It’s all about the RAC Meetings, Fishing and Hunter Education on this week’s Division of Wildlife Resources update. Castle Country Radio sat down with Conservation Outreach Manager, Aaron Bott to discuss the details.

“RAC Meetings or like you said Regional Advisory Council Meetings are one of the most overlooked features that the Division of Wildlife has in the state, and that’s a bit of a shame. Just some background on how Wildlife Management works, our government has set-up wildlife as a public resource and so the states are actually responsible for conserving and managing wildlife populations for the benefit of this public and future generations of the public,” stated Bott. Participating and attending RAC Meetings gives the public a voice and an opportunity to see how wildlife is managed in the state.

Bott shares details on what to expect at a RAC meeting, “We have regional meetings or these RAC Meetings where the public can typically get online and they can listen to some proposals made by the Division of Wildlife, hear what our biologists have to say, what type of recommendations for conservation and hunting management we have, and then they can type in or submit their comments.” The input and/or comments are gathered from the meetings and then presented to the Wildlife Board up in Salt Lake City. If individuals would like to know what has been discussed at the RAC Meetings they can obtain transcripts from the meetings by visiting the Division of Wildlife Resources website at https://wildlife.utah.gov/

Lately, the high temperatures in our area have been affecting anglers so Bott has some advice, “So if you’re going to go fishing, I would suggest you go somewhere it’s cooler, that’s higher lakes, like up a Duck Fork; places like that are restricted to artificial flies only, so you can’t be using baits. But get up there or if you’re going to fish down at Scofield or even Huntington North etc. get out early, definitely get out early, we’re talking 6:00 am because by the time 10:00 am arrives things are cooking and its tough to catch a fish.”

If you or your child is interested in doing some hunting you should look at finding and attending a Hunter Safety Course. “You can get on the division’s website and you can look up when and where different course are being taught. It’s a great opportunity to become educated, even if you don’t know when you’re going to pick up a gun next and go out hunting yourself its still is a great course to take to learn etiquette and to be responsible in terms of being responsible out in the field.” Further information about Hunter Safety Course can be found by visiting the Division of Wildlife Resources website at https://wildlife.utah.gov/