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Wildlife board approves broader turkey mitigation tools, including saleable vouchers with annual reporting
Summary
The Utah Wildlife Board approved a package of wild‑turkey management changes that expand control permits, prioritize trapping/translocation and allow landowners to obtain saleable mitigation vouchers (limited to 10% of offending birds, max 15). The board added an annual reporting requirement to monitor voucher sales and harvest sex ratios.
The Utah Wildlife Board on June 11 approved a set of wild‑turkey management recommendations from Division of Wildlife Resources staff that aim to reduce private‑land conflict while preserving spring and limited‑entry hunting seasons.
Heather Tally, the division’s upland‑game coordinator, told the board the package retains trapping and translocation as the first option, increases control permits for landowners from two to five, and establishes the option for landowners to receive saleable mitigation vouchers valid only on the landowner’s property. Tally said the vouchers would be “mostly or entirely beardless” to reduce incentives for landowners to harbor turkeys for profit and specified vouchers would be valid from Aug. 1 through March 14, outside general and limited‑entry spring turkey seasons.
The division outlined how mitigation is deployed: staff respond to a report of damage within 72 hours, prepare a mitigation plan and count offending animals; the division could authorize vouchers equal to 10% of offending animals on that property, up to 15 permits, and may issue either‑sex permits in some situations. "We prioritize trapping for sure," Tally said, adding that trapping, weather and topography can limit translocation success.
Public commenters were divided. Sierra Nelson of the Utah Wool Growers Association said the measures would “help producers, especially in a drought year, manage damage from turkeys,” while Chuck Harper of the National Wild Turkey Federation urged caution about monetizing vouchers and recommended evaluating other new tools before allowing saleable vouchers.
Board members acknowledged both concerns and the utility of an additional tool. To monitor effects, the motion that passed asked the division to report annually on voucher sales, how many turkeys were taken under vouchers, and the sex of those birds. The board voted unanimously to accept the division’s proposal with that reporting requirement.
Next steps: division staff will implement the voucher rules as written, continue mandatory harvest reporting for applicable hunts and the voluntary surveys that track control permit use, and provide the board an annual report on voucher sales and voucher‑harvest sex data.
