Less than a week ago Governor Cox signed the amended bill that allows year round mountain lion hunting in the state of Utah, in an effort to curb the quickly declining mule deer populations. Mule deer have been steadily declining the past several years because of extreme drought in much of the state. This effort is intended to help slow that decline until Utah can recover from the drought.
Another piece of legislation that was attached to this bill is that the state will set aside $1 million a year to acquire land and preserve it for wildlife habitat and hunter access under the Division of Wildlife. For every dollar the state puts in, the federal government will match it with three dollars through the Pittman-Robertson Act. The state wants to purchase more land with tax dollars from private landowners and protect the land for public use. Much of these purchases will be grazing land. Through these purchases, the state will still allow grazing allotments.
Another attachment to this amended bill is to let the use of trail cameras for hunting on private land be legal again after it was just banned early last year. The ban on trail cameras on public land for hunting from July 31 to Dec. 31 will still be in effect.
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