diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index cdc0d8f3..90a84241 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+1.3.12.dev0
+ * Remove unicode byte order mark from syslog output so it doesn't show up as a literal in rsyslog
+   output. See discussion on #197.
+
 1.3.11
  * #193: Pass through several "borg list" and "borg info" flags like --short, --format, --sort-by,
    --first, --last, etc. via borgmatic command-line flags.
diff --git a/borgmatic/logger.py b/borgmatic/logger.py
index eb005844..8c704786 100644
--- a/borgmatic/logger.py
+++ b/borgmatic/logger.py
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ def configure_logging(console_log_level, syslog_log_level=None):
 
     if syslog_path:
         syslog_handler = logging.handlers.SysLogHandler(address=syslog_path)
-        syslog_handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter('borgmatic: %(levelname)s \ufeff%(message)s'))
+        syslog_handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter('borgmatic: %(levelname)s %(message)s'))
         syslog_handler.setLevel(syslog_log_level)
         handlers = (console_handler, syslog_handler)
     else:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5fd5dab2..e15a7453 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from setuptools import find_packages, setup
 
-VERSION = '1.3.11'
+VERSION = '1.3.12.dev0'
 
 
 setup(