BOUNTIFUL, Utah -- The Department of Wildlife Resources is trying out a new technique to trim the deer population in some of Utah’s urban areas.
“It comes to the fact that there are just too many deer,” said Channing Howard, spokeswoman with DWR.
The DWR is now in the middle of a two-year test program to fix Utah’s urban deer over population issue. Highland and Bountiful are two test cities chosen based on their high populations of mule deer in residential areas.
“Highland is using an urban archery removal and Bountiful is doing a trap and relocate program,” Howard said. “We picked these areas because they met all of our criteria and they are easy access through the winter.”
The pilot program in Bountiful catches deer on select properties within city limits using cages with bait -- once a deer is caught they are given a tracking collar and relocated to Box Elder or Duchesne Counties where they’ll be monitored for two years after relocation.
Dennis Christensen is one of the Bountiful residents who applied for the cages to be placed on his property.
DWR has put out 16 traps. So far, 63 deer have been relocated.
“They do it very professionally,” Christensen said.
This pilot program will determine both the viability of deer removal within Bountiful and the cost effectiveness of the effort.
The goal of is to catch a minimum of 200 deer by the spring.
For more information on applying for a trap in your Bountiful yard visit: http://www.bountifulutah.gov/deerplan.aspx
Division of Wildlife Resources for more details on the programs at: http://wildlife.utah.gov/
