Denny Austad might live in Idaho, but he spends his hunting money in Utah.
Austad has been the high bidder in each of the three years a hunting permit for a buck mule deer has been offered on Antelope Island.
Counting the $305,000 he bid during the recent Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City, Austad has paid $865,000 for the opportunity to kill three deer. He set a record for a deer hunting permit in auction last year with a $310,000 payment.
All told, Austad has likely spent more than $2 million buying hunting conservation tags in Utah.
Back in 2008, his investment of $150,000 for a statewide Rocky Mountain elk permit paid off in the form of a new Boone and Crockett Club world record nontypical bull elk. The measurements of that animal, nicknamed “The Spider Bull,” scored 478 5/8 points, besting the previous record by more than 13 points.