Northern RAC unanimously adopts 2026 deer permit recommendations amid localized CWD and Camas concerns
Loading...
Summary
The Northern Regional Advisory Council unanimously approved the Division of Wildlife Resources' 2026 deer permit recommendations April 15, citing strong overwinter survival statewide but localized issues in the Camas unit and rising CWD detections in the East Canyon area.
The Northern Regional Advisory Council voted unanimously April 15 to accept the Division of Wildlife Resources' deer permit recommendations for 2026 after hearing biologists outline unit-specific trends and disease concerns.
Mike Wardle, a DWR staff presenter, told the council that informational permit changes stayed below the 20% threshold in the statewide mule deer plan and therefore were brought as informational items rather than action items. Wardle said overall overwinter survival was high this season after a light winter, but stressed uncertainty about spring moisture and the effect of a potentially harsher winter on fall body-condition scores.
Jim Christiansen, Northern Region wildlife manager, told the RAC the Camas unit is an outlier: while most collar-monitored northern units show about 95% adult doe survival, the Camas unit is currently sitting near roughly 84% survival. Christiansen said DWR deployed about 30 collars this year in Camas and plans additional collaring next winter to understand the drivers of lower survival and the low buck:doe ratio there. "Part of that is harvest of the bucks," Christiansen said; the division plans a modest permit decrease in the unit to help rebuild the ratio.
Council members questioned how single-year anomalies affect the harvest model. Wardle said the projections average multiple years of data and that unusually high classification counts (for example, an anomalous 53-buck classification in the Dolores Triangle) are accounted for, which is why some proposed increases were intentionally modest.
Council members and staff also discussed chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the northern Wasatch area. Christiansen said sampling is increasing and is high enough in some places to be a concern; he reported, "Since July we've taken 12 positive samples in the East Canyon unit, and since 2021, 65." When asked how many samples that represented, Christiansen said that one recent batch was about 71 samples. Staff said tools in the statewide plan — including later-season hunts targeted at mature bucks — can be used where appropriate to reduce transmission risk.
Public commenters were mixed but generally supportive of the DWR recommendations. Adam Dennison of the Utah chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers said his group supports the proposals while noting drought risks for future populations. Kevin Norman, representing SFW, said his organization largely supported the recommendations but asked that Monroe tags remain at 900 due to local fire impacts.
The RAC’s motion to accept the 2026 deer permit recommendations was made by Brandon Zundel and seconded by Hunter; the motion passed unanimously.
The council did not adopt unit-level emergency changes; members emphasized that some units may be revisited in coming years as more survey and collar data arrive and as drought and disease conditions evolve. The RAC will forward its recommendations to the wildlife board for consideration.
