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Cedar City resident Wyatt Herbaugh kept an eye on a mule deer for much of the winter, coveting its prodigious rack of horns. He hoped to find the six-point antlers once the buck shed them and Herbaugh knew right where to go.

Then on Feb. 7, Herbaugh scouted in Shirts Canyon just east of Interstate 15 and recovered half of that antler pair plus several others — only to be approached by a Utah state conservation officer, who confiscated all he'd collected and wrote him a citation.

By gathering those antlers, Herbaugh, 20, had violated an antler-gathering closure the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) ordered a few days before.

"I have been doing it for years. I don't have a job and this is how I make money," Herbaugh said. "I could have gotten $150 for those antlers, which is a truck payment for me."

Now Herbaugh might have to pay up to $1,000 in fines if convicted of the charge of unlawful taking of protected wildlife, a class B misdemeanor.

He's among the 26 antler hunters busted since the closure order took effect in early February to protect wintering big game stressed by this year's heavy snow pack.

Utah wildlife officials are warning shed gathers to refrain from picking up antlers until April 1, when they lift the emergency closure, imposed on both privately owned and public lands.

For wildlife, meanwhile, reduced human contact has meant the difference between life and death, one official said.

"Not getting pushed by people looking for shed antlers allowed the animals to conserve their energy reserves during a winter that was severe in some parts of the state," said Capt. Mitch Lane, who supervises law enforcement for DWR.

The agency has devoted 2,300 man-hours to patrolling key winter habitats and will continue writing citations.

Game wardens have investigated reports of antler gathering in 19 of Utah's 29 counties and charges could be pending in 35 cases in addition to the 26 citations already issued.

The closure has come under fire from critics who question DWR's authority to impose a seasonal ban absent an emergency. They say the closure was unwarranted in the southern half of the state, where snow accumulations were normal and already disappearing by February under unseasonably warm temperatures.

Meanwhile, Nevada wildlife officials, who currently lack the authority to regulate antler gathering, reported a "huge flood" of Utah antler hunters in White Pine, Elko and Lincoln counties, which abut Utah's western border.

That region of Nevada has the largest big game herds and tougher winters. The influx of antler gatherers has been pushing elk and deer from prime winter range to subprime range, according to Tyler Turnipseed, head of law enforcement for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

"We are trying to enforce the laws we do have, like harassing wildlife with a motor vehicle," he said. "We ask people to [hunt for shed antlers] respectively and do it ethically."

Utah requires antler hunters to complete an on-line test and carry proof of registration in the field. About 18,000 people are now registered for the activity, officials say.

While Utah has moved decisively to regulate shed hunting and may even enact a permanent winter closure, Nevada's efforts have hit political obstacles.

In 2011, the Nevada Legislature directed the wildlife department to develop antler regulations, but it has yet to sign off on draft rules to close the state from Jan. 1 to March 31.

Lawmakers in Nevada's western reaches objected because such a closure did not seem appropriate on private lands, especially in the Sierra Nevada's rain shadow where elk and deep snow aren't as plentiful.

"Now we have a bad winter and Utah's closure and all of a sudden it's an emergency that should have been dealt with five years ago. It's a frustrating situation," Turnipseed.

It's also frustrating for Herbaugh, who lost the biggest deer antler he had ever found under a closure he does not think was necessary for Iron and other southern Utah counties.

"Where he cited me you can't even see snow," he said.

Herbaugh intends to fight his citation, but he also expects the state to tighten antler restrictions in the future.

"Now they have done it, they will do it every year," he said. "Now it's closure or fines, and the next step is charging money for it."

Brian Maffly covers public lands for The Salt Lake Tribune. Maffly can be reached at bmaffly@sltrib.com or 801-257-8713.

Twitter: @brianmaffly