- Utah wildlife officials propose an 8% increase in deer hunting permits.
- Deer population rebounded in recent years due to favorable weather and habitat conditions.
- Public comments on the proposal are open until April 22 before vote on final permit totals on all big game hunts.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah wildlife officials are seeking to add nearly 6,500 new permits to the state's largest hunt this year, as deer population numbers have steadily increased after a big dropoff a few years ago.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources unveiled its proposed 2026 big game hunting permit allocations on Wednesday, which include a request to allocate 86,625 general-season buck deer permits. That would be an 8% increase from last year. It's also seeking 1,708 limited-entry and 345 antlerless deer permits, which are slight increases from 2025.
"Mule deer populations fluctuate. They rise and they fall, and our hunting permits should mirror that," said Mike Wardle, the division's game program coordinator, in a video explaining the proposal.
Utah's deer population rose to approximately 325,000 deer during the state's 2025 count in December after sliding below 300,000 a few years ago, which is mostly the result of better weather conditions, Wardle said.
The state's objective is just over 400,000, but hunting bucks, he explains, has little impact on deer populations compared to doe and fawn survival rates, and the births of new fawns.
Harsh winters and extreme summer droughts are bad, which is the combination that happened between 2020 and 2023. Mild winters and good summer monsoonal moisture are good, which has generally been the case since then. These impact habitat quantity and quality, which is vital in deer survival rates.
Fawn survival rates have improved over the past two years, while adult rates have been steady, too. Utah wildlife biologists also look at the predator balance, such as the populations of predators like cougars and coyotes, as well as deer body conditions, buck-to-doe ratios and other datasets when considering hunting permit numbers.
"Does are really the engine behind a mule deer herd. It is not the bucks," he said. "They're really what's causing it to go up or down. ... The last couple of years, we've had pretty decent increases in our populations."
Most of the increases are within the division's northern and northeastern areas, where the Cache, Ogden and Vernal/Bonanza hunting units would all gain over 15% in permits, as would the Beaver/East in the southern region.
Some units would receive slight decreases, like the Oquirrh/Tintic, that could lose 200 permits over conditions. The Monroe unit would remain the same at 1,100 permits, but 108 will already be allocated to hunters who forfeited their permit after last year's Monroe Canyon Fire swept through the region, Wardle said.
Other big game permit recommendations
Meanwhile, general-season any bull elk hunts would remain untouched, with 15,000 permits for adults in the early season, and an unlimited number in the late season, which is sold over the counter. There's also an unlimited number of permits for youth and archery hunters.
Youth draw-only any bull permits would also remain at 750, while there would be a slight increase in anterless elk permits to 21,650 and a slight decrease in limited-entry bull elk permits to 3,497.
Some changes would also be made to other big game hunts:
- Buck pronghorn: 1,827 (88 more)
- Doe pronghorn: 475 (30 fewer)
- Bull moose: 113 (seven more)
- Bison: 135 (two more)
- Desert bighorn sheep (three fewer)
- Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep: 51 (one fewer)
- Mountain goat: 112 (nine more)
Antlerless moose (15) and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep ewe (five) would remain the same as in 2025.
The Utah Wildlife Board is expected to vote on the proposal at the end of the month, following a few regional advisory council meetings held across the state between April 14 and April 23.
Board members will also collect public comment online through the end of April 22, before voting on the measure during its April 30 board meeting at the Eccles Wildlife Education Center, 1157 S. Waterfowl Way in Farmington.
