Utah Elk Permits
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) is in the process of considering a big change to Utah’s general elk hunts. The proposed change is to move general season elk hunts to the elk draw system for 2022. The goal is to see if some of the issues with the general season tags get resolved, after one year of using the draw system for elk UDWR will reassess for 2023.
These changes will affect all general season any bull elk and spike elk permits for 2022.
Reasons for change
UDWR has seen a huge uptick in elk general season tag sales. According to the UDWR website, in 2019, all 15,000 permits sold out in 11 days. In 2020, the same 15,000 permits sold out in just 8 hours. This year 2021, 17,500 permits sold out in only 10 hours.
This high demand for tags in Utah not only causes people to not get the tag they want altogether. But also cause an overload on the systems that sell the tags creating slower processing times and a poor user experience.
One Year Trial Period
This change is to only take place in 2022 as of now. But that doesn’t mean Utah will adopt it as the best solution for the large demand for elk permits. The UDWR website states”During this one-year trial period, we will assess the pros and cons of the current system compared to including the permits in the big game drawing,” DWR Wildlife Licensing Coordinator Lindy Varney said, “Then, we will recommend a long-term solution in 2022 that we hope will alleviate the issues our customers have experienced in recent years.”
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