Hunting in Utah: Things for Landowners to Know About Hunting on Private Property

About 30 percent of Utah is privately owned, and certain regulations regarding hunting in Utah apply to these landowners.

Here are four things for landowners to be aware of when it comes to hunting on private property in Utah:

1. Written Permission
As most states do, Utah requires hunters to keep a landowner permission card on their person at all times when hunting, according to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. In addition, the landowner should keep a copy of the landowner/hunter permission stub for their records.

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2. Unposted Private Property
While all landowners are encouraged to post private property signs at the borders of their land, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has taken an additional step to protect landowners. Hunters must be aware that if the land they find themselves on has loose soil that appears to be prepared for crops, crops already on the land, or a pasture with a sprinkler system, this property also requires a landowner and hunter permission card.

As a general rule, hunters should seek out permission on any land that they do not own and is not zoned as public hunting grounds.

3. Permit Types
Various types of permits exist for landowners in Utah. A general buck deer permit requires a minimum of 640 acres owned and gives the landowner the opportunity to hunt any other public land within that hunting unit, while a landowner appreciation permit requires at least 100 acres of crop lands. Another option is the limited entry permit or voucher, which applies to members of a landowner association.
http://www.nrcm.org/documents/publiclandownership.pdf

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4. Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit Tags
These tags are for landowners that have at least 5,000 continuous acres for deer hunting and 10,000 for elk hunting, according to GoHunt. However, these tags are not automatically granted and landowners have to apply to be included in the limited entry drawing.

This article is for information only. Please check current regulations before hunting.

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