the ‘City of Beautiful Homes and Gardens.’”


Giving meat to those in need
The Utah Chapter of Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry is accepting donations from those who would like to help pay so meat from culled animals can be processed and prepared. This meat will be given at the Bountiful Food Pantry to those in need of food.

If you’d like to donate, contact Kelly Bingham at (801) 726-2598 or via e-mail at kmbingham92@msn.com .

Using the program in other cities?

The Division of Wildlife Resources is the state agency responsible for managing wildlife populations within Utah, including the state’s deer population. The city of Bountiful wants to take advantage of the DWR’s experience, professionalism and sensitivity to the urban deer population in Bountiful by working directly with the DWR on this issue.

It’s possible that the DWR could take the program it’s developed with Bountiful and replicate it in other cities that are facing the same issue.

Utah Shed Antler Hunting Courses now Available

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Photo

If you enjoy gathering antlers that deer, elk and moose shed in the winter, one of your favorite times of the year is almost here.

You'll need to complete the free shed antler-gathering course—and print a course completion certificate—before you gather shed antlers in Utah.

But before you head outdoors to gather antlers, you need to head to this Web page first: wildlife.utah.gov/shedantler.

At the page, you'll find a free shed antler-gathering course. You must complete the course—and print a course completion certificate—before you gather shed antlers in Utah.

"Make sure you carry your certificate with you," says Mike Fowlks, Law Enforcement Section chief for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

"By law, you must have your certificate with you while you're gathering shed antlers."

If you have young children, and you've completed the course, your children don't need to complete it. As long as you've completed the course, your certificate will cover your kids too.


You can gather antlers across Utah

Fowlks says if you complete the course, you can gather antlers across Utah. "Please remember, though, that many of the state's wildlife management areas are closed in the spring and the winter to protect wildlife," he says.

You must complete the course if you want to gather shed antlers before April 15. If you wait until April 15 or later to gather antlers, you don't need to complete the course.



Helping deer, elk and moose

The antlers of deer, elk and moose drop off their heads each winter. During the summer, the animals grow a new set of antlers.

"Gathering shed antlers is an activity that's grown in popularity across the country, including here in Utah," Fowlks says.

The challenge with shed-antler gathering is that it happens during the worst time of the year for the animals and the places the animals live in the winter.

"Two things are happening at the end of the winter," Fowlks says. "The animals are stressed, and the habitat they rely on in the winter is wet.

"Fortunately, you can have fun gathering shed antlers without stressing the animals and damaging their habitat. This online course will show you how."

For more information, call the nearest Division of Wildlife Resources office or the DWR's Salt Lake City office at (801) 538-4700.