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Division revises once‑in‑a‑lifetime nonresident allocations; Rack adds authority to call alternates for diseased bighorn herds
Summary
The Division of Wildlife Resources will pool once‑in‑a‑lifetime permits at the species level to guarantee a 10% nonresident allocation across those species and the Rack unanimously approved the division’s approach plus a Rack amendment authorizing the division to call alternates to address disease events in bighorn herds.
The Division of Wildlife Resources presented a revised approach to allocating once‑in‑a‑lifetime (OIL) big‑game permits to better achieve a 90/10 resident/nonresident split at the species level rather than rounding small hunt pools that had produced effective nonresident shares above 10% on some hunts.
Rusty Robinson (division staff) explained the practical problem: under prior practice each small hunt’s permits were independently rounded so a number of small hunts with 2–5 permits could leave a much higher fraction to nonresidents on a per‑hunt basis. The division’s new approach pools permits at the species level and then allocates 10% of the species total to nonresidents, distributing those nonresident permits across fewer hunts and thereby increasing the number of hunts available only to residents. "So what we've done is we've taken the total number of permits for each species…and take a total number of permits that that's available allocate 10% of those to nonresidents, but on fewer hunts," Rusty told the Rack.
Some Rack members and public commenters raised concerns that the change reduces opportunities on a small number of high‑demand hunts and urged transparency about which hunts would gain or lose nonresident allocations; Robinson said the division used historical permit numbers to anticipate which hunts would retain nonresident availability.
The final motion the Rack considered included a division‑recommended allocation plus an addition requested by Sportsmen & Wildlife (SFW): authority for the division to call alternates from draw alternate lists for sheep (ram) and desert bighorn (and other species where disease reductions occur) if a die‑off or disease event creates an urgent need to harvest animals before mortality or spread occurs. The Rack voted unanimously to accept the recommendations with that addition. The vote authorizes division staff to use the alternate draw lists where appropriate to address disease events rather than relying solely on typical draw allocations.
Public commenters supported the division approach broadly, though some sheep advocates asked the division to retain a resident preference on specific high‑demand hunts (for example the Dirty Devil sheep hunt). The Rack asked the division to continue outreach explaining the new allocation method.
Actions recorded: Rack accepted the once‑in‑a‑lifetime permit recommendations with the added direction to allow the division to call alternates for diseased herds; the motion passed unanimously.
