Eight in 25,000.
Those are the odds in drawing a big game sportsman’s hunting permit for the 2014 season.
The permits are unique, allowing sportsmen the opportunity to hunt desert bighorn ram, Rocky Mountain bighorn ram, buck deer, buck pronghorn, bull elk, bull moose, hunter’s choice bison and hunter’s choice Rocky Mountain goat.
Only one permit is issued for each of the species. But, with the permit comes an extended season and expanded territory. Hunters can go anywhere in the state open to hunting that animal to find just the one they want.
“If you are fortunate enough to draw one, then you’ve got a real prized thing in your hands,” said Mark Hadley, director of relations with the public for the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources. “You get a lot of flexibility on where you decide to hunt, and it gives you more time so you can be really selective on the animal you take.”
Hadley adds that any BYU student who likes to hunt can access these unique benefits if they are lucky enough to draw the permits. To apply, hunters must obtain a Utah hunting license and then visit wildlife.utah.gov. The application costs $10 per species and requires you be a Utah resident, living here for 60 consecutive days prior to applying and not claiming residency anywhere else.
Results of the draw are posted Nov. 27.
Kordan Kildew, a BYU finance student from Yorktown, Va., enjoys hunting and understands why people would try to obtain the permits.
“I just like getting out there (to hunt),” he said. “It’s about just getting out there in the wilderness and trying to outwit the animal, and trying to get to know their habits and beating them at their own game.”
Kildew hunts in Utah after spending much of his life hunting in Texas. Next year he hopes to get an elk, but he’ll just stick with buying a more typical permit.
“It’s cheaper and a lot better odds,” he said.
