Idaho hunter Dennis Austad already owns one world hunting record set in Utah, by taking the biggest Rocky Mountain bull elk ever recorded by the Boone & Crockett Club during a 2008 outing on Monroe Mountain.

Austad set a different kind of record during the recent Western Hunting & Conservation Expo held in Salt Lake City, by bidding $310,000 for the right to hunt a buck mule deer on Antelope Island this fall.

"That's a record for all deer hunting permits," said Miles Moretti, CEO of the Mule Deer Foundation, which auctioned the hunting tag on behalf of the state at the expo. "The last record was $265,000 for a Utah statewide mule deer hunting tag."

Ninety percent of the money will go to managers at Antelope Island State Park to be used on habitat and conservation work to benefit mule deer and other species on the island. The remaining 10 percent stays with the Mule Deer Foundation, a Utah-based nonprofit with the mission to restore, improve and protect mule deer and black-tailed deer and their habitat.

In addition to the high-bid conservation tag, the state also provides a hunting permit on the island through a lottery draw for any hunter who enters.

"We are thrilled. It is fantastic that the money comes back to the island," said Jeremy Shaw, Antelope Island State Park manager.

The money will be used to purchase and eventually plant 10,000 bitterbrush plant seedlings, a favorite food source for mule deer.