The opening day of the deer hunt started with spectacular fall weather that both helped and hurt hunters' efforts, state wildlife officials said Saturday.
"Hunters had access to various hunting areas," said Mark Hadley, a spokesman for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. "How it makes it challenging is the deer tend to be more scattered when the weather's like this. But it was a great day to be out."
Recent snows in the southern part of Utah helped push the deer out of the higher elevations, leading to a pretty good hunt there, Had-
ley said. Northern Utah had some of the fewest reports of success. DWR officials were not surprised, chalking it up to last winter which killed off a number of deer.
Saturday's good weather also meant fewer people were immediately reporting to check stations, making it difficult to draw any conclusions as to what the hunt is like, Hadley said.
Overall, deer hunting permits were down this year. A total of 94,000 permits were made available. Approximately 16,000 were for the archery hunt, which runs from mid-August until mid-September. Of the 88,000 remaining, approximately 16,000 were issued for mid-September's muzzle loader hunt. The rest were part of Saturday's rifle hunt, which ends on Oct. 26.
"For various reasons, the permits fell from 97,000 to 94,000," Hadley said.
Those reasons include a low buck-to-doe ratio and a bad winter that was hard on the deer population, he said.
"The northern, central and northeastern region are 3,000 (permits) lower than what they could be," Hadley said.
The archery and muzzle loader hunts were tough this year because of a hot summer, DWR officials said.
"It seemed like it was so hot during those months, hunters were having a little bit harder time getting the deer," Hadley said.
Emergency dispatchers across the state have also reported a quiet beginning to the hunt. The DWR said it has had few reports of any major hunting violations.
"The citation we're issuing the most is for people who have loaded firearms in their vehicle," Hadley said. "You can't have a loaded firearm in your vehicle. It's a safety thing."
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com