Well after 35 plus years of hunting Utah I am starting to think this state is turning out like the rest of the west to many new rules and no chance of drawing what you set out for. I have enjoyed so much this last ten years in taking a group of good hunting buddies to Utah for our annual archery deer hunt but now you can only put four in a group and now that the state is divided up into 28 areas it has become a tough draw. This frustration all started three weeks ago when Utah charged my credit card for an amount that made no sense to me and three weeks prior to the result date which was today. I called Utah to see what the deal was and all I could find out is that they had an internal draw issues with their new system and they could not tell me who got drawn and for what area so for the last three weeks I have waited to see what is going on with our groups. I received a call last week from Utah Fish and Game wanting to charge my credit card for the balance of what we drew but they could not tell me who got drawn and what draw we were picked for. I received a call back and was told that my group of four was drawn but they could not tell me out of the three areas I drew for which one we were picked for and they could not tell me about my other group of four but being that I did not get a call that they were probably not successful. Well last night the e mails started coming in and I found out that my other group did not draw for anything and our group did not even get drawn for the area we wanted, we were chosen for the third pick I made which was Fish Lake are. My area Panguitch had 2200 tags available and Fish Lake had only 1500 but we were picked for this area. I spoke with some of my friends who hunt Fish Lake every year and they were not picked for anything this year. I grew up hunting Fish Lake so I am stoked to go back and get at it and add an over the counter spike elk tag to the mix but now it seems that when you put in for Utah now it is a crap shoot on what you will come out with and it looks like you will have several years that you done get drawn at all, It was just four years ago that I could by this archery deer tag over the counter three weeks before I left with no problem. Times are changing my friends, I wish all of you the best in your hunts this year and I look forward to hearing and reading some great stories, Good Hunting.
