Unlike the calendar year, the water year starts October 1st. The entire region should be thankful as this winter started wet. Northern Utah’s snowpack is around 130% of normal and the amount of water is also above average. The long-term forecast calls for a continuation of this pattern. More runoff from our mountains will help ranchers, municipalities, wildlands and the Great Salt Lake maintain their productivity. It was nice to see Utah’s legislature pass laws that fostered more water getting to the lake and hopefully that will happen again in 2023. Even Congress provided funds to better understand the water balance of this lake. Improved science, better decisions and the Great Salt Lake with a higher water level will result in citizens in this lake’s basin having a brighter future.

In 2022, Utah implemented a new law that eliminated the use of trail cameras before and during big game hunting seasons. While I heard a few people complain about this law, my late summer hikes detected no cameras in the field. It will be interesting to see how or if this law affected satisfaction, harvest rates, or the age structure of the harvested animals. Utah’s Wildlife Board committed to evaluating other technologies that could alter hunting success. Given the possibilities of these technologies (e.g., a future with laser-guided bullets) there is a need for restrictions that maintain the principles of a fair hunt. The failure to constrain technology could eventually reduce the overwhelming support currently found in this country for hunting.

Next year there will be increases in Utah’s resident and nonresident license cost. These rises are needed to offset inflation seen over the last several years. Similar increases for licenses and permits will likely occur in many western states. How these increases in price alter the number of out-of-state applicants will be a harbinger of the future. Currently, my generation of hunters and anglers (Boomers) are handing the reigns to a future generation (Millennials). This should cause some trepidation. Millennials do seek out outdoor experiences but not at a high cost or those that involve a lot of time. It can now easily cost a thousand dollars every two or three years just to get a nonresident tag. Western states need to find an approach to get more 25 to 40-year-olds into the field with a gun. This will remain difficult as they have young families and jobs.

One of the primary reasons people start hunting and fishing is they have a person who hunts or fishes in their household. For me that was my father, who passed away this fall. Dad grew up in the South so his early experiences involved dove and bass rather than forest grouse and trout. He brought me up on the old-school principle that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. The approach left me confident despite having a few nervous twitches. As a military officer in the 1970s, he had the fortune to teach Army cadets at West Point how to scuba dive. This experience tilted his desire for outdoor trips towards the ocean. He was still concocting do-it yourself spearfishing adventures to Panama until he was 83. If everyone had a father or mother like him, I am certain the number of hunters would still be increasing.

The beginning of a New Year gives everyone the chance to look forward and back. Remember, this is the year to put long planned hunting or fishing trips into motion before the opportunity or the ability disappears. Such trips are even more important if they include your parents or children. May you all have a fortunate New Year.